Paul Calandra | |
|---|---|
 Calandra in 2023 | |
| Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing | |
| Assumed office September 5, 2023 | |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Steve Clark |
| Ontario Government House Leader | |
| In office June 20, 2019 – June 6, 2024 | |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Todd Smith |
| Succeeded by | Steve Clark |
| Member of theOntario Provincial Parliament forMarkham—Stouffville | |
| Assumed office June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Helena Jaczek[a] |
| Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care | |
| In office January 14, 2022 – September 4, 2023 | |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Rod Phillips |
| Succeeded by | Stan Cho |
| Ontario Minister of Legislative Affairs | |
| Assumed office October 19, 2021 | |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines (Energy) | |
| In office June 29, 2018 – June 20, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Han Dong |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of Parliament forOak Ridges—Markham | |
| In office October 14, 2008 – August 4, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Lui Temelkovski |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Parliamentary Secretary to thePrime Minister of Canada for Intergovernmental Affairs | |
| In office September 19, 2013 – November 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Dean Del Mastro |
| Succeeded by | Adam Vaughan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1970-05-13)May 13, 1970 (age 54) Markham,Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Other political affiliations | Conservative Canadian Alliance |
| Residence(s) | Stouffville,Ontario, Canada |
Paul A. CalandraMPP (born May 13, 1970) is a Canadian politician who has served as a minister in theOntario provincial cabinet since 2019. Calandra has been theminister of municipal affairs and housing since 2023. He previously served as theminister of long-term care from 2022 to 2023 andGovernment House Leader from 2019 to 2024. Calandra representsMarkham—Stouffville in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario.
He previously sat in the federalHouse of Commons from 2008 to 2015 for theConservative Party, serving as aparliamentary secretary toPrime MinisterStephen Harper from 2013 to 2015. In the2015 federal election, he was a candidate in the Markham—Stouffville riding, created as a result of thefederal electoral redistribution of 2012, and was defeated byJane Philpott.
Calandra studied history with a minor in political science atCarleton University.[1] His claim on his campaign website in 2007 to have "complet(ed) full-time university studies" was controversial[2] since, at that time he had not graduated.[3] In an interview withWhiStle Radio on September 29, 2015, he stated that he left school in the early '90s before completing his degree and had later obtained the remaining credits required to graduate by correspondence course.[4] He obtained a bachelor's degree from Carleton in November 2008.[1]
Prior to entering politics, Calandra worked in the insurance business from 1995 to 2003.[citation needed] He then served aschief of staff toSteve Gilchrist, who was the PCMPP forScarborough East in theMike Harris government.[5]
In 2005, Calandra was involved in a family dispute. In the early 2000s, he hadpower of attorney to manage his mother's affairs. In a lawsuit filed by his sisters, it was claimed the power of attorney had been revoked by his mother months before her death in August 2005, but Calandra had invoked it for personal gain.[3] Calandra's sisters alleged that he had charged $8,000 to his mother's credit card without her knowledge. In his statement of defence, Calandra said that the charges had been authorized.[6] The sisters also alleged that Calandra took $25,000 from his mother to pay taxes, but instead wrote the cheque to himself and left the taxes unpaid. Calandra claimed in his statement of defence that the money was given to him by his mother "freely, without pretext, and of her own volition." A document filed on September 8, 2008, the first full day of the2008 federal election campaign, said that the parties had settled the case out of court.[6]
Calandra ran as theCanadian Alliance candidate in the2000 federal election in theToronto riding ofScarborough East. He was defeated byLiberal incumbentJohn McKay by 16,460 votes.[7] He ran eight years later in the2008 federal election as the Conservative candidate in the York Region riding ofOak Ridges—Markham. He defeated Liberal incumbentLui Temelkovski by 545 votes.[8] He was re-elected in2011 defeating Temelkovski again, this time by 20,680 votes.[9]
Following his election in 2008, in Calandra's first term he sat on the Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics Committee, Citizenship and Immigration Committee, and the Government Operations and Estimates Committee.
During this term, he also introduced twoprivate member's bills. On June 19, 2009, he introduced 'An Act to Change the Name of the Electoral District of Oak Ridges—Markham,[10] and on March 11, 2011, he introduced 'An Act Respecting the Establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-Hand Precious Metal Articles'.[11] Neither of these bills proceeded past first reading.[12]
He was re-elected in the2011 election and was subsequently appointedparliamentary secretary to theminister of Canadian heritage andofficial languages where he sat on the Standing Committee for Canadian Heritage and formerly the Standing Committee on Bill C-11. In 2012 Calandra was forced to repay $5,000 that his riding association had received in donations at a fundraiser held at the home of Kirupalini Kirupakaran, at which he had been present. Kirupakaran was the sister of the CEO of WorldBand Media Inc., which was one of the firms lobbying theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the 88.1 FM frequency allocation in the Toronto area. She had pledged to the CRTC that she would invest up to $2,000,000 in WorldBand Media should it win the competition. The CRTC at the time was under theDepartment of Canadian Heritage thereby giving rise to allegations of a conflict of interest. Following questions fromThe Globe and Mail, and despite initially denying any donations had been received from anyone associated with the bid, Calandra eventually repaid donations made by five people listed with the CRTC as proposed WorldBand investors.[13]
In the same year a controversial $500 donation was made to Calandra's riding association by Stanislaus Antony at another fundraising event. Antony was leading a competing bid for 88.1 FM with the CRTC for a station to be called STAN FM. Immediately prior toThe Globe and Mail's publication of the article questioning the WorldBand donations Calandra confirmed that his riding association was reviewing the Antony contribution.[14] The donation was not returned.[15]
In September 2013 Paul Calandra was appointed parliamentary secretary to the prime minister andminister of intergovernmental affairs.
As parliamentary secretary Calandra often fielded questions on behalf of Prime Minister Harper during theSenate Scandal (2013). This brought Calandra under a great deal of scrutiny for his perceived non-answers, deflections, and attacks, and prompted widespread backlash in the form of media articles,[16] social media postings, vandalization of his Wikipedia page,[17] and being covered on theRick Mercer Report.[18] On September 23, 2014, Calandra's repeated refusal to acknowledge questions about Canada's involvement in Iraq led theOpposition leader,Thomas Mulcair to question the integrity of thespeaker of the House,Andrew Scheer, who did not intervene. Instead of answering questions about Canada's involvement in Iraq, Calandra insisted on reiterating Canada's commitment to Israel, promptingGlobal News to describe the exchange as "unreal", andThe Globe and Mail publishing an editorial stating "to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery".[19] On September 26, 2014, Calandra gave a tearful speech in Parliament to "unconditionally, unreservedly apologize to the House".[20]
Following an interview on theCBC'sPower & Politics about theMike Duffy trial,Peter Mansbridge referred to Calandra's responses as being "The Full Calandra", as he felt that he was answering different questions from those posed. This led to aTwitterhashtag of the same name[21][22] Following this, the comedianMark Critchtweeted that Calandra was "a slippery tool". Subsequently, Calandrablocked Critch from accessing his posts on Twitter. Critch then offered to donate money to charity for any user who tweeted similar messages to Calandra.[23][24] Other people blocked by Calandra on Twitter included parliamentary press gallery reporters Alex Boutilier, Lee Berthiaume, along withTheTyee.ca reporter Jeremy Nuttall and Jim Mason, the editor (@stouffeditor) of the Stouffville Sun-Tribune, the local newspaper in Calandra's riding, who had been blocked in 2014. Calandra later said that blocking of Mason had been accidental and subsequently unblocked him.[25] The habit of Conservative party members blocking those who disagreed with them on social media became referred to as #conblocked.[26][27]
Calandra entered the debate on the future of thePickering Airport lands that had previously beenexpropriated by theGovernment of Canada. He expressed support for aButtonville sized airport on the lands in contrast to the position taken by all his opponents.[28]
He was defeated byJane Philpott in theMarkham—Stouffvilleriding, created as a result of thefederal electoral redistribution of 2012.[29] In a CBC interview he blamed his loss on the Conservative Party's focus on identity issues, specifically theNiqābissue, the stripping of citizenship from dual nationals and the launching of a barbaric cultural practices hot line, claiming that voters were "confused" about the application ofBill C-24.[30]
In September 2016 Calandra announced that he would be seeking the Ontario PC nomination for theprovincial riding of Markham-Stouffville.[31] On November 11, it was announced that Calandra won the nomination and would represent the PCs in the2018 provincial election.[32]
Calandra had claimed to be a "big fan"[33] and "good friend"[31] of erstwhile PC leaderPatrick Brown, since 2008 but, following Brown's sudden resignation on January 25, 2018 due to allegations of sexual misconduct, Calandra threw his support behindCaroline Mulroney in the subsequent leadership contest[34][35] despite Brown's re-entry into the race.[36] Three weeks later, however, when it appeared that Mulroney's bid was struggling,[37] he switched allegiances once again to backChristine Elliott.[38]
In the2018 Ontario election, Calandra won the riding of Markham-Stouffville, defeating Liberal incumbentHelena Jaczek. On June 29, 2018, Calandra was appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of energy, northern development and mines (energy).[39] He was re-elected in the2022 Ontario general election with 48.42% of the vote.[40]
Calandra was appointed to the provincial cabinet of PremierDoug Ford in 2019 as government house leader andminister without portfolio. He was later promoted to a full minister in 2021, becoming the first minister of legislative affairs.[41] In 2022, Calandra assumed the role of minister of long-term care, following the resignation ofRod Philips.[42] In September 2023, he was named minister of municipal affairs and housing following the resignation ofSteve Clark.[43]
| 2022 Ontario general election:Markham—Stouffville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Paul Calandra | 21,176 | 48.43 | +0.31 | ||||
| Liberal | Kelly Dunn | 15,512 | 35.48 | +9.46 | ||||
| New Democratic | Kingsley Kwok | 4,137 | 9.46 | −10.96 | ||||
| Green | Myles O'Brien | 1,723 | 3.94 | −0.06 | ||||
| New Blue | Jennifer Gowland | 658 | 1.50 | |||||
| Ontario Party | Michele Petit | 517 | 1.18 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 43,723 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots | 229 | |||||||
| Turnout | 43,952 | 44.51 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 96,810 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservativehold | Swing | −4.58 | ||||||
Source(s)
| ||||||||
| 2018 Ontario general election:Markham—Stouffville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Paul Calandra | 25,912 | 48.12 | +14.03 | ||||
| Liberal | Helena Jaczek | 14,007 | 26.01 | –22.46 | ||||
| New Democratic | Kingsley Kwok | 10,997 | 20.42 | +8.30 | ||||
| Green | Jose Etcheverry | 2,153 | 4.00 | +0.34 | ||||
| Libertarian | Paul Balfour | 660 | 1.23 | N/A | ||||
| Moderate | Yuri Duboisky | 117 | 0.22 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes | 53,846 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservativenotional gain fromLiberal | Swing | +18.25 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Ontario[44] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election:Markham—Stouffville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Jane Philpott | 29,416 | 49.21 | +20.26 | $112,011.35 | |||
| Conservative | Paul Calandra | 25,565 | 42.77 | -7.72 | $164,609.85 | |||
| New Democratic | Gregory Hines | 3,647 | 6.10 | -10.88 | $7,176.28 | |||
| Green | Myles O'Brien | 1,145 | 1.92 | -0.81 | $1,395.62 | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 59,773 | 100.00 | $225,802.37 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 189 | 0.32 | ||||||
| Turnout | 59,962 | 68.56 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 87,460 | |||||||
| Liberalnotional gain fromConservative | Swing | +13.99 | ||||||
| Source:Elections Canada[45][46] | ||||||||
| 2011 Canadian federal election:Oak Ridges—Markham | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Paul Calandra | 46,241 | 51.12 | +8.88 | $133,192 | |||
| Liberal | Lui Temelkovski | 25,561 | 28.26 | -13.26 | $108,951 | |||
| New Democratic | Janice Hagan | 15,229 | 16.84 | +7.45 | $4,650 | |||
| Green | Trifon Haitas | 2,349 | 2.60 | -4.23 | $0.00 | |||
| Progressive Canadian | John Sicilano | 1,080 | 1.19 | – | $564 | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 90,460 | 100.00 | – | $134,351 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 430 | 0.47 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 90,890 | 59.96 | +4.30 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 151,584 | – | – | |||||
| Conservativehold | Swing | +11.07% | ||||||
| 2008 Canadian federal election:Oak Ridges—Markham | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Conservative | Paul Calandra | 32,028 | 42.2% | + 3.7% | ||||
| Liberal | Lui Temelkovski | 31,483 | 41.5% | - 5.5% | ||||
| New Democratic | Andy Arifin | 7,126 | 9.4% | - 0.5% | ||||
| Green | Richard Taylor | 5,184 | 6.8% | + 2.2% | ||||
| Total valid votes | 75,821 | – | +1.80% | |||||
| Turnout | – | 61.26% | ||||||
| 2000 Canadian federal election:Scarborough East | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||||
| Liberal | John McKay | 24,019 | 59.82 | $37,639 | ||||
| Alliance | Paul Calandra | 7,559 | 18.83 | $32,135 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Paul McCrossan | 6,284 | 15.65 | $26,016 | ||||
| New Democratic | Denise Lake | 1,884 | 4.69 | $4,973 | ||||
| Canadian Action | Dave Glover | 292 | 0.73 | none listed | ||||
| Marxist–Leninist | France Tremblay | 113 | 0.28 | $8 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 40,151 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 155 | |||||||
| Turnout | 40,306 | 55.91 | ||||||
| Electors on the lists | 72,092 | |||||||
| Sources:Official Results, Elections Canada andFinancial Returns, Elections Canada. | ||||||||
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