Gila Martow

Gila Deborah Martow (née Gladstone; born June 5, 1961) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She represents the electoral district of Thornhill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.[1] She held the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour until November 2018, when she was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney following the departure of Amanda Simard from the PC Caucus.

Gila Martow MPP
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office November 29, 2018
Minister	Caroline Mulroney
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Thornhill
Incumbent
Assumed office February 13, 2014
Preceded by	Peter Shurman
Personal details
Born	Gila Deborah Gladstone (1961-06-05) June 5, 1961 Montreal, Quebec
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Residence	Thornhill, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science
Occupation	Optometrist

Background

Originally from Chomedey, Quebec, Martow was an optometrist. She and her husband, an ophthalmologist, jointly ran an eye clinic at the Markham Stouffville Hospital.[2]

Martow's maternal grandparents lived on a kibbutz organized by the Hashomer Hatzair Marxist-Zionist[3] youth movement in the early 1930s in Mandatory Palestine (later to become Israel).[4] Martow attended the socialist movement's summer camp, Camp Shomria, from 1973 to 1977. The camp's Mia Gladstone Art Program is named in memory of Martow's mother.[5]

Political activism

In 2007, she was a spokesperson for the Multi-Faith Coalition. During the provincial election that year, she supported Progressive Conservative leader John Tory's plan to create funding among Ontario’s private faith-based schools. She said, "By not funding non-Catholic faith-based schools, there is going to be social unrest. This is discrimination against non-Catholics."[6] Martow's first run for elected office was in 2010, when she ran for city council in Vaughan Ward 5, placing second.

Ontario legislature

In early 2014, she ran in a by-election in the riding of Thornhill to replace the retiring Peter Shurman. She defeated Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco on February 13, 2014.[1] Four months later she ran again in the 2014 provincial election. She faced Racco again in a rematch. Initially Racco was declared the winner but the decision was reversed the next day following the official Elections Ontario tally of the vote. Martow was declared the winner by 85 votes.[7] A recount was done and Martow was declared the winner on June 23, 2014 by a margin of 106 votes.[8]

On December 1, 2016, Martow presented a motion in the legislature rejecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. It passed by a vote of 49-5 with the governing Liberals, and PCs supporting, and NDP opposing.

In the past, Martow has served as the PC Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs (2014) and as the Anti-Racism Secretariat (2016). She then served in the shadow cabinet as the critic for: Children, Youth, and Families; GTA Issues; and Francophone Affairs until 2018.[9]

After the Progressive Conservatives formed government following the 2018 provincial election, Martow was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Labour Minister Laurie Scott by Premier Doug Ford.[10] On November 29, 2018, Premier Ford announced that Martow would become the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs, Caroline Mulroney and that Jane McKenna would take over her position as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour.

Election results

Provincial

2018 Ontario general election: Thornhill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gila Martow	28,889	61.13	+17.18
	New Democratic	Ezra Tanen	9,134	19.33	+11.17
	Liberal	Sabi Ahsan	6,985	14.78	-29.00
	Green	Rachel Dokhoian	1,043	2.21	-0.27
	Libertarian	Mike Holmes	621	1.31	+0.15
	None of the Above	Above Znoneofthe	410	0.87
	Ontario Moderate Party	Aleksei Polyakov	177	0.37
Total valid votes			47,261	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+13.24
Source: Elections Ontario[11]

2014 Ontario general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gila Martow	21,886	43.95	-3.94
	Liberal	Sandra Yeung Racco	21,780	43.78	+2.18
	New Democratic	Cindy Hackelberg	4,052	8.16	+1.37
	Green	David Bergart	1,229	2.48	+1.04
	Libertarian	Gene Balfour	571	1.16	+0.11
	Freedom	Erin Goodwin	233	0.47	-0.08
Total valid votes			50,291	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-3.06
Source: Elections Ontario[12]

Ontario provincial by-election, February 13, 2014 Resignation of Peter Shurman
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gila Martow	13,438	47.67	+0.96
	Liberal	Sandra Yeung Racco	11,677	41.43	+0.51
	New Democratic	Cindy Hackelberg	1,905	6.75	-2.21
	Green	Teresa Pun	404	1.43	-0.25
	Libertarian	Gene Balfour	296	1.05	-0.34
	Freedom	Erin Goodwin	153	0.54	+0.21
	People's Political Party	Kevin Clarke	144	0.51
	Pauper Party of Ontario	John Turmel	47	0.17
Total valid votes			28,184
Turnout				27.4%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing	+0.34%

Municipal

2010 Vaughan election, Ward 5[13]
Candidate	Votes
Alan Shefman (x)	5,561
Gila Martow	4,279
Bernie Green	2,898
Vernon Hendrickson	1,870
Yehuda Shahaf	694
Stellios Missirlis	231

References

1. "NDP win Niagara Falls, Tories hold Thornhill in Ontario byelections". Global News. February 13, 2014.
2. Joseph, Simone (January 14, 2014). "Parties get set as Thornhill byelection called". yorkregion.com. Metroland Media..
3. Hashomer, Hatzair. "Hashomer Hatzair records, 1938-1942". The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
4. "House proceedings (hansard)". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. April 23, 2015.
5. "Hashomer Hatzair marks 85 years in Canada". August 14, 2008.
6. Eby, Chris. "Ont. Tories trash Liberal promise-keeping record". CTV Toronto News. CTV. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
7. "It's official: PC Martow wins Thornhill in wake of vote tally error". York Region. June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
8. "Martow proclaimed winner in recount". York Region. Metroland Media. June 23, 2014.
9. "Legislative Assembly of Ontario | Members (MPPs) | Current MPPs | Gila Martow, MPP (Thornhill)". www.ontla.on.ca. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
10. "Premier Ford Announces Parliamentary Assistant Assignments as Part of Ontario's Government for the People". news.ontario.ca.
11. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
12. "General Election Results by District, 089 Thornhill". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
13. "City of Vaughan Unofficial Results" (PDF).

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)