Roman Baber

Roman Baber is a Member of Provincial Parliament, elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election.[1] He represents the riding of York Centre as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. He currently serves as Chair of the 42nd Parliament's Standing Committee on Justice Policy.[2]

Roman Baber

MPP
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for York Centre
Assumed office
June 7, 2018
Preceded byMonte Kwinter
Personal details
Born1980
Soviet Union
Political partyProgressive Conservative
ResidenceToronto, Ontario
OccupationCivil and commercial litigation lawyer

Background

Baber was born and raised in the Soviet Union until age 8 then lived in Israel until age 15. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1995 and settled in North York.[3] Baber attended high school at W.L. Mackenzie Collegiate, obtained a B.A. from York University and then graduated law school at the University of Western Ontario.[3][4][5]

Baber was called to the Ontario Bar in 2006. He practiced in the areas of bankruptcy & commercial litigation for the first 4 years of his career. For 8 years before his election he practiced primarily insurance & commercial litigation as a partner with the North York firm of Taylor, Baber & Mergui.[6]

Community Work

Baber is an occasional lecturer at an after-school program, teaching constitutional and criminal law topics.[3]

Baber is a member of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, a global order of knighthood in the Philippines and around the world. In December 2018, he was promoted to a new rank of "Commander".[7][8] He is also a member of the Jewish Russian Community Centre.[9]

Baber has often spoken against anti-Semitism in Ontario. He introduced Bill 84, a private members bill which passed 2nd reading on April 4, 2019 that would prohibit hate promoting demonstrations on the Legislative Grounds of Queen's Park.[10] Baber also penned a letter sharing his concern with regards to the protest which was planned to take place at the 2019 Walk with Israel and worked closely with the Toronto Police Service, CIJA and UJA of Greater Toronto to ensure that all would be kept safe.[11][12] Baber spoke against the annual Al Quds Day rally and released the official government statement regarding this.[13]

Political career

Baber defeated the former federal Minister of Finance, Joe Oliver for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, nomination in York Centre for the 2018 Ontario election. Oliver lost to Baber by a margin of 711 to 465, respectively on January 15, 2017.[14]

On June 7, 2018, Baber won his York Centre seat in the General Election defeating his nearest challenger by a two-one margin and claimed over 50% of the vote.[15] The riding had been held by former Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter since 1985.[16]

Baber was appointed Chair of Parliament's Standing Committee on Justice Policy on October 31, 2019.[2] He previously served as a member of the Justice Policy Committee and the Standing Committee on Government Agencies.[17] In addition, Baber was appointed and served as a member of the Select Committee on Financial Transparency, investigating the source of the previous Liberal Deficit. In the course of the Financial Transparency Committee, Baber questioned the former Premier Kathleen Wynne, as well as former Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault.[18][19][20][21] In 2019, The Hill Times reported that Baber is organizing a campaign to oust Andrew Scheer as Leader of the Conservative Party and "reshape the party as one more friendly to “Millennial, Women, LGBTQ and Urban Voters" during the April leadership review.[22]

Autism file & Baber Report

According to the Globe and Mail, in April 2019, Baber was asked by Premier Ford to review the Government's Autism plan. Baber's review, later termed the “Baber Report” was provided anonymously to the Globe and Mail after it was shared with the Government's Autism Advisory Panel.[23][24][25][26][27]

Baber's Report called for an immediate reset to the Government's Autism plan, saying the government's messaging on the topic was inaccurate and the plan would leave some families “destitute.” Baber also wrote that the government's repeated suggestion that 23,000 children were on the waitlist for service was “unverified and is likely inaccurate.” [23]

The Baber Report included a detailed analysis and sweeping suggestions for an alternative plan. Baber proposed a needs-based program to “treat as many children as possible given the capacity and monetary limitations of the program.” [23]

Within days of the leak of the Baber Report, multiple Ontario autism advocates called for the government to adopt the Baber Plan, especially since it was written by one of their own.[28]

On July 29, 2019, the Ontario government apologized to the families of autistic children for the initial Plan and acknowledged that the changes to the autism program announced earlier this year were poorly conceived.[29]

The Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Todd Smith said the government would reverse its direction and provide families with funding based on the needs of individual children. According to the Global & Mail “the government's change in direction comes after months of protests from parents, and the Baber review obtained by The Globe and Mail, that called for an immediate reset of the government's strategy. The revised framework announced by the government would be needs-based, sustainable, within $600 million and would treat as many children as possible.[29]

Electoral record
2018 Ontario general election: York Centre
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeRoman Baber18,43450.15+19.13
New DemocraticAndrea Vásquez Jiménez8,61723.44+7.70
LiberalRamon Estaris7,86521.39-25.83
GreenRoma Lyon8432.29-0.98
None of the AboveCherie Ann Day4671.27
LibertarianBenjamin Kamminga3981.08
Ontario Moderate PartyAlexander Leonov1370.37
Total valid votes 36,761100.0  
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +22.48
Source: Elections Ontario[30]
gollark: ... I fixed that, I am now trying to work out the ißue.
gollark: ```scheme(define metagollariosity (lambda (x y z) (define opponent-next-move (z y x z)) (display "about to be gollarious\n") (display "simulating...\n") (write z) (define simulate (lambda (n) (z (cons n y) (cons opponent-next-move x) z)) (define if-defect (simulate 1)) (write "simulated to depth 1") (define if-cooperate (simulate 0)) (write if-cooperate) (if (> (car (prisond 1 if-defect)) (car (prisond 0 if-cooperate))) 1 0))))```
gollark: Yes, I know that, it was a foolish mistake, I fixed it.
gollark: OH BEE, it still errors.
gollark: I see. So I should `car`ify it? Fascinating.

References
  1. Sunshine, Fannie (June 7, 2018). "PCs' Roman Baber wins York Centre, says voters want 'Ontario back on track'". Toronto Star.
  2. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/committees/justice-policy/parliament-42/members
  3. "Roman Baber, MPP for York Centre". August 14, 2018.
  4. https://twitter.com/Roman_Baber/status/1127260310019149825
  5. https://romanbabermpp.ca/about/
  6. "Taylor, Baber & Mergui". www.tbalaw.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  7. Cho, Stan (November 26, 2018). "What an honour today to introduce the Knights of Rizal, an order originating from the Philippines, and Ladies of Rizal to our #Ontario legislature with fellow Knight of Rizal, Sir @Roman_Baber , and Deputy Premier @celliottability!pic.twitter.com/fLYKfKb5WZ".
  8. Baber, Roman (December 30, 2018). "Honoured to be promoted to Commander, Knights of Rizal, at a beautiful Rizal Day ceremony held today in #yorkcentre, home to the largest Filipino community in Canada. Dr. Rizal fought for equality, justice & independence in the Philippines. We are so very blessed #onpolipic.twitter.com/KYEvjWm5iO".
  9. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157598422775643&set=a.10153871972310643&type=3&theater
  10. "Prohibiting Hate-Promoting Demonstrations at Queen's Park Act, 2019". Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
  11. Baber, Roman (May 13, 2019). "Please see joint news release of today's date regarding the UJA Walk for Israel and the proposed counter-rally. There is no room for anti-Semitism or hate of any kind in Ontario. #onpoli #yorkcentrepic.twitter.com/UXAN1JA3Ft".
  12. "LEVY: Anti-Israel party crashers have little impact on Walk with Israel | Toronto Sun". May 21, 2019.
  13. Baber, Roman (May 31, 2019). "My statement re Toronto Al Quds Day rally scheduled for tomorrow. #ONPoli #yorkcentrepic.twitter.com/cp7QHxnOAw".
  14. Staff, CJN (2017-01-16). "Joe Oliver loses Ontario PC bid to Roman Baber, Russian Jew". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  15. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  16. "PCs' Roman Baber wins York Centre, says voters want 'Ontario back on track' | The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  17. "Roman Baber | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  18. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-kathleen-wynne-financial-transparency-1.4930018
  19. "Roman Baber | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  20. Paikin, Steve (December 4, 2018). "MPP Roman Baber is a lawyer who has interviewed thousands of witnesses in court. He was chided several times yesterday for treating @Kathleen_Wynne with hostility. He's nudging up to the line today. #onpolipic.twitter.com/nCGaCP5LiU".
  21. Baber, Roman (December 2, 2018). "Who ordered the cost of the Fair Hydro Plan be kept "off the Books"? Andrew Teliszewsky, Former Lib Chief of Staff (Energy) had one answer. But Gadi Mayman, head of Ontario Finance Authority had another. I will be asking Kathleen Wynne for the truth tomorrow. #ONpoli #YorkCentrepic.twitter.com/GFcEUinSD6".
  22. Times, The Hill (2019-12-09). "'Competence' of Scheer in doubt, says ex-Tory Senator Segal, while progressive Conservatives eye the future". The Hill Times. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  23. "Ford government deliberately spread misinformation about autism program, internal review says" – via The Globe and Mail.
  24. Stone, Laura (June 28, 2019). "NEW: Statement from Premier Ford repeats line about autism waitlist that PC MPP ⁦@Roman_Baber⁩ calls "unverified...likely inaccurate...a fiction." "Let me be clear, there are 23,000 children waiting for service and today we in the process of clearing this list." #onpolipic.twitter.com/7ygCVH4WPN".
  25. Rathbone, Aaron. "Leaked autism file leaves families complaining about Ford government - CHCH". www.chch.com.
  26. Baber, Roman (June 28, 2019). "At PO's request, I wrote a Report on the OAP, including a needs-based Plan. While MCCSS wanted the Autism Panel to review my Plan, the Ministry instead released the entire Report. We must let the Autism Panel & Ministry continue their work toward a needs-based OAP #onpoli".
  27. Monaghan, Patrick (July 1, 2019). "Roman Baber – A History in Tweets". Medium.
  28. "Autism advocates calling for Ontario to adopt full program reset laid out in PC MPP's review" – via The Globe and Mail.
  29. "Ontario government to reverse direction on autism program and provide families with needs-based support" – via The Globe and Mail.
  30. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
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