Michael Levitt (politician)
Michael Levitt | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for York Centre | |
| In office October 19, 2015 – September 1, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Adler |
| Succeeded by | Ya'ara Saks |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 9, 1970[1] Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Residence(s) | Toronto, Ontario |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
Michael Levitt is a former Canadian politician who represented the riding of York Centre in the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2020 as a member of the Liberal Party.
Background
[edit]Born and raised in Scotland, Levitt came with his family to Canada when he was 14.[2] Levitt is Jewish.[3]
Levitt served as Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.[4]
Before running for office, Levitt was a founding member of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, co-chaired Liberal Friends of Israel, and served as a Partner and Vice-President of Business Development for the Benjamin Group in Toronto, a company providing lifecycle services to Toronto's Jewish community.[5] He has also served on the boards of Mount Sinai Hospital and the Koffler Centre of the Arts, both located in Toronto.[6]
Political career
[edit]Levitt was first elected to Parliament in the 2015 federal election, defeating the Conservative incumbent, Mark Adler.[7][8] He was re-elected in the 2019 federal election.[9]
On August 4, 2020, Levitt announced he would resign as an MP, effective September 1, 2020, to become the President and CEO of the Canadian regional office of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.[10]
Electoral record
[edit]| 2019 Canadian federal election: York Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Michael Levitt | 21,680 | 50.20 | +3.32 | $93,151.84 | |||
| Conservative | Rachel Willson | 15,852 | 36.71 | −7.29 | $89,344.00 | |||
| New Democratic | Andrea Vásquez Jiménez | 4,251 | 9.84 | +2.51 | none listed | |||
| Green | Rebecca Wood | 1,403 | 3.25 | +1.45 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 43,186 | 98.48 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 665 | 1.52 | +0.78 | |||||
| Turnout | 43,851 | 61.76 | -3.96 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 71,000 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | +5.31 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[11][12] | ||||||||
| 2015 Canadian federal election: York Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Michael Levitt | 20,109 | 46.9 | +13.7 | – | |||
| Conservative | Mark Adler | 18,893 | 44.0 | -4.5 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Hal Berman | 3,148 | 7.3 | -8.6 | – | |||
| Green | Constantine Kritsonis | 794 | 1.8 | -0.5 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 42,944 | 100.0 | $198,299.74 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 319 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 43,263 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 64,297 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[13][14] | ||||||||
References
[edit]- ^ "Profile". lop.parl.ca. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- ^ "Update: Getting to know 12 new Toronto Liberals you might not have heard of". Metro News. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ "Here are the six Jewish MP's headed to Ottawa". November 10, 2015.
- ^ "Michael Levitt - Roles - House of Commons of Canada". Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "Six Jewish MPs Head to Ottawa". November 10, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "Michael Levitt Biography". Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "York Centre: Liberal Michael Levitt unseats Conservative Mark Adler". Insidetoronto.com. October 19, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Morales, Steve. "Michael Levitt recaptures Liberal stronghold York Centre". Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^ Pataki, Amy (October 22, 2019). "Liberal Levitt triumphs for re-election in York Centre". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
- ^ "Toronto Liberal MP resigns to helm Jewish human rights organization". CBC News. August 4, 2020.
- ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
- ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for York Centre, 30 September 2015
- ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
External links
[edit]- 1974 births
- Living people
- Jewish Canadian politicians
- Jewish Canadian activists
- Canadian Zionists
- Liberal Party of Canada MPs
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Politicians from Edinburgh
- Politicians from Toronto
- Scottish emigrants to Canada
- 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada