Yasmin Ratansi

Yasmin Ratansi MP (born January 4, 1951) is a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Don Valley East in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2011, and again from 2015. She is a member of the Liberal Party. Ratansi is an Ismaili Muslim, and was the first Muslim woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons.

Yasmin Ratansi MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Don Valley East
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Joe Daniel
In office June 28, 2004 – May 2, 2011
Preceded by	David Collenette
Succeeded by	Joe Daniel
Personal details
Born	(1951-01-04) January 4, 1951 Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika Territory
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Toronto
Profession	Accountant, management consultant

Before politics

Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, she immigrated to Canada in 1974.[1] She worked as a management consultant. She is a Certified General Accountant (CGA), a member of the Certified General Accountants of Ontario, and a fellow of the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. In 2009, Ratansi was bestowed with the John Leslie Award by CGA Canada, given in recognition of CGAs "who have achieved a high and favourable profile in the Canadian community."[2]

Politics

In 1979 Ratansi joined the Liberal party and campaigned for David Collenette.[1] Later she was the federal Liberal candidate for Don Valley East in the 1988 federal election. In the nomination for the Liberal candidacy leading up to the vote, rival Mel Catre complained that voting irregularities allowed Ratansi supporters to vote freely while his supporters were barred from voting. A subsequent investigation failed to prove these allegations.[3] Ratansi finished in second place 2,838 votes behind the Conservative winner Alan Redway. She served on the party's federal campaign committee in 1992 and was treasurer of the party's Ontario wing from 1993 to 1997. In 1998 she served as one of three co-chairs on the campaign to elect Mel Lastman as mayor of the newly amalgamated city of Toronto.[4]

In 2004 she ran again facing former MPP David Johnson. During her campaign she spoke about the issue of immigrant underemployment. She also supported a publicly run health system. She won the riding by more than 10,000 votes.[1]

During her tenure in parliament, Ratansi sat through three parliamentary sessions. During this time she acted as the Official Opposition's Critic for National Revenue and as critic for the Canada Revenue Agency. She also chaired a number of committees including the Status of Women and the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.[5] She also served as Liberal Caucus treasurer.

Electoral record

2015 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	24,048	57.82	+19.43	$109,579.16
	Conservative	Maureen Harquail	12,155	29.22	-7.16	$127,111.51
	New Democratic	Khalid Ahmed	4,307	10.36	-11.52	$9,377.74
	Green	Laura Elizabeth Sanderson	1,078	2.62	-0.21	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,588	100.0		$197,799.11
Total rejected ballots			257	0.61	+0.06
Turnout			41,845	66.75	+9.51
Eligible voters			62,682
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.30
Source: Elections Canada[6][7][8]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joe Daniel	14,422	36.78	+5.78
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	13,552	34.56	-13.51
	New Democratic	Mary Trapani Hynes	9,878	25.19	+11.87
	Green	Akil Sadikali	1,114	2.84	-4.05
	Christian Heritage	Ryan Kidd	246	0.63	-0.07
Total valid votes			39,212	100.00
Total rejected ballots			218	0.55	–
Turnout			39,430	57.24	–
Eligible voters			68,890	–	–
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.65

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	18,264	48.07	-5.92	$67,602
	Conservative	Eugene McDermott	11,777	31.00	+1.84	$77,618
	New Democratic	Mary Trapani Hynes	5,062	13.32	+0.43	$5,282
	Green	Wayne Clements	2,618	6.89	+2.95	$4,032
	Christian Heritage	Alex Kovalenko	266	0.70	–	$163
Total valid votes/Expense limit			38,347	100.00	$81,387
Total rejected ballots			178
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.88

2006 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	23,441	53.99	-0.6
	Conservative	Eugene McDermott	12,661	29.16	+1.2
	New Democratic	Richard Alan Hennick	5,597	12.89	-0.3
	Green	Wayne Clements	1,714	3.94	+1.0
Total valid votes			43,413	100.0%
Total rejected ballots			201
	Liberal hold		Swing		-0.90

2004 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	21,864	54.6	-12.0
	Conservative	David Johnson	11,206	28.0	+7.7
	New Democratic	Valerie Mah	5,287	13.2	+7.4
	Green	Dan King	1,172	2.9
	Christian Heritage	Ryan Kidd	351	0.8	+0.3
	Communist	Christopher Black	149	0.4
Total valid votes			40,029	100.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		-9.85

1988 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Redway	18,719	44.7	-9.7
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	15,881	37.9	+3.9
	New Democratic	Brant Loper	6,310	15.1	+4.4
	Libertarian	Mark Meschino	538	1.3	+0.6
	Independent	David Smith	271	0.6
	Communist	Maria Kontopidis	155	0.4
Total valid votes			41,874	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-6.30

References

1. Nicole MacIntyre. Tories' Johnson returns to fray; Former education minister lost seat in 1999 protest vote Immigrant underemployment, high rents issues in riding. Toronto Star. may 24, 2004. pg. B1
2. CGA Canada, John Leslie Award
3. Liberal loser in Don Valley East complains backers couldn't vote. Toronto Star. July 11, 1988. Pg. A4
4. William Walker. Colle defends mega flip-flop Harsh critic of unified city now on Lastman campaign team. Toronto Star, August 22, 1997. Pg. A5
5. Parliament of Canada: Yasmin Ratansi, Federal experience. Last accessed March 12, 2010.
6. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Don Valley East, 30 September 2015
7. Elections Canada – Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits
8. Elections Canada – Forty-Second General Election 2015 - Poll-by-poll results

External links

• Yasmin Ratansi – Parliament of Canada biography