Han Dong (politician)

Han Dong MP (Chinese: 董晗鵬; pinyin: Dǒng Hánpéng; born c. 1977) is a Chinese-Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Don Valley North in the 2019 federal election as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. He was the Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Trinity—Spadina from 2014 until 2018.

Han Dong

MP
董晗鵬
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Don Valley North
Assumed office
October 21, 2019
Preceded byGeng Tan
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Trinity—Spadina
In office
June 12, 2014 – June 7, 2018
Preceded byRosario Marchese
Succeeded byRiding dissolved
Personal details
Born1977 (age 42–43)
Shanghai, China
Political partyLiberal
Spouse(s)Sophie
Children2
ResidenceToronto, Ontario
OccupationBusinessman

Background

Dong was born in Shanghai, China. He moved to Toronto with his family when he was 13 and they settled in the Parkdale area of Toronto.[1] He lives in Toronto with his wife Sophie and their two children.[2]

Dong worked as marketing director of Chianti Foods and then with the non-profit Canada Shanghai Business Association. Since making the switch to politics, he spent nine years at Queen’s Park serving as Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Gerry Phillips's MPP liaison, and most recently as a senior adviser of community outreach under then Citizenship and Immigration Minister Michael Coteau.[3]

Politics

Provincial

Dong ran in the 2014 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Trinity—Spadina.[4] He defeated New Democrat incumbent Rosario Marchese by 9,175 votes.[2][5]

He was Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

In February 2016, he introduced a private member's bill to license and regulate the Ontario home inspection industry, which prompted the Ontario Liberal government to draft its own government legislation for that purpose.[6]

In March 2017 Dong introduced another private member's bill, the Reliable Elevators Act, setting time limits on repairs of elevators in residential buildings.[7] The bill was successfully passed.[8] Dong noted the hardship out of service elevators posed to the elderly, and to parents whose children required strollers.[9]

In the 2018 provincial election, Dong was defeated by New Democratic candidate Chris Glover in the redistributed riding of Spadina—Fort York.

Municipal

Dong registered as a candidate in the Toronto municipal election, to represent Ward 20 on Toronto City Council.[10] After the number of wards in the city was reduced from 47 to 25, Dong did not refile his candidacy by the September 21, 2018 deadline and was thus deemed to have withdrawn.[11]

Federal

On July 4, 2019, Dong confirmed his candidacy for the federal Liberal nomination in Don Valley North following the retirement of incumbent MP Geng Tan.[12]

Electoral record
2019 Canadian federal election: Don Valley North
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalHan Dong23,49550.4-1.02
ConservativeSarah Fischer16,50635.4-2.42
New DemocraticBruce Griffin4,2859.2+0.67
GreenDaniel Giavedoni1,8033.9+1.67
People'sJay Sobel4821.0-
Total valid votes/Expense limit 46,571100.0
Total rejected ballots 314
Turnout 46,88562.0
Eligible voters 75,566
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]
2018 Ontario general election: Spadina—Fort York
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticChris Glover24,67749.62+22.91
LiberalHan Dong11,77023.67-24.64
Progressive ConservativeIris Yu10,83421.79+3.33
GreenRita Bilerman1,8153.65-2.33
LibertarianErik Malmholt2780.56
None of the AboveAdam Nobody2710.54
Stop the New Sex-Ed AgendaQueenie Yu860.17
Total valid votes 49,73199.17
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 4150.83
Turnout 50,146
Eligible voters
New Democratic pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario[15]

References
  1. Kalinowski, Tess (June 5, 2014). "Grits hope to unseat NDP in busy Trinity-Spadina". Toronto Star. p. GT1.
  2. Hennessy, Angela (June 13, 2014). "Grits tighten grip on downtown Toronto". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14. I’ve had an uphill battle, but the momentum has grown, especially in these last few days," said Dong who won with nearly 50 per cent of the vote. "I’ve had such positive feedback at the doors.
  3. Fatima, Sahar (July 11, 2014). "How Han Dong painted Trinity-Spadina Liberal red". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. The red tide was in full swing less than three weeks earlier in the long-held NDP provincial riding when newbie politician Mr. Dong snatched the Trinity-Spadina seat at Queen’s Park from Rosario Marchese, who had represented the area for 24 years.
  4. Rachel Mendleson (2014-06-12). "Liberal candidate Han Dong wins Trinity-Spadina riding in Ontario election". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2018-05-29. Heading into Thursday’s vote, the race was seen as too close to call in a riding where a trio of concurrent election campaigns — municipal, provincial and federal — crowded front lawns, and at times confused voters.
  5. "General Election by District: Trinity-Spadina". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  6. McMahon, Tamsin (August 17, 2016). "Ontario to introduce regulations for home inspections". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  7. Robert Benzie (2017-03-22). "Toronto MPP pushing elevator-repair law". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2018-05-29. Liberal Han Dong (Trinity-Spadina) on Wednesday introduced a private member’s bill that would force elevators to be fixed within a week in long-term care facilities and retirement homes and two weeks in other residences.
  8. 2017-10-11. "Elevator Industry Releases Report on the State of Reliability and Availability in Ontario". Newswire. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2018-05-29. This industry report was initiated by17-04- the recent introduction of the Reliable Elevators Act, a Private Members Bill by MPP Han Dong, and with the government's recently commissioned Deloitte report on elevator availability.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. Dennis Hanagan (2017-04-05). "Making elevators reliable for high-rise living, Reliable Elevators Act". 416 magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20. Retrieved 2018-05-29. Currently, buildings higher than seven storeys are required under the building code to have only one elevator. 'This must be updated to reflect the growing vertical community we are witnessing across the province,' said Han Dong. 'Elevator repairs could be held up because of the time it takes to order parts, some of which come from other parts of the world.'
  10. "Political veterans and rookies square off in Ward 20". Toronto Star, July 18, 2018.
  11. List of Withdrawn Candidates under the 47-Ward Model
  12. Rana, Abbas (July 4, 2019). "Liberal MP Tan's wife eyes party nomination in wake of his decision not to seek re-election to 'spend time with family'". The Hill Times. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  13. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  14. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  15. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 10. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
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