Michael Cassidy (Canadian politician)

Michael Morris Cassidy (born May 10, 1937) is a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1984, and in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 1988. Cassidy was the leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1978 to 1982.

Michael Cassidy
Cassidy speaks at a federal NDP rally in 2006
Leader of the Ontario NDP
In office 1978–1982
Preceded by	Stephen Lewis
Succeeded by	Bob Rae
Member of Parliament (MP)
In office 1984–1988
Preceded by	John Leslie Evans
Succeeded by	Mac Harb
Constituency	Ottawa Centre
Ontario MPP
In office 1971–1982
Preceded by	Harold MacKenzie
Succeeded by	Evelyn Gigantes
Constituency	Ottawa Centre
Alderman on Ottawa City Council
In office January 1, 1970 – September 1, 1972
Preceded by	Mary Harrison and Lionel O'Connor
Succeeded by	Joe Cassey
Constituency	Wellington Ward
Personal details
Born	Michael Morris Cassidy (1937-05-10) May 10, 1937 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	Ontario NDP (1978-1982) Federal NDP (1984-1988)
Occupation	Radio and television broadcaster

Background

He was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and was educated at the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics. He worked as a journalist before entering political life, and was bureau chief of the Financial Times in Ottawa for a period. His parents were Beatrice Pearce and Harry Cassidy, who was a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a one time candidate for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party and dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Toronto.[1]

Politics

Cassidy was elected as an Ottawa alderman in January 1970. The following year, he was elected to the Ontario legislature for Ottawa Centre in the 1971 provincial election. Cassidy defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Garry Guzzo, who later served in the legislature from 1995 to 2003, by 182 votes. He did not immediately resign from his council seat, and held both positions until the provincial government banned concurrent tenure in 1972. Cassidy was re-elected with an increased majority in the 1975 election, in which the NDP under Stephen Lewis reduced the Conservatives to a minority government and became the official opposition in the legislature.

The NDP fell back to third place, behind the Liberal Party, in the 1977 provincial election, and Lewis resigned as leader the following year. Cassidy entered the contest to succeed him and defeated Ian Deans and Michael Breaugh in February 1978. He had a difficult job following Lewis, who was a charismatic and dynamic figure. Cassidy, by comparison, had a rather dry personality. He was also the most left-wing of the three leadership candidates, and was not fully trusted by the party establishment. Cassidy's policy advisor in the leadership campaign was James Laxer, a former leader of The Waffle NDP faction which had separated from the party in 1974. Some members of the NDP caucus considered his election as a serious mistake, and encouraged him to resign before contesting an election. Cassidy ignored this advice, and remained as leader.

The NDP fared poorly in the 1981 election, falling from 33 seats to 21. Their decline allowed the Progressive Conservatives to regain a majority government, while the Liberals neither gained nor lost seats. Cassidy faced a difficult re-election in Ottawa Centre, and defeated Progressive Conservative candidate David Small by only 599 votes. He stepped down as leader after the campaign, and was replaced in 1982 by Bob Rae. Donald C. MacDonald, another former NDP leader, would later described Cassidy's leadership as "an unhappy interlude for both him and the party". (MacDonald, The Happy Warrior, p. 186.)

Cassidy then resigned as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in 1984 to enter national politics. He campaigned for the federal New Democratic Party in the 1984 election, and defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Dan Chilcott by 54 votes to win the Ottawa Centre riding. He was defeated in the 1988 election, losing to Liberal Mac Harb by 762 votes.

Cassidy was appointed to the board of directors of Ontario Hydro in the early 1990s, during Bob Rae's tenure as premier. He was fired without notice on January 10, 1996 by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris, but was reinstated by a court order on January 19. Cassidy opposed the Harris government's plan to restructure and partially privatize the crown corporation, and remained a director until 1997.

Electoral record

1988 Canadian federal election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mac Harb	18,096	36.46	+6.84
	New Democratic	Mike Cassidy	17,334	34.92	+0.55
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Plamondon	13,142	26.48	−7.78
	Green	John W. Dodson	300	0.60	+0.05
	Rhinoceros	Leapin Liz Johnson	292	0.59	−0.15
	Independent	John Turmel	152	0.31
	Independent	Michael K.B. Hahn	115	0.23
	Libertarian	Rudolph Shally	111	0.22
	Independent	Hardial Bains	66	0.13
	Commonwealth of Canada	Istvan Kovach	30	0.06
Total valid votes			49,638	100.00
Source(s) "History of Federal Ridings — General Elections — OTTAWA CENTRE, Ontario (1966- )". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved May 28, 2014.

1984 Canadian federal election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Mike Cassidy	17,844	34.37	+18.41
	Progressive Conservative	Dan Chilcott	17,790	34.26	−2.15
	Liberal	John Evans	15,380	29.62	−16.28
	Rhinoceros	Barry J. Heidt	382	0.74	−0.02
	Green	Gordon Scott McLeod	285	0.55
	Communist	Marvin Glass	93	0.18	−0.07
	Independent	Ray Joseph Cormier	71	0.14
	Independent	Rodger L. James	45	0.09
	Independent	Marc Gauvin	29	0.06
Total valid votes			51,919	100.00
Source(s) "History of Federal Ridings — General Elections — OTTAWA CENTRE, Ontario (1966- )". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved May 28, 2014.

1981 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Michael Cassidy	9,316	36.77	−4.79
	Progressive Conservative	David Small	8,717	34.41	+2.25
	Liberal	Karl Feige	6,926	27.34	+2.47
	Independent	John Turmel	376	1.48
Total valid votes			25,335	100.0	−0.91

1977 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Michael Cassidy	10,626	41.56	+2.64
	Progressive Conservative	Brian Cameron	8,223	32.16	−0.62
	Liberal	Ian Kimmerly	6,358	24.87	−2.52
	Communist	Marvin Glass	360	1.41	+0.5
Total valid votes			25,567	100.0	−6.64

1975 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Michael Cassidy	10,658	38.92	+3.46
	Progressive Conservative	Gale Kerwin	8,978	32.78	−1.88
	Liberal	Gerald Kirby	7,500	27.39	−2.49
	Communist	Marvin Glass	250	0.91
Total valid votes			27,386	100.0	+20.26

1971 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Michael Cassidy	8,075	35.46	+17.59
	Progressive Conservative	Garry Guzzo	7,893	34.66	−4.4
	Liberal	Rudy Capogreco	6,804	29.88	−13.19
Total valid votes			22,772	100.0	+27.57

Later life

In 2005, Cassidy has become involved in a battle to protect Tay River and the surrounding area from exploitation by multinational developers. He published an essay on the controversy in October 2005.[2] Cassidy has also operated the Ottawa-based Ginger Group Consultants firm, providing lobbying, strategic planning and public relations work for labour organizations and related groups.

He was elected to Council in the Township of Lanark Highlands in 2003 but was defeated in 2006.[3]

References

1. Francis J. Turner (ed.). Encyclopedia of Canadian social work. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-88920-436-5. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
2. Straight Goods - Canada's independent on-line source of news you can use Archived 2005-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2006-12-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)
• Michael Cassidy – Parliament of Canada biography