Judy Sgro

Judy Sgro PC MP (born December 16, 1944) is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of Humber River—Black Creek in the House of Commons of Canada. Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade and as a Chair on the Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee since 2016.[1][2]

The Honourable Judy Sgro PC MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Humber River—Black Creek York West (1997–2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 1999
Preceded by	Sergio Marchi
Chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade
Incumbent
Assumed office January 29, 2020
Preceded by	Mark Eyking
Chair of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
In office February 3, 2016 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Vance Badawey
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
In office 13 January 2003 – 10 January 2005
Prime Minister	Paul Martin
Preceded by	Denis Coderre
Succeeded by	Joe Volpe
Toronto City Councillor for North York Humber
In office January 1, 1998 – November 14, 1999
Preceded by	Ward Created
Succeeded by	Paul Valenti
Constituency	Ward 6
Metro Councillor for North York Humber
In office December 1, 1994 – December 31, 1997
Preceded by	Mario Gentile
Succeeded by	City Amalgamated
North York City Councillor
In office 1987 – November 30, 1994
Preceded by	Mario Gentile
Succeeded by	Gina Severino
Constituency	Ward 2
Personal details
Born	(1944-12-16) December 16, 1944 Moncton, New Brunswick
Political party	Liberal Party of Canada
Spouse(s)	Sam Sgro
Residence	Toronto, Ontario

Politics

Councillor

Sgro was introduced to politics when she was elected to North York City Council in 1987. In 1994 she was acclaimed as a Metro councillor for North York.[3] In 1998 she became a Toronto city councillor in the newly amalgamated city where she served a term as vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.[4]

Federal politics

Government (1999–2006)

In 1997 Sgro's first attempt at Federal politics came up short when she tried to get elected in the riding of York South—Weston. She lost to John Nunziata, who was running as an independent, by 4,431 votes. In 1999 she won a by-election in York West to replace Sergio Marchi who had accepted an ambassadorial position to the World Trade Organization. She has since been re-elected by substantial pluralities.

In 2001, she was named chairperson of the Prime Minister's "Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues". In 2003 her group released an interim report recommending increased Federal support to recognize their economic and social value.[4] From December 12, 2003 to January 13, 2005 Sgro served as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the government of Paul Martin.

Political favouritism issues

In November 2004, controversy began to surround Sgro as questions arose surrounding her activities during the June election earlier that year. Several members of her ministerial staff had filed expense claims to travel to and work in her riding throughout the campaign ending on election day. More serious claims were also raised when Opposition Conservative MPs claimed she had given a special immigration permit to a campaign supporter – specifically Alina Balaican, a Romanian who had initially been admitted to the country to work as a stripper. New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin also accused Sgro's aides of making threats to deny ministerial permits to his constituents if he criticized her on the stripper controversy.[5] The press dubbed the issue "Strippergate".

On January 14, 2005, Sgro resigned from cabinet after further allegations that she had offered to intervene in the immigration hearing of Harjit Singh, a Brampton pizzeria owner, in exchange for free pizza for her campaign staff.[6] The following day, the Toronto Star revealed that Singh had previously committed credit card fraud.[7]

On January 31, 2005, Sgro filed a lawsuit against Singh for $750,000 in damages.[8] On May 10, 2005, the Federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro cleared Sgro of all wrongdoing from the Strippergate debacle when it was found that Sgro didn't know that two staffers had put her in a position of conflict of interest. The ethics commissioner also concluded that Sgro had never met the woman or even knew that she had volunteered on her re-election campaign. Shapiro said to Sgro, "It appears you acted appropriately." Also the same day, Singh retracted his allegations and apologized to Sgro. He said, "I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems."[9]

Sgro was the first member of Cabinet to resign from Paul Martin's government. There was some speculation in the media that fellow minister Joe Volpe helped to engineer her resignation given that they had a cool relationship.[9]

Expenses issue

In June 2010 it was revealed that Sgro had been claiming expenses for rent on an Ottawa luxury highrise condominium owned by her adult children, violating rules for such expenses set by the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons. Sgro had paid $138,000 to purchase the condo in 2001, and then transferred the title on the property to her children in 2006; she then paid her children $22,000 a year in rent to live in the apartment, violating rules forbidding MPs from claiming expenses on goods or services contracted from family members.[10]

Asked about this controversy in 2013 by a reporter from Québecor Média, Sgro replied, "The issue was dealt with, an issue was pointed out... I immediately dealt with the issue and I would ask the prime minister and his folks to do the same thing. Thank you very much."[11]

Opposition (2006–2015)

Sgro served as the Opposition Critic for Industry for the Liberals.[12] On November 1, 2010, the Liberals released a white paper providing recommendations for retirement income security followed by a Pension Income Bill of Rights. The paper was created by a working group co-chaired by Sgro.[13]

On March 4, 2014, Sgro was re-nominated by acclamation as the Liberal candidate for the renamed riding of Humber River—Black Creek for the next federal election.[14] She subsequently won election to this seat.

Government (2015–present)

Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade.

Personal life

She and her husband Sam Sgro are the parents of three children. Judy's daughter, Deanna Sgro, was a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party during the 2018 Ontario general election, as well as the 2018 Toronto municipal election for Humber River-Black Creek.

Election results

2015 Canadian federal election: Humber River—Black Creek
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	23,995	66.9	+19.9	–
	Conservative	Kerry Vandenberg	7,228	20.2	-1.9	–
	New Democratic	Darnel Harris	3,851	10.7	-17.1	–
	Green	Keith Jarrett	584	1.6	0	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Christine Nugent	201	0.6	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			35,859	100.0		$195,631.84
Total rejected ballots			333	–	–
Turnout			36,192	–	–
Eligible voters			60,994
Source: Elections Canada[15][16]
	Liberal hold		Swing		+18.5

2011 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	13,030	47.0	-12.4
	New Democratic	Giulio Manfrini	7,721	27.8	+9.1
	Conservative	Audrey Walters	6,122	22.1	+5.4
	Green	Unblind Tibben	450	1.6	-3.6
	Christian Heritage	George Okoth Otura	231	0.8	–
	Canadian Action	Arthur Smitherman	170	0.6	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			27,724	100.0
Total rejected ballots			267	1.0	+0.2
Turnout			27,991	48.2	-0.1
Eligible voters			57,287	–	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		-10.75

2008 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	16,997	59.4%	-4.4%	$35,514
	New Democratic	Giulio Manfrini	5,363	18.7%	+4.6%	$12,354
	Conservative	Kevin Nguyen	4,773	16.7%	-1.9%	$12,960
	Green	Nick Capra	1,488	5.2%	+2.2%	$1,557
Total valid votes/Expense limit			28,621	100.0%	$77,457
Turnout			28,840	%
	Liberal hold		Swing		-4.5

2006 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	21,418	63.78	$48,741.93
	Conservative	Parm Gill	6,244	18.59	$71,005.65
	New Democratic	Sandra Romano Anthony	4,724	14.07	$8,845.73
	Green	Nick Capra	1,002	2.98	$1,692.18
	Independent	Axcel Cocon	192	0.57	$1,801.61
Total valid votes			33,580	100.00
Total rejected ballots			261
Turnout			33,841	57.90
Electors on the lists			58,450

2004 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	17,903	64.7%	-12.6%
	New Democratic	Sandra Romano Anthony	4,228	15.2%	+6.0%
	Conservative	Leslie Soobrian	3,120	11.2%	+0.5%
	Christian Heritage	Joseph Grubb	1,580	5.7%
	Green	Tim McKellar	824	3.0%
Total valid votes			27,655	100.0%
	Liberal hold		Swing		+6.55

2000 Canadian federal election: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	19,737	77.3%	+3.1%
	Alliance	Munish Chandra	2,724	10.7%	+7.9%
	New Democratic	Julia McCrea	2,361	9.2%	+1.5%
	Marijuana	G. Marcello Marchetti	537	2.1%
	Marxist–Leninist	Amarjit Dhillon	175	0.7%
Total valid votes			25,534	100.0%
	Liberal hold		Swing		+3.1

Canadian federal by-election, November 15, 1999: York West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	10,034	74.2	+0.5
	Progressive Conservative	Elio Di Iorio	1,721	12.7	+5.2
	New Democratic	Julia McCrea	1,054	7.8	-2.1
	Reform	Enzo Granzotto	377	2.8	-6.2
	Canadian Action	Stephen Burega	242	1.8
	Green	Henry Zeifman	101	0.7
Total valid votes			13,529	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.3
By-election due to the appointment of Sergio Marchi as Canadian Ambassador to the World Trade Organization

1997 Canadian federal election: York South-Weston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Nunziata	17,163	45.0
	Liberal	Judy Sgro	12,732	33.4	-36.7
	New Democratic	Odoardo Di Santo	3,552	9.3	+3.9
	Reform	Kathleen Crone	2,363	6.2	-8.6
	Progressive Conservative	Jan Harnett	1,925	5.1	-1.8
	Green	Shelley Lipsey	171	0.4
	Marxist–Leninist	Ginette Boutet	112	0.3	+0.1
	Independent	Hassan Husseini	98	0.3
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing		–
Total valid votes			38,116	100.0

References

1. Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee
2. https://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members/Judy-A-Sgro(1787)/Roles
3. "1994 Toronto General Election Results (Former Metropolitan Toronto): Former Municipality of the City of North York: Metro Councillor". City of Toronto. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
4. Moloney, Paul; Campion Smith, Bruce (January 15, 2005). "A well-earned reputation as a battling politician; Judy Sgro loses cabinet portfolio: She promises a fight to clear her name". Toronto Star. p. F1.
5. Fife, Robert (December 27, 2004). "Sgro aide tried to silence critics by withholding permits, MPs allege". Ottawa Citizen. p. A9.
6. "Sgro quits cabinet to fight allegations". CTV News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2007.
7. "Sgro's accuser trying to avoid deportation". CTV News. January 15, 2005. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012.
8. Sean, Gordon (February 1, 2005). "Sgro sues Singh for slander, libel; 3 others named in $750,000 lawsuit: Accusations led to minister resigning". Toronto Star. p. A6.
9. Geiger, John (May 11, 2005). "The belated vindication of Judy Sgro". National Post. p. A22.
10. Glen McGregor; Stephen Maher (June 7, 2010). "Toronto MP uses taxpayers' money to rent condo owned by her children". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
11. Kirkup, Kristy (June 11, 2013). "Liberal MP Judy Sgro sloughs off questions about her housing expenses". Toronto Sun. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
12. "Judy Sgro: Member of Parliament at House of Commons". LinkedIn. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
13. "Liberals plan to ease CPP rules". The Province. November 3, 2010. p. A11.
14. http://www.elections.ca/WPAPPS/WPR/EN/NC/Details?province=-1&distyear=2013&district=2268&party=1&keywords2=Sgro&selectedid=7119
15. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Humber River—Black Creek, 30 September 2015
16. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website
• Judy Sgro – Parliament of Canada biography