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Mel Swart

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Mel Swart
Ontario MPP
In office
1977–1988
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byPeter Kormos
ConstituencyWelland—Thorold
In office
1975–1977
Preceded byEllis Morningstar
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
ConstituencyWelland
Personal details
Born(1919-06-25)June 25, 1919
London, Ontario, Canada
DiedFebruary 27, 2007(2007-02-27) (aged 87)
Thorold, Ontario, Canada
Political partyNew Democratic

Melvin Leroy Swart (June 25, 1919 – February 27, 2007) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a New Democratic MPP from 1975 to 1988.

Background

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Swart was born in London, Ontario. he went to school at Smithville Secondary School, and worked as a foreman. He served as an alderman in Thorold from 1948 to 1950, and was deputy reeve from 1951 to 1954 and reeve from 1955 to 1965. He became a warden for Welland County in 1961, and was president of the Association of Ontario Mayors and Reeves in 1961–62. He later served temporarily as its part-time executive director around 1970.

Politics

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Swart campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada five times, but was never successful. He was defeated in Welland as a candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in a 1950 by-election, and in the general elections of 1953, 1957 and 1958.

He ran again for the federal New Democratic Party in the 1962 election, and was again defeated. On all five occasions, he finished third against his Progressive Conservative and Liberal opponents.

His provincial career was initially no more successful. He challenged Progressive Conservative incumbent Ellis Morningstar for the Welland provincial constituency in the 1967 election, but lost by 260 votes.[1] He ran again in the 1971 election, and lost by a greater margin.[2]

He had left the municipal council to concentrate on provincial politics, and stayed out of council until 1972, when he ran for Regional Councillor of Niagara Region and was elected, elected again in 1974. He served a two-year term as president of the New Democratic Party of Ontario beginning in 1974.

Morningstar retired at the 1975 election, and Swart was able to defeat his successor, Allan Pietz, by 1,115 votes.[3] He defeated Pietz again for the newly created riding of Welland—Thorold in the 1977 election,[4] and won by much greater margins in the elections of 1981,[5] 1985[6] and 1987.[7] He retired in 1988, and was replaced in the legislature by Peter Kormos, also of the NDP.

Two years after his retirement, the NDP won a majority government under Bob Rae. Despite having nominated Rae at the 1982 Ontario NDP leadership convention, Swart became highly critical of Rae's leadership in government, and blamed the Premier for falling NDP membership and financial contributions in the early 1990s.

Swart had been the leading advocate of public auto insurance in Ontario in the 1980s and was especially critical of the Rae government's decision to go back on its promise to introduce the program. In 1994, Swart publicly called on Rae to resign as NDP leader.

Legacy

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The Mel Swart Lake Gibson Conservation Area is in Thorold, Ontario. Swart was considered a political mentor to Peter Kormos who inherited both his predecessor's seat in the legislature and his strong advocacy of public auto insurance.

Electoral record

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1962 Canadian federal election: Welland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Hector McMillan 17,614 47.6 4.9
Progressive Conservative Allan Pietz 12,209 33.0 -6.1
New Democratic Mel Swart 6,225 16.8 -1.4
Social Credit W.F. Trelford 630 1.7
Communist Frank Haslam 317 0.9
Total valid votes 36,995 100.0

Note: NDP vote is compared to CCF vote in 1958 election.

1958 Canadian federal election: Welland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Hector McMillan 15,365 42.7 0.3
Progressive Conservative Allan Ernest Pietz 14,053 39.1 5.1
Co-operative Commonwealth Mel Swart 6,550 18.2 -5.4
Total valid votes 35,968 100.0
1957 Canadian federal election: Welland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Hector McMillan 13,241 42.4 -12.8
Progressive Conservative William Bigelow Wellington 10,620 34.0 7.6
Co-operative Commonwealth Melvin L. Swart 7,356 23.6 7.8
Total valid votes 31,217 100.0
1953 Canadian federal election: Welland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal William Hector McMillan 15,411 55.2 6.5
Progressive Conservative Clarence Lavern Robins 7,373 26.4 -6.0
Co-operative Commonwealth Melvin L. Swart 4,408 15.8 0.9
Labor–Progressive Frank Haslam 721 2.6 -1.4
Total valid votes 27,913 100.0
Canadian federal by-election, 16 October 1950: Welland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
On Mr. Mitchell's death, 1 August 1950
Liberal William Hector McMillan 19,553 48.7 1.4
Progressive Conservative Sam Hughes 13,031 32.4 6.0
Co-operative Commonwealth Melvin L. Swart 5,972 14.9 -8.0
Labor–Progressive Melbourne A. Doig 1,616 4.0 0.6
Total valid votes 40,172 100.0

References

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  1. ^ Canadian Press (October 18, 1967). "Tories win, but..." The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. B2. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  2. ^ "Riding-by-riding returns in provincial election". The Globe and Mail. October 23, 1971. p. 10.
  3. ^ "Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings". The Globe and Mail. September 19, 1975. p. C12.
  4. ^ "Ontario provincial election results riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 10, 1977. p. D9.
  5. ^ Canadian Press (1981-03-20). "Winds of change, sea of security". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. 22. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  6. ^ "Results of vote in Ontario election". The Globe and Mail. May 3, 1985. p. 13.
  7. ^ "Results from individual ridings". The Windsor Star. September 11, 1987. p. F2.
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