Reza Moridi (; born ) is a former politician in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. He was a
Liberal member of 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 2007 to 2018 who represented the riding of
Richmond Hill. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of
Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), member of provinci ...
. He was the first
Iranian-Canadian elected to legislature
and appointed as a Cabinet minister in Canada.
Background
Moridi was born in
Urmia
Urmia (; ) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. In the Central District of Urmia County, it is capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is situated near the borders of Iran with Turkey and Iraq.
...
, capital of
West Azerbaijan Province
West Azerbaijan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, whose capital and largest city is Urmia.
It is in the northwest of the country, bordered by Turkey ( Ağrı, Hakkâri, Iğdır and Van Provinces), Iraq ( Erbil and Sula ...
in
northwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. He grew up in
Urmia
Urmia (; ) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. In the Central District of Urmia County, it is capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is situated near the borders of Iran with Turkey and Iraq.
...
, attended
Alborz High School in Tehran and graduated from
Tehran University
The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...
with BSc and MSc degrees in Physics. He continued his education in the UK and obtained MTech and PhD degrees from
Brunel University
Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...
in London. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Odlar Yurdu University, Baku, Azerbaijan.
For his contributions to physics and engineering, Moridi was elected Fellow of the
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application.
It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...
and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology of the UK. In recognition of his contributions to the understanding of nuclear materials and radiation, the Canadian Nuclear Society presented him with the Education and Communication Award. Also, in recognition of his contributions to the profession of Health Physics, the
Health Physics Society of the United States presented him with the Fellow Award. Moridi has received numerous awards and recognitions for his extensive community and humanitarian work.
Prior to entering into politics, he was a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Physicist. He worked for 17 years at the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada where he was the Vice-President and Chief Scientist. He also worked in the electrical industry as an executive and in academia as a professor and administrator.
Politics

Moridi ran as the
Liberal candidate in the
2007 provincial election in the riding of
Richmond Hill. He defeated
Progressive Conservative Alex Yuan by 5,329 votes.
He was re-elected in
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
,
and
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 ...
.
Moridi was defeated in the 2018 Provincial Election by Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament
Daisy Wai. He intended to contest his former seat as a Member of Provincial Parliament for Richmond Hill in four years in 2018. Last year in 2020, Moridi formally announced that he will not going to run in the next election.
During the
Dalton McGuinty
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...
government he served as
Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministers of
Training, Colleges and Universities,
Research and Innovation and
Energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
. When
Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), member of provinci ...
took over as Premier in 2013, she appointed Moridi to her cabinet as
Ministry of Research and Innovation.
After the 2014 election she assigned him the additional role of
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security () (the Ministry of Colleges and Universities before 2025) is the ministry of the Government of Ontario responsible for administration of laws relating to post-secondary edu ...
.
On June 13, 2016, Moridi's cabinet role was reduced to a renamed portfolio of Minister of Research, Innovation and Science.
He also served as Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Education, Skills and Economy.
Contributions during Public Service
In 2015, Moridi launched modernization of the Ontario Students Assistance Program (OSAP) by making tuition free for students from low and middle income families and helped establish York University campus in Markham, e-Campus in Toronto and initiated the process of modernizing the university funding formula and the first ever stand-alone French language university in Ontario.
He signed MOUs with countries such as China, Germany, Czech Republic, UK, Korea, Israel, Denmark, Turkey and Jordan. He led Science and Technology missions to USA (four times), China (twice), Korea, Germany (twice), Czech Republic, Israel (twice), West Bank (twice), Jordan, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan and led Nuclear Energy delegations to China and Korea.
Voluntary Community Service since departure from politics
Since he left politics, Moridi has been serving on the following volunteer positions:
* Senior Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto
* Chair of Dean's Special Advisory Board, York University Faculty of Science
* Chair, Board of Directors, Radiation Safety Institute of Canada
* Chair, Honorary Advisory Board, Canada Innovative SMEs Association
* Chair, Board of Honorary Mentors, Outstanding Teenagers Leadership Foundation
* Trustee, Royal Canadian Institute for Science
* Trustee, Canadian Society of Iranian Engineers, and Architects
* Honorary Governor, Mon Sheong Foundation
* Advisory Board, Yara Leadership Society
Coincidental Involvement in Controversy
In 2007, Moridi "found himself stuck" in a $200,000 "slush fund" scandal that was dominating Ontario politics at the time. Concerns arose when the Iranian-Canadian Community Centre, where Moridi was a sitting board-member at the time, appeared to be one of the 110 agencies receiving portions of $32 million grants allegedly with the lack of formal application processes, public notices, meeting minutes/records and unclear selection criteria. When concerns over the transparency of the application process were raised by opposition parties, Moridi and other board-members quit this centre, and responded by stating that they do not believe the money dedicated to the organization should be returned. New Democrat MPP Michael Prue demanded clarity on the group "to put the government grant to use in helping Iranian immigrants attempting to settle in the Greater Toronto Area".
In January 2016, Moridi was criticized for allowing two Ontario colleges to open satellite campuses in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
that only accepted male students. He said that administration of such places are up to each college's board of governors. He said, "What has become clear is that further engagement needs to take place between the government and Ontario's college sector on this important issue. I will be reaching out to Algonquin College and Niagara College immediately to receive a full update on their international activities."
In 2018, in a rally against the Iranian regime's crack down of protests in 95 cities in Iran, Moridi quoted the Iranian people who had called death to the Iranian president
Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...
. In the Iranian political culture and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
language, saying 'Marg bar'
eath tomeans "down with".
Cabinet positions
Awards and recognition
On October 12, 2018, the Iranian community of the Greater Toronto Area organized a tribute dinner honouring Reza Moridi where in recognition of his service to the Town of Richmond Hill, the Town named one of the streets “Urmia Avenue” - after the ancient city of Urmia in Iran where Moridi was born.
Human rights
Moridi has been active in support of human rights in his homeland Iran. In 2009, he presented a petition to the legislature regarding the violation of human rights in Iran in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election. He advocated for the passing of the legislation in the House of Commons of Canada on June 5, 2013, that proclaimed massacre of political prisoner in Iran by the order of Ayatollah Khomeini during the summer of 1988, was a
crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
. He also introduced a petition that asked the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs to intervene on
Saeed Malekpour's behalf and appeal to the government of Iran to free him.
In May 2010, he read a statement in praise of the
Republic of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russi ...
in honour of the nation's anniversary in which he called the current government of Azerbaijan "a secular democratic republic".
[.]
Electoral record
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moridi, Reza
1945 births
21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Alumni of Brunel University London
Canadian people of Azerbaijani descent
Canadian people of Iranian descent
Iranian emigrants to Canada
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
People from Richmond Hill, Ontario
People from Urmia