Frank de Jong (born October 16, 1955) is a Canadian politician and environmentalist. He joined the

Green Party of Ontario The Green Party of Ontario (GPO; ) is a political party in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Mike Schreiner. Schreiner was elected as Member of Provincial Parliament (Canada), MPP for the riding of Guelph (provincial electoral district), Gue ...

in 1987 and became the party's first official leader in 1993 – a position he held until November 14, 2009, when he was succeeded by Mike Schreiner. From 2017 to 2019 he was the leader of the Yukon Green Party. De Jong has also campaigned for federal office as a member of the

Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada () is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1983 with a focus on green politics. The Green Party is currently the fifth largest party in the House of Commons by seat count. It elected its first member of ...

Education and activism

Born into a Dutch background, De Jong earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

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 ...

in 1978, and a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

from

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

in 1979. After graduating, he worked as an elementary school teacher. He developed an interest in environmental concerns during the mid-1980s, and became involved in campaigns to save Ontario's old growth forests. He was also involved in the anti-nuclear, renewable energy and

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

movements. De Jong now resides in Huntsville, Ontario with his partner Tove Christensen.

Politics

The Ontario Green Party did not originally have a formal leadership structure, and was run in a very decentralized manner (nominal leaders were sometimes chosen for elections, but they had no personal authority over party decisions). De Jong and a broad coalition of chapters agreed to a new constitution in 1993. The legwork to facilitate the change was led by Ian Whyte in Ottawa and Jim Harris in Toronto. The actual rewriting of the constitution was led by Ken Toews Policy coordinator who headed up a team to write the new constitution. The changes to the constitution were approved with an 88% majority. There is a direct line between these changes to our constitution and the eventual election of Mike Schreiner to the provincial legislature. A small number of chapters opposed this approach, and successfully campaigned for a formal leadership contest in 1993. De Jong himself entered this contest, and defeated Jim Harris, who later became leader of the Green Party of Canada. De Jong supported Harris's leadership of the federal party until Harris stepped down in 2006, at which time de Jong supported David Chernushenko's leadership bid. He was challenged for the leadership of the Ontario Green Party by Judy Greenwood-Speers in 2001. Like Harris, de Jong is an eco-capitalist. He defines his political philosophy as "socially progressive, fiscally conservative, and environmentally aware". He has long supported conservative economic policies, including a gradual shift from the taxation of incomes to the taxation of natural resources. He has also spoken against extensive government subsidies and funding for crown corporations. At the October 2005

Annual General Meeting An annual general meeting (AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting of the general membership of an organization. These organizations include membership associations and companies with shareholders. These meetings may be required ...

, de Jong narrowly avoided a "leadership review" when 67% of voting members voted against it. The GPO constitution requires that a leadership review be held bi-annually; If more than one-third of voting members had opted for a review, a leadership race would have been held in 2006. At the 2007 AGM, de Jong survived the next scheduled review, this time with approximately 71% support from party members. This followed what was considered the strongest election performance by the GPO to date. Speaking at the Green Party of Ontario AGM in May 2009, de Jong announced that he would not be running for re-election as leader of the party. In the September 14, 2006, Parkdale–High Park by-election, de Jong received 6.2 percent of the vote. On November 7, 2006, he was nominated as the GPO candidate in the riding of Davenport for the

2007 Ontario general election The 2007 Ontario general election was held on October 10, 2007, to elect members ( MPPs) of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government ...

. In that election, de Jong captured 10.26 percent of the vote, his best showing as a member of the Green Party. De Jong was a candidate for Ward 18 in Toronto's 2010 municipal election. As of December 2014, de Jong was living in Faro, Yukon and was the

candidate in the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

riding in the 2015 federal election, placing a distant fourth. De Jong was elected leader of the Yukon Green Party in September 2016. He resigned as leader in 2019.

Election campaigns

De Jong has campaigned for federal and provincial office several times. His best showing was in the provincial election of 2003, when he ran against sitting

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 govern ...

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership up ...

and finished third, ahead of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate. On all other occasions, de Jong has finished well behind candidates of the major parties. During the 1995 provincial campaign, de Jong cycled on a "leader's tour" from

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

to Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor and

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

before returning northward to Ottawa. Subsequently, he was involved in creating constituency contact lists throughout the province. His electoral record is as follows:

1991 Ottawa municipal election The city of Ottawa, Canada held municipal elections on November 12, 1991. Right wing Britannia Ward councillor Jacquelin Holzman defeated left wing St. George's councillor Nancy Smith and mayor Marc Laviolette. Holzman defeated Smith by just 3,0 ...

, align="left" colspan=2, Liberal hold , align="right", Swing , align="right", -10.41 , 2010 Toronto municipal election, Ward 18: Davenport , - , - , NDP , Ken Hodgins , align="right", 207 , align="right", 31.2% , align="right", -0.8% , - , style="width: 130px" , Liberal , Carl Sidney , align="right", 152 , align="right", 23.0% , align="right", +9.9% , - , - , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 661 !align="right", 100% !align="right", –

Footnotes

External links

Green Party of Ontario official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Jong, Frank 1955 births Green Party of Canada candidates in the 1988 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 1997 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2015 Canadian federal election Living people Canadian people of Dutch descent Green Party of Ontario candidates in Ontario provincial elections University of Western Ontario alumni University of Ottawa alumni People from Wellington County, Ontario Leaders of the Green Party of Ontario Leaders of the Yukon Green Party Canadian schoolteachers Canadian libertarians Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament

Education and activism

Politics

Election campaigns

Footnotes

See also

External links