David Tilson

David Allan Tilson (born March 19, 1941) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2002, and served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Dufferin—Caledon from 2004 to 2019 as a member of the Conservative Party. When he left office, he was the oldest serving MP in the 42nd Parliament.

David Allan Tilson
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Dufferin—Caledon
In office June 28, 2004 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Murray Calder
Succeeded by	Kyle Seeback
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey Dufferin—Peel (1990-1999)
In office September 6, 1990 – April 2, 2002
Preceded by	Mavis Wilson
Succeeded by	Ernie Eves
Chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship & Immigration
In office February 3, 2009 – August 2, 2015
Minister	Jason Kenney Chris Alexander
Preceded by	Norman Doyle
Succeeded by	Borys Wrzesnewskyj
Personal details
Born	(1941-03-19) March 19, 1941 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative, 1990-2002 Conservative, 2002-Present
Spouse(s)	Judith Tilson
Residence	Orangeville, Ontario
Profession	Lawyer

Background

Tilson was educated at the University of New Brunswick and Queen's University, and began practicing law in Orangeville, Ontario in 1970. He served as a trustee on the Dufferin County Board of Education for two terms, and then as a municipal councillor in Orangeville for six years. In the latter capacity, he was the founding Chair of Orangeville's Blue Box program and a Director of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. He also served on the board of Westminster United Church.

Ontario politics

Tilson was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1990, defeating incumbent Liberal Mavis Wilson in Dufferin—Peel by 572 votes.[1] The New Democratic Party won this election, and Tilson spent the next five years as an opposition member.

The Ontario Tories won a majority government in the provincial election of 1995, and Tilson greatly increased his margin of victory, defeating Wilson by almost 15,000 votes in a rematch.[2] He was appointed chair of the government caucus in November 1997.

Tilson won another landslide re-election victory for the new riding of Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey in the 1999 election.[3] On April 2, 2002, he resigned his seat in the legislature to allow Premier Ernie Eves (who had been elected party leader without holding a seat) to run as a parachute candidate in a by-election. In 2003-04, he served as vice-chair of the Ontario Municipal Board.

Federal politics

Tilson ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the federal election of 2004 and defeated incumbent Liberal Murray Calder by a margin of 43% to 39% in the new riding of Dufferin—Caledon.[4]

Tilson supported plans to cut farm support programs, including the AgriRecovery Program, by $2 billion over the next year.[5]

Tilson did not run for reelection in the 2019 federal election.[6]

Electoral record

Federal

2015 Canadian federal election: Dufferin—Caledon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Tilson	27,977	46.28	-12.73	$89,524.29
	Liberal	Ed Crewson	23,643	39.11	+26.01	$98,995.67
	Green	Nancy Urekar	4,433	7.33	-7.36	$29,801.14
	New Democratic	Rehya Yazbek	4,398	7.28	-5.92	$9,127.01
Total valid votes/Expense limit			60,451	100.00		$234,924.06
Total rejected ballots			232	0.38	–
Turnout			60,683	65.63
Eligible voters			92,461
	Conservative hold		Swing		-19.37
Source: Elections Canada[7][8]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Tilson	28,647	59.00	+5.85
	Green	Ard Van Leeuwen	7,132	14.69	-2.11
	New Democratic	Leslie Parsons	6,409	13.20	+3.21
	Liberal	Bill Prout	6,361	13.10	-6.25
Total valid votes			48,549	100.00
Total rejected ballots			187	0.38	0.00
Turnout			48,736	60.91	+3.20
Eligible voters			80,019	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		+3.98

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Tilson	23,363	53.21	+5.28	$61,440
	Liberal	Rebecca Finch	8,495	19.35	-10.58	$18,089
	Green	Ard Van Leeuwen	7,377	16.80	+6.80	$66,728
	New Democratic	Jason Bissett	4,385	9.99	-2.14
	Canadian Action	Dean Woods	284	0.65	*	$384
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,904	100.00	$84,072
Total rejected ballots			168	0.38
Turnout			44,072	57.71
	Conservative hold		Swing		+7.93

2006 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Tilson	23,641	47.93	+1.01	$49,542
	Liberal	Garry Moore	14,777	29.93	-12.82	$34,414
	New Democratic	Chris Marquis	5,983	12.13	+2.88	$3,352
	Green	Ted Alexander	4,912	10.00	+0.39	$10,218
Total valid votes/Expense limit			49,313	100.00
Total rejected ballots			166	0.34
Turnout			49,479	64.94
	Conservative hold		Swing		+6.9

2004 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Tilson	19,270	42.81	-5.00
	Liberal	Murray Calder	17,557	39.00	-6.93
	Green	Ted Alexander	3,947	8.77	+5.53
	New Democratic	Rita Landry	3,798	8.44	+5.42
	Christian Heritage	Ursula Ellis	443	0.98	-
Total valid votes/Expense limit			45,015	100.00
	Conservative hold		Swing		+1.0

Provincial

1999 Ontario general election: Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	David Tilson	30,532	64.76
	Liberal	Steve White	13,591	28.83
	New Democratic	Noel Duignan	1,871	3.97
	Green	Richard Procter	1,156	2.45
Total valid votes/			47,150	100.00
Total rejected ballots			342	–
Turnout			49,492	58.6
Eligible voters			81,020
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		–

1995 Ontario general election: Dufferin—Peel
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	David Tilson	23,239	66.00	+31.30
	Liberal	Mavis Wilson	8,501	24.14	-8.66
	New Democratic	Sandra Crane	3,470	9.85	-17.55
Total valid votes/			35,210	100.00
Total rejected ballots			204	–
Turnout			35,414	65.2
Eligible voters			54,176
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+19.98

1990 Ontario general election: Dufferin—Peel
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	David Tilson	10,899	34.70	+3.41
	Liberal	Mavis Wilson	10,327	32.80	-20.26
	New Democratic	Sandra Crane	8,627	27.40	+11.76
	Libertarian	Bob Shapton	1,594	5.10	–
Total valid votes/			35,210	100.00
Total rejected ballots			204	–
Turnout			35,414
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+11.84

References

1. "Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results". The Globe and Mail. September 7, 1990. p. A12.
2. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
3. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 3, 1999. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
4. "Election results...riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 29, 2004. p. A14.
5. Valeriote, Frank. "Drought inspires Conservatives to cut farm relief". The Caledon Citizen. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
6. Mike Baker (March 25, 2019). "Harzadan Singh Khattra local Tories' surprise pick to succeed David Tilson". Orangeville Citizen.
7. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Dufferin—Caledon, 30 September 2015
8. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• David Tilson – Parliament of Canada biography
• Official website
• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)