Stephen Woodworth (born January 5, 1954) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician. He represented the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Kitchener Centre in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

for the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in the 40th and 41st Parliaments (2008–2015).

Politics and elected office

Woodworth first ran for public office in the 1988 federal election, representing 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. For example, while the political systems ...

in the riding of

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

, finishing second to veteran Progressive Conservative MP

Walter McLean Walter Franklin McLean, (born April 26, 1936) is a former Canadian politician. Born in Leamington, Ontario, he grew up in Victoria British Columbia, the son of James Walter Lewis McLean (1905–1998), a Presbyterian minister, and Frances D. B ...

. For the 1993 federal election, he again sought the Liberal nomination in Waterloo, but this time lost to

Andrew Telegdi Andrew Peter Telegdi, PC (born András Telegdi; May 28, 1946 – January 23, 2017) was a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2008, representing Waterloo and the successor r ...

. In 1994, Woodworth was elected to the

Waterloo Catholic District School Board Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) is a school board serving the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is headquartered in Kitchener, and is the seventh largest Catholic school system in Ontario. As of 2025, the Board operates 44 ...

, representing Kitchener, and served in that capacity until 2003. During his tenure, Woodworth fought to prevent sex education from being taught in local Catholic high schools. In the

2008 Canadian federal election The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the 39th Canadian Parliament, previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General o ...

, Woodworth ran for the

and was elected as an MP for Kitchener Centre, defeating incumbent Liberal Karen Redman by a margin of 339 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 ...

, topping Redman by more than 5,500 votes in a rematch of the 2008 contest. As an MP, Woodworth served as a member of several

parliamentary committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

, including the committees for Environment and Sustainable Development, Justice and Human Rights, Public Accounts, and Fisheries and Oceans.

Abortion debate

In 2012, Woodworth introduced Motion 312, a private member's motion which attempted to reopen the debate around Canadian abortion law. The bill proposed to create a special committee to redefine Canada's legal definition of human being. The motion was defeated 203–91. In 2013, Woodworth followed up with a second private member's motion, Motion 476, again attempting to challenge Canada's abortion laws. However, Woodworth failed to receive the unanimous consent of Parliament required to reopen the debate after his previous motion was defeated.

After Parliament

In the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...

, Woodworth lost his seat to Liberal candidate

Raj Saini Rajinder "Raj" Saini (born August 21, 1967) is an Indian-Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Kitchener Centre in the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2021. Background Saini's political lea ...

by a margin of nearly 10,000 votes. In 2016, Woodworth founded the Democracy Defence Initiative, an anti-abortion advocacy group. He attempted a political comeback at Kitchener Centre in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', ...

, placing third behind incumbent Raj Saini and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate Mike Morrice.

Electoral record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodworth, Stephen 1954 births Abortion in Canada Canadian Roman Catholics Conservative Party of Canada MPs Lawyers in Ontario Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Politicians from Kitchener, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Western Law School alumni 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Ontario school board trustees