Jamey Heath is a political activist 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 C ...

, Canada. He was the research and communications director for the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

under

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on T ...

until shortly after the 2006 federal election. Previously, he was a senior campaign worker in

's successful campaign to win the party's leadership in 2003. Heath had earlier been communications director for

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...

, and was the NDP's candidate for

Ottawa Centre Ottawa Centre (french: Ottawa-Centre) is an urban federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. While the riding's boundaries (mainly to the south and west as the north ...

in the 1997 federal election, placing second to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

Mac Harb Mac Harb (born November 10, 1953) is a Canadian former politician, who served successively in local Ottawa positions, as a Member of the House of Commons, and as a Senator for Ontario.J. Patrick Boyer. ''Our Scandalous Senate'' Volume 1 of Poin ...

. He has been a weekly

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...

for the ''

Ottawa Sun The ''Ottawa Sun'' is a daily newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It began publication in 1983 as the ''Ottawa Sunday Herald'', until it was acquired by (then) Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988. In Apri ...

'' and ''

Capital Xtra! ''Xtra Ottawa'' (formerly ''Capital Xtra'') was a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was launched in 1993. Unlike its biweekly sister publications '' Xtra'' in Toronto and '' Xtra Van ...

''. Heath graduated from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Worl ...

with a

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

degree. While at Carleton, he was involved in student politics; most notably getting disqualified from a

Carleton University Students' Association The Carleton University Students' Association (or CUSA) is a non-profit corporation that represents the undergraduate students at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Governance Executive Executive members of CUSA are elected yearly. ...

election. He also served as co-chair of the

Ontario New Democratic Youth The Ontario New Democratic Youth (ONDY) is the youth wing of the Ontario New Democratic Party which is in turn affiliated with the federal New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a fed ...

in the early 1990s. Following

Ed Broadbent John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...

's announcement that he would not be running in the next federal election, Heath contested the NDP's nomination to succeed him in Ottawa Centre but was defeated at the June 22, 2005, nomination meeting by

Paul Dewar Paul Wilson Dewar (January 25, 1963 – February 6, 2019) was a Canadian educator and politician from Ottawa, Ontario. He was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Ottawa Centre. Dewar was first elected to ...

. In February 2007 his book was published, ''Dead Centre: Hope, Possibility, and Unity for Canadian Progressives''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Jamey Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian political consultants Gay politicians Canadian LGBT politicians New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Canadian columnists Writers from Ottawa Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament Canadian political writers Carleton University alumni