Dan Newman (born January 16, 1963) is a former politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1995 to 2003, and was a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

Background

Newman was educated at

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at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1987. From 1985 to 1995, he worked as manager of the

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

Publishing Corporation. Many would later accuse the Sun, a center right forum, of being uncritically supportive of the Mike Harris government. Newman also served as President of the Scarborough PC Association in 1992–93.

Politics

Newman was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Mary Anne Plimbett and incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Steve Owens in the riding of Scarborough Centre. The Tories won a majority government and Newman served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of Mike Harris's government. He was re-elected in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Liberal candidate Adrian Heaps and New Democrat Michael Yorke in the re-distributed riding of Scarborough Southwest. On March 3, 2000, Newman was appointed to cabinet as Minister of the Environment. This appointment occurred just before a serious outbreak of

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

poisoning in

Walkerton, Ontario Walkerton is a Town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within and governed by the municipality of Brockton, Ontario, Brockton. It is the site of Brockton's municipal offices and the county seat of Bruce County, Ontario, Bruce County. I ...

, in which several people died following the contamination of the town's water supply. Many blamed the Harris government's privatization of water inspection for the tragedy. Newman, as Environment Minister, bore the brunt of this criticism and was forced to defend his government's policies before an increasingly skeptical public. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he announced a public investigation and stricter standards for municipal water treatment. On February 8, 2001, Newman was appointed as Minister of Northern Development and Mines. When Ernie Eves replaced Harris as

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

on April 15, 2002, he named Newman as Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Newman was defeated in the 2003 provincial election, losing to Liberal Lorenzo Berardinetti by almost 6,000 votes.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Dan 1963 births 21st-century Canadian politicians Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Scarborough, Toronto Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Toronto alumni