Michael Levitt | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forYork Centre | |
| In office October 19, 2015 – September 1, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Adler |
| Succeeded by | Ya'ara Saks |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1970-05-09)May 9, 1970 (age 55)[1] |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Residence(s) | Toronto,Ontario |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
Michael Levitt is a formerCanadian politician who represented theriding ofYork Centre in theHouse of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2020 as a member of theLiberal Party.
Born and raised inScotland, Levitt came with his family to Canada when he was 14.[2] Levitt is Jewish.[3]
Levitt served as Chair of theHouse of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.[4]
Before running for office, Levitt was a founding member of theCanadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, co-chaired Liberal Friends of Israel, and served as a Partner and Vice-President of Business Development for the Benjamin Group in Toronto, a company providing lifecycle services to Toronto's Jewish community.[5] He has also served on the boards ofMount Sinai Hospital and theKoffler Centre of the Arts, both located in Toronto.[6]
Levitt was awarded with the King Charles III Coronation Medal on July 3, 2025 in recognition of his service and dedication to Canada. Levitt was nominated by former MP Marco Mendicino to receive the medal.
Levitt was first elected to Parliament in the2015 federal election, defeating theConservative incumbent,Mark Adler.[7][8] He was re-elected in the2019 federal election.[9]
On August 4, 2020, Levitt announced he would resign as an MP, effective September 1, 2020, to become the President and CEO of the Canadian regional office of theFriends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.[10]
| 2019 Canadian federal election:York Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Michael Levitt | 21,680 | 50.20 | +3.32 | $93,151.84 | |||
| Conservative | Rachel Willson | 15,852 | 36.71 | −7.29 | $89,344.00 | |||
| New Democratic | Andrea Vásquez Jiménez | 4,251 | 9.84 | +2.51 | none listed | |||
| Green | Rebecca Wood | 1,403 | 3.25 | +1.45 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 43,186 | 98.48 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 665 | 1.52 | +0.78 | |||||
| Turnout | 43,851 | 61.76 | -3.96 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 71,000 | |||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +5.31 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[11][12] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election:York Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Michael Levitt | 20,109 | 46.9 | +13.7 | – | |||
| Conservative | Mark Adler | 18,893 | 44.0 | -4.5 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Hal Berman | 3,148 | 7.3 | -8.6 | – | |||
| Green | Constantine Kritsonis | 794 | 1.8 | -0.5 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 42,944 | 100.0 | $198,299.74 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 319 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 43,263 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 64,297 | |||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[13][14] | ||||||||