Richard Andrew Patten (May 13, 1942 – December 30, 2021) was a Canadian politician. Patten 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 1987 to 1990 and again from 1995 to 2007. He represented the riding of

Ottawa Centre Ottawa Centre may refer to: *Ottawa Centre (federal electoral district) *Ottawa Centre (provincial electoral district) Ottawa Centre is an urban provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada that has been represen ...

. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of

David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...

Personal life

Patten was educated at

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...

in Montreal. He worked as a manager with the

Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

(YMCA), and served as President of the ''Canadian Council for International Cooperation''. Patten sat on an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

advisory committee to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

while with the CCIC. He died on December 30, 2021, at the age of 79.

Politics

In the 1987 provincial election, Patten ran as the Liberal candidate in the riding of

. He defeated incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Evelyn Gigantes Evelyn Adelaide Gigantes (born November 1, 1942) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served as a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on three occasions between 1975 and 1995 and was a prominent cabinet m ...

by just over 2,000 votes. The Liberal party won the election and Patten was appointed Minister of Government Services. In August 1989 he was shuffled to Minister of Correctional Services. In the 1990 provincial election Patten was defeated by his NDP rival Gigantes. For the next five years, Patten served as President and CEO of the

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario — Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre, commonly known by its acronym CHEO ( ), is a children's hospital and tertiary trauma centre for children and youth located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CHEO serves p ...

(CHEO) Foundation, doing extensive fund-raising work for the organization. In 1995 provincial election Patten campaigned against Gigantes once again this time defeating her by 1,700 votes. The Progressive Conservatives won the election, and Patten joined 29 other Liberals in the opposition. He attempted to mobilize a campaign for the party's leadership in 1996, but failed in this effort and subsequently supported

Dwight Duncan Dwight Duncan (born 3 January 1959) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2013 who represented ridings of Windsor—Walkerville, Windsor—St. Clair and Winds ...

. When Duncan was eliminated after the third ballot, he endorsed

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 ...

, the eventual winner. In the 1999 provincial election, Patten was re-elected over Progressive Conservative Ray Kostuch and New Democrat Elisabeth Arnold. The Progressive Conservatives again won the election, and Patten remained in opposition. Patten was treated for

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tire ...

during this parliament. The Liberals won the 2003 election and he was re-elected again by over 10,000 votes. During this session he served as

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

to the

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 ...

, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade and to Premier Dalton McGuinty. Patten maintained a strong interest in the CHEO and devoted legislative efforts towards the centre's operations. On 14 March 2007, Patten announced he would not seek re-election in the upcoming election, preferring to focus on work with the CHEO Foundation.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Richard 1942 births 2021 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Anglophone Quebec people Canadian Unitarians Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Politicians from Montreal Politicians from Ottawa Sir George Williams University alumni 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario