Gerald Martiniuk, (August 5, 1937 – May 2, 2017) was a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1995 to 2011 who represented the southern Ontario riding of

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Background

Martiniuk was born on August 5, 1937, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He was educated at

Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,267 students enrolled. The school is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grades 9 through 12 and is operated and governed by the Toronto D ...

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

(Political Science and Economics) and

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

Politics

Martiniuk began his career at the municipal level, serving as a school trustee on the Waterloo County Board of Education, an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in Preston, and chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Commission. In the 1995 provincial election, he was elected in the riding of

over incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Mike Farnan. He was easily re-elected in the 1999 election, defeating Liberal Jerry Boyle by over 14,000 votes. In 1998 he was appointed as

Parliamentary Assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

to the Attorney General. The PCs were defeated in the provincial election of 2003, although Martiniuk was again re-elected, this time defeating Boyle by just over 3000 votes. He served as opposition critic for several portfolios including Labour, Consumer and Business Services, Community and Social Services Critic and Seniors. In 2004, he supported

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007 ...

's successful bid replace Ernie Eves as provincial PC leader. Martiniuk was again elected in the provincial election of 2007 with a plurality of 3243. He served as the critic for Revenue and Seniors. In 2008 he supported Tim Hudak's successful PC leadership bid. In 2011, he introduced the Ukrainian Heritage Bill which sets September 7 as ''Ukrainian Heritage Day'' in Ontario to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada in 1891. The bill was passed on March 30, 2011. On October 14, 2010, Martiniuk announced his decision not to run in 2011 election.

Affiliations

He was a director of the St. John Ambulance, Cambridge United Way, Preston-Hespeler Rotary Club, Trinity Community Table, Preston YMCA, Chair, Conestoga College Advisory Committee on Criminology before entering provincial politics, and served as president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.

Personal life/death

He and his wife Christine raised four children. He died in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

, at the age of 79.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martiniuk, Gerry 1938 births 2017 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Osgoode Hall Law School alumni Politicians from Cambridge, Ontario Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Toronto alumni University of Western Ontario alumni 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario