Cheri DiNovo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cheri DiNovo | |
 Source: Ontario NDP |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office September 25, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Gerard Kennedy |
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| Born | 1950 Toronto, Ontario  |
| Political party | New Democratic Party |
| Residence | Toronto |
| Occupation | minister |
| Religion | United Church of Canada |
Cheri DiNovo, MPP, is a Canadian social democratic politician. She is a United Church of Canada minister and previously headed the Emmanuel-Howard Park congregation in Toronto, Ontario. As the New Democratic Party of Ontario (NDP) candidate in Parkdale–High Park, she was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a by-election on September 14, 2006. She was re-elected in the 10 October 2007 general election.
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Personal life and religious views
A progressive, social justice-oriented minister who favours inclusion of marginalized groups, including women, LGBT people and the poor and homeless into the mainstream of Christian life, DiNovo began her church ministry career in 1992, leaving behind a career in the corporate world, after her husband died in a motorcycle accident. She has two children, Francesca and Damien Zielinski, and is now married to Gil Gaspar.[1]
DiNovo hosts a weekly radio show, The Radical Reverend, on Toronto's CIUT-FM. Her book Qu(e)erying Evangelism: Growing a Community from the Outside In won the Lambda Literary Award in the Spirituality category for 2006.
Politics
NDP nomination campaign
When Gerrard Kennedy stepped down as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Parkdale–High Park, the NDP was not expected to win the seat.[2] With that gloomy outlook in mind, two candidates came forward to contest the NDP nomination: DiNovo and former journalist and current executive director of the Canadian Arab Federation, Mohamed Boudjenane.[2] The spirited campaign that followed lasted about a month, with both sides signing up large numbers of new members.[2] Boudjenane was endorsed by United Steelworkers of America president Leo W. Gerard and the former president of the Ontario NDP, Andre Foucault. DiNovo had the support of NDP stalwart Michael Lewis[3] and many members of the riding's executive. The nomination meeting took place in the middle of a heat wave on the evening of July 17, 2006, in the Parkdale Colegiate Institute auditorium.[4] The sweltering auditorium was filled with over 300 people, most of them delegates. DiNovo defeated Boudjenane with a comfortable margin.[5][4]
2006 Parkdale–High Park by-election
DiNovo defeated Liberal Sylvia Watson in the September 14, 2006 by-election to replace Gerard Kennedy in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. She officially took her seat in the Assembly on September 25.
During the campaign, DiNovo acknowledged having been both a "street kid" and a user of recreational drugs in her youth. She was criticized for this by Watson's campaign.
The Liberals alleged that DiNovo endorsed the church ordination of pedophiles and axe murderers in Qu(e)erying Evangelism, when in fact she did not, and took DiNovo's past comments about Canadian murderer Karla Homolka out of context, saying the comments compared Homolka to a Christ-like figure, where instead they were used in reference to the dangers of scapegoating. The Liberals also did not mention DiNovo's expression of sympathy for Homolka's victims' families and the undue suffering she believed the media circus surrounding Karla was causing them. Many accused the Liberals of conducting a smear campaign.[6]
Poverty and the $10 minimum wage campaign
On October 23, 2006, a Toronto Star column by Carol Goar said DiNovo had brought a new clarity and assertiveness to the NDP caucus' voice in the Ontario Legislative Assembly. Since entering the Assembly, DiNovo has approached a variety of poverty-related issues, including raising minimum wage and welfare rates in the province, creating more affordable housing and ending the government's tax clawback of the federal child benefit supplement.[7]
Earlier in the year DiNovo had shared her experiences of drugs and poverty as a 15 year old, in a TV interview first shown on VisionTV on March 9, 2006. She said "I know what its like to live on the streets ... street kids are not bogey men, they are just poor".[8]
2007 Ontario election
DiNovo retained the riding in the 2007 Ontario general election. The Parkdale–High Park campaign featured the same three major candidates as the 2006 by-election, with Watson and David Hutcheon representing the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives respectively. She increased the margin of victory from the 2006 by-election.[9]
References and notes
- ^ About Cheri DiNovo (HTML). Cheri DiNovo website. Ontario New Democratic Party (2007-04-22). Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
- ^ a b c Milne, Vanessa (July 13), “Radical reverend star in NDP race”, Now Magazine 25 (47), <http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-07-13/news_cityinbrief.php>
- ^ brother of former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis, and son of former Canadian NDP leader David Lewis
- ^ a b Milne, Vanessa (July 20), “Cheri picking in Parkdale”, Now Magazine 25 (47), <http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-07-20/news_cityinbrief.php>
- ^ although the NDP follows Roberts Rules of Order to run their meetings, which means the vote count is made public, the exact numbers were not released by the NDP as per an agreement between the two candidates
- ^ "Fall session begins, Cheri DiNovo sworn in", CTV News Toronto, CTV News, 2006-09-25. Retrieved on 2007-03-01. (English)
- ^ Goar, Carol. "Ontario NDP gets a sparkplug", Editorial, The Toronto Star, 2006-10-23, pp. A.22. Retrieved on 2007-03-01. (English)
- ^ Interview with Cheri DiNovo (HTML/Video). 360° Vision. VisionTV (2006-03-09). Retrieved on 2007-04-30.DiNovo talking with interviewer about her youth.
- ^ Parkdale-High Park: Election 2007 (HTML). Results. CTV (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
External links
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