George Samis

George Roy Samis (born March 24, 1943) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1974 to 1985 as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP).[1]

George Samis
Ontario MPP
In office
1975–1985
Preceded byNew riding
Succeeded byLuc Guindon
ConstituencyCornwall
In office
1974–1975
Preceded byFernand Guindon
Succeeded byRiding dissolved
ConstituencyStormont
Personal details
Born (1943-03-24) March 24, 1943
Montreal, Quebec
Political partyNew Democrat
ProfessionTeacher

Background

He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated at the Université de Montréal and the University of Waterloo. A high school teacher

Politics

He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, and lost to Progressive Conservative Fernand Guindon in Stormont.[2]

Guindon resigned from the legislature in 1974, and Samis contested a by-election to succeed him. He was successful, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Guy Leger.[3] Samis was re-elected for the redistributed constituency of Cornwall in 1975, 1977 and 1981. He supported Bob Rae for the party leadership in 1982.

Samis announced his retirement from the legislature in early 1985. He remains the only New Democrat to have represented the city of Cornwall at either the provincial or federal level.

At the time of Samis's retirement, the Progressive Conservative party had governed Ontario without interruption for forty-two years. Samis argued in March 1985 that the NDP would be unable to remove to the Progressive Conservatives from office unless it formed an alliance with the Ontario Liberal Party. After the 1985 election, an historic two-year pact between the Liberals and NDP allowed Liberal leader David Peterson to form government as premier. The Peterson government appointed Samis to the Ontario Highway Transport Board in 1986.

Samis later moved to the Kingston area. In the 1999 provincial election, he endorsed Liberal candidate John Cleary in Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh, a successor riding to Cornwall.[4]

References
  1. "Ontario Votes 2003". CBC. 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  2. Walker, Jack (October 11, 1974). "Avoiding Meetings Could Be Costly". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  3. Prager, Bill (October 18, 1974). "Premier Davis 'in Trouble in Stormont' ". The Windsor Star. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  4. Caroline Mallan (May 24, 1999). "Eastern riding a rare display of unity ; Anti-Harris vote going to Liberals". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
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