Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter (born September 14, 1971) is a 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 C ...

, Canada. She is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was first elected in a by-election on August 1, 2013 and later re-elected in the elections of 2014 and 2018. She represents the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

riding of Scarborough—Guildwood. She served as a member of cabinet in the government of

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the me ...

. She was a candidate for the

2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election The 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election concluded on March 7, 2020, resulting in the election of Steven Del Duca, a former cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne, as Ontario Liberal Party’s 33rd leader. The leadership e ...

, having placed fourth place with 5.7% of the ballot.

Background

Hunter and her family immigrated to Canada from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

in 1975. She grew up in Scarborough, graduated from 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 institu ...

with a BA, and completed her MBA from the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is the University of Toronto's graduate business school, located in Downtown Toronto. The University of Toronto has be ...

. She was CEO of the

Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance The Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance (formerly the Toronto City Summit Alliance), commonly known as CivicAction, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Toronto that attempts to boost civic engagement and address urban challenges i ...

, and was previously CAO of

Toronto Community Housing Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is the public housing agency in Toronto, Ontario. A municipal corporation of the City of Toronto, TCHC provides approximately 60,000 units of housing to an estimated 165,000 residents, making it is the ...

. She also served as Vice President at

Goodwill Industries Goodwill Industries International Inc., often shortened in speech and writing to Goodwill (stylized as goodwill), is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides job training, employment placement services, and other community-bas ...

of Toronto.

Politics

In 2013 she ran as the Liberal candidate in a by-election called to replace

Margarett Best Margarett R. Best is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2013 who represented the riding of Scarborough—Guildwood. She was a cabinet minister in the governmen ...

who resigned due to health reasons. She defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Ken Kirupa by 1,246 votes. She faced Kirupa again in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

this time defeating him by 7,610 votes. In June 2014, she was appointed as an Associate Minister for the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and ...

responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. On June 13, 2016, she was promoted to the senior position of Minister of Education. On January 17, 2018, it was announced that Ms. Hunter would leave her position as Minister of Education to replace outgoing Deb Matthews as the new Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development. On August 14, 2019, Hunter announced her candidacy for the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership race. At the leadership convention on March 7, 2020, she finished fourth. She was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Mitzie 1971 births Black Canadian politicians Black Canadian women Women government ministers of Canada Jamaican emigrants to Canada Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs People from Scarborough, Toronto Politicians from Toronto Women MPPs in Ontario University of Toronto alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians