Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter (born September 14, 1971) is a Canadian politician who represented Scarborough—Guildwood as a member of provincial parliament in 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 2013 to 2023. A member of the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

, Hunter was a provincial cabinet minister from 2014 to 2018 and was the deputy leader of the party from 2022 to 2023. She resigned from the Ontario legislature on May 10, 2023, in order to be a candidate for

mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

in the 2023 by-election, in which she placed sixth with 2.9% of the vote. She is currently President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation.

Background

Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter was born in Jamaica on September 14, 1971. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1975, moving to

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. Hunter graduated from the

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 ...

with a Bachelor of Arts before earning a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the Rotman School of Management. She was CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, and was previously

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of Toronto Community Housing. She also served as Vice President at

Goodwill Industries Goodwill Industries International Inc., or simply Goodwill, is an American business that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who face barriers in their employment. Goodwill Indust ...

of Toronto.

Political career

In 2013 she ran as the Liberal candidate in a by-election called to replace Margarett Best, a member of the Ontario Parliament who resigned for health reasons. She defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Ken Kirupa by 1,246 votes. She faced Kirupa again in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

this time defeating him by 7,610 votes. In June 2014, she was appointed as associate minister for the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. On June 13, 2016, she was promoted to the senior position of

minister of education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

. On January 17, 2018, it was announced that Hunter would leave her position as minister of education to replace outgoing Deb Matthews as the 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. Hunter became deputy leader of the Ontario Liberals and was considered a possible candidate in the 2023 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election. However, in March 2023, she said that she would be resigning her seat as an MPP to run in the

2023 Toronto mayoral by-election The 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election was held on Monday, June 26, 2023, to elect the 66th mayor of Toronto to serve the remainder of the Toronto City Council 2022–2026, 2022–2026 city council term following the resignation of Mayor John Tory ...

. Hunter lost the election to Olivia Chow, placing sixth with 2.9% of the vote.

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, Ontario Politicians from Toronto Women MPPs in Ontario University of Toronto alumni 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 21st-century Canadian women politicians