Judi Longfield

Judi Longfield, PC[note 1] (born April 23, 1947) is a former Canadian politician. She was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2006, representing the riding of Whitby—Oshawa as a member of the Liberal Party. She has also campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

The Honourable Judi Longfield PC
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Whitby—Ajax (1997-2004); Whitby—Oshawa (2004-2006)
In office 1997–2006
Preceded by	New riding
Succeeded by	Jim Flaherty
Personal details
Born	(1947-04-23) April 23, 1947 Timmins, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Alan Longfield
Residence	Whitby, Ontario
Profession	Executive assistant, teacher

Background

Longfield was born in Timmins, Ontario. She graduated from North Bay Teacher's College, and worked as a community college teacher before taking time off to raise a family. She was a governor of the Trafalgar Castle School for Girls. Longfield began working for the Liberal Party in 1965 as an organizer, and was an executive assistant to Ontario Liberal Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) Allan Furlong and Steve Mahoney. She was a field organizer in Jean Chrétien's 1990 leadership campaign, and co-managed Dalton McGuinty's bid to become provincial leader in 1996.[1]

Politics

Longfield was elected to the Whitby municipal council in 1991, winning a close victory in the city's second ward.[2] She was re-elected in 1994.[3] Longfield was involved with the local government division of the National Democratic Institute in this period, and represented Canada on delegations to Romania and Guyana.[1]

Longfield was designated as the Liberal candidate for Whitby—Ajax in the 1997 federal election, as part of an effort by Prime Minister Chrétien to increase the number of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Liberal caucus.[4] She won a convincing victory, and was returned in the 2000 and 2004 elections, fending off a strong challenge from the Conservative Party on the latter occasion.[5]

Longfield served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labour from 1999 to 2001 under Chrétien, and was parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labour and Housing in Paul Martin's government from 2004 to 2006. She also remained active with the Ontario Liberal Party, co-chairing that party's campaign in the 1999 provincial election.[6] Initially associated with the Chrétien wing of the Liberal Party, Longfield sided with supporters of Chrétien's rival Paul Martin during a key procedural vote in 2002.[7]

Longfield was a supporter of pay equity policies, and criticized her own government for appealing a Supreme Court decision on the issue in 1998.[8] She was also a vocal proponent of affordable housing.[9]

Longfield was defeated in the 2006 federal election by Conservative candidate Jim Flaherty, a former cabinet minister from the provincial government of Mike Harris. Shortly thereafter, she was chosen as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for Flaherty's vacated provincial seat in a provincial by-election held on March 30, 2006. She finished a close second against Progressive Conservative candidate Christine Elliott, Flaherty's wife.[10]

Electoral record

Ontario provincial by-election, March 30, 2006: Whitby—Ajax Resignation of Jim Flaherty
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Christine Elliott	15,843	46.23	−2.2
	Liberal	Judi Longfield	14,529	42.40	+2.2
	New Democratic	Julie Gladman	3,204	9.35	+0.2
	Green	Nick Boileau	307	0.90	−1.5
	Freedom	Paul McKeever	197	0.57	–
	Family Coalition	Victor Carvalho	102	0.30	–
	Libertarian	Marty Gobin	87	0.25	–
Total valid votes			34,269	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			107	0.31
Turnout			34,376	32.42
Eligible voters			106,028
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing
Source(s) "SUMMARY OF VALID BALLOTS CAST FOR EACH CANDIDATE - Whitby—Ajax" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2006. Retrieved 30 August 2015.

2006 Canadian federal election: Whitby—Oshawa
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jim Flaherty	29,294	43.86	+7.80	$ 88,591.06
	Liberal	Judi Longfield	25,882	38.75	−6.29	78,783.33
	New Democratic	Maret Sadem-Thompson	8,716	13.05	−1.00	9,898.30
	Green	Ajay Krishnan	2,407	3.60	−1.25	238.56
	Libertarian	Marty Gobin	274	0.41		258.75
	Canadian Action	Tom Cochrane	217	0.32		120.18
Total valid votes/Expense limit			66,790	100.0	+17.30	$ 88,730.91
Total rejected ballots			237	0.35	−0.14
Turnout			67,027	70.60	+6.52
Electors on the lists			94,938		+6.32
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada

2004 Canadian federal election: Whitby—Oshawa
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judi Longfield	25,649	45.04	$80,842
	Conservative	Ian MacNeil	20,531	36.06	$30,004
	New Democratic	Maret Sadem-Thompson	8,002	14.05	$13,477
	Green	Michael MacDonald	2,759	4.85	$0
Total valid votes			56,941	100.00
Total rejected ballots			283	0.49
Turnout			57,224	64.08
Electors on the lists			89,296
Percentage change figures are factored for redistribution. Conservative Party percentages are contrasted with the combined Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative percentages from 2000.
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

2000 Canadian federal election: Whitby—Ajax
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judi Longfield	25,693	52.68	$68,465.75
	Alliance	Shaun Gillespie	13,159	26.98	$28,304.89
	Progressive Conservative	Rob Chopowick	7,563	15.51	$12,247.43
	New Democratic	Vic Perroni	2,359	4.84	$2,493.06
Total valid votes			48,774	100.00
Total rejected ballots			153
Turnout			48,927	58.64
Electors on the lists			83,443
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

1997 Canadian federal election: Whitby—Ajax
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judi Longfield	23,551	47.69	$43,611
	Reform	Bill Serjeantson	11,977	24.25	$157
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Snyder	10,107	20.47	$44,118
	New Democratic	Karen Dolan	3,354	6.79	$30,424
	Canadian Action	Robert Charles Radford	394	0.80	$1,904
Total valid votes			49,383	100.00
Total rejected ballots			248
Turnout			49,631	66.83
Electors on the lists			74,268
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

1994 Whitby municipal election, Council, Ward Two

Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes	Notes
Judi Longfield	acclaimed	-

1991 Whitby municipal election, Council, Ward Two

Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes	Notes
Judi Longfield	elected	-
David Wall	-	-

All federal electoral information is taken from Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures from elections after 1997 refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available. Expenditures from 1997 refer to submitted totals.

References

Notes

1. Parliamentary Secretaries who served under Prime Minister Paul Martin were made Privy Council members.

Citations

1. "Canadian Broadcasting Corporation riding profile, 1997 federal election, Whitby—Ajax". 1997. Archived from the original on November 16, 2004.
2. Ibbitson, Doug (November 13, 1991). "Oshawa mayor loses to local councillor". Toronto Star. p. E6.
3. van Rijn, Nicolaas (November 16, 1994). "Some new faces on area councils". Toronto Star. p. A9.
4. Brown, Jim (March 12, 1997). "Chrétien appoints four women". Winnipeg Free Press. p. B1.
5. Huffman, Tracy (June 28, 2004). "Liberal wins after hard fight". Toronto Star. p. E10.
6. Walker, William (March 17, 1999). "Support from federal Liberals half-hearted". Toronto Star. p. 1.
7. Taber, Jane (November 6, 2002). "Backroom bid for solidarity fails to rally MPs to cause". The Globe and Mail.
8. LeBlanc, Daniel (September 22, 1998). "Protests indicate rising anger with Liberals". The Globe and Mail. p. A7.
9. Vallis, Mary (December 19, 2005). "Two successful politicians, just one federal seat". National Post. p. A4.
10. Urquhart, Ian (March 29, 2006). "Conservative Elliott no shoo-in in byelection". Toronto Star.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of Canada
• Judi Longfield – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca