Paul Calandra

Paul A. Calandra (born May 13, 1970) is a Canadian politician and the current Ontario government house leader for the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, assuming the role—as well as being appointed minister without portfolio—following a 2019 cabinet shuffle. Since the 2018 Ontario election, Calandra has sat in the Ontario Legislature as the member of provincial parliament for the York Region riding of Markham—Stouffville. He was formerly a Conservative member of the federal House of Commons from 2008 to 2015, serving as a parliamentary secretary to Stephen Harper, then-prime minister of Canada.

The Honourable Paul Calandra MPP
Ontario Government House Leader Minister without portfolio
Incumbent
Assumed office June 20, 2019
Premier	Doug Ford
Preceded by	Todd Smith
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Markham—Stouffville
Incumbent
Assumed office June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Helena Jaczek[lower-alpha 1]
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines (Energy)
In office June 29, 2018 – June 20, 2019
Preceded by	Han Dong
Succeeded by	?
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Oak Ridges—Markham
In office October 14, 2008 – August 4, 2015
Preceded by	Lui Temelkovski
Succeeded by	riding abolished
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada and for Intergovernmental Affairs
In office September 19, 2013 – November 3, 2015
Preceded by	Dean Del Mastro
Succeeded by	Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Adam Vaughan (Intergovernmental Affairs), Peter Schiefke (Youth)
Personal details
Born	May 13, 1970 Markham, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Stouffville, Ontario
Profession	insurance broker

In the 2015 federal election, he was a candidate in the Markham—Stouffville riding, created as a result of the federal electoral redistribution of 2012 and was defeated by Jane Philpott. In the 2018 Ontario election, Calandra defeated Helena Jaczek by 11,905 votes to represent the riding of Markham—Stouffville.[1]

Education

Calandra studied history with a minor in political science at Carleton University.[2] His claim on his campaign website in 2007 to have "complet(ed) full-time university studies" was controversial[3] since, at that time he had not graduated.[4] In an interview with WhiStle Radio on September 29, 2015 he stated that he left school in the early '90s before completing his degree and had later obtained the remaining credits required to graduate by correspondence course.[5] He obtained bachelor's degree from Carleton in November 2008.[2]

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Calandra was an insurance broker, from 1995 to 2003. He then served as chief of staff to Steve Gilchrist, who was the PC MPP for Scarborough East in the Mike Harris government.[6]

Family dispute

In 2005, Calandra was involved in a family dispute. In the early 2000s, he had power of attorney to manage his mother's affairs. In a lawsuit filed by his sisters, it was claimed the power of attorney had been revoked by his mother months before her death in August 2005, but Calandra had invoked it for personal gain.[4] In his statement of defence, Calandra said that the charges had been authorized.[7] A document filed on September 8, 2008, the first full day of the 2008 federal election campaign, said that the parties had settled the case out of court.[7]

Politics

Calandra ran as the Canadian Alliance candidate in the 2000 federal election in the riding of Toronto riding of Scarborough East. He was defeated by Liberal incumbent John McKay by 16,460 votes.[8] He ran eight years later in the 2008 federal election as the Conservative candidate in the York Region riding of Oak Ridges—Markham. He defeated Liberal incumbent Lui Temelkovski by 545 votes.[9] He was re-elected in 2011 defeating Temelkovski again, this time by 20,680 votes.[10]

Following his election in 2008, in Calandra's first term he sat on the Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics Committee, Citizenship and Immigration Committee, and the Government Operations and Estimates Committee.

During this term he also introduced two private member's bills. On June 19, 2009 he introduced ‘An Act to Change the Name of the Electoral District of Oak Ridges—Markham,[11] and on March 11, 2011 he introduced ‘An Act Respecting the Establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-Hand Precious Metal Articles'.[12] Neither of these bills proceeded past first reading.[13]

Parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages

He was re-elected in the 2011 election and was subsequently appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages where he sat on the Standing Committee for Canadian Heritage and formerly the Standing Committee on Bill C-11. In 2012 Calandra was forced to repay $5,000 that his riding association had received in donations at a fundraiser held at the home of Kirupalini Kirupakaran, at which he had been present. Kirupakaran was the sister of the CEO of WorldBand Media Inc., which was one of the firms lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the 88.1 FM frequency allocation in the Toronto area. She had pledged to the CRTC that she would invest up to $2,000,000 in WorldBand Media should it win the competition. The CRTC at the time was under the Department of Canadian Heritage thereby giving rise to allegations of a conflict of interest. Following questions from The Globe and Mail, and despite initially denying any donations had been received from anyone associated with the bid, Calandra eventually repaid donations made by five people listed with the CRTC as proposed WorldBand investors.[14]

In the same year a controversial $500 donation was made to Calandra's riding association by Stanislaus Antony at another fundraising event. Antony was leading a competing bid for 88.1 FM with the CRTC for a station to be called STAN FM. Immediately prior to The Globe and Mail's publication of the article questioning the WorldBand donations Calandra confirmed that his riding association was reviewing the Antony contribution.[15] The donation was not returned.[16]

Parliamentary secretary to the prime minister

In September 2013 Paul Calandra was appointed parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.

As parliamentary secretary Calandra often fielded questions on behalf of Prime Minister Harper during the Senate Scandal (2013). This brought Calandra under a great deal of scrutiny for his perceived non-answers, deflections, and attacks, and prompted widespread backlash in the form of media articles,[17] social media postings, vandalization of his Wikipedia page,[18] and being covered on the Rick Mercer Report.[19] On September 23, 2014, Calandra's repeated refusal to acknowledge questions about Canada's involvement in Iraq led the Opposition leader, Thomas Mulcair to question the integrity of the speaker of the House, Andrew Scheer, who did not intervene. Instead of giving an answer on Iraq, Calandra insisted on reiterating Canada's commitment to Israel, prompting Global News to describe the exchange as "unreal", and The Globe and Mail publishing an editorial stating "to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery".[20] On September 26, 2014, Calandra gave a tearful speech in Parliament in order to "unconditionally, unreservedly apologize to the House".[21]

2015 general election

Following an interview on CBC's Power & Politics about the Mike Duffy trial, Peter Mansbridge referred to Calandra's responses as being "The Full Calandra", as he felt that he was answering different questions from those posed. This led to a Twitter hashtag of the same name[22][23] Following this, the comedian Mark Critch tweeted that Calandra was "a slippery tool". Subsequently, Calandra blocked Critch from accessing his posts on Twitter. Critch then offered to donate money to charity for any user who tweeted similar messages to Calandra.[24][25] Other people blocked by Calandra on Twitter included parliamentary press gallery reporters Alex Boutilier, Lee Berthiaume, along with TheTyee.ca reporter Jeremy Nuttall and Jim Mason, the editor (@stouffeditor) of the Stouffville Sun-Tribune, the local newspaper in Calandra's riding, who had been blocked in 2014. Calandra later said that blocking of Mason had been accidental and subsequently unblocked him.[26] The habit of Conservative party members blocking those who disagreed with them on social media became referred to as #conblocked.[27][28]

Calandra entered the debate on the future of the Pickering Airport lands that had previously been expropriated by the Government of Canada. He expressed support for a Buttonville sized airport on the lands in contrast to the position taken by all his opponents.[29]

He was defeated by Jane Philpott in the Markham—Stouffville riding, created as a result of the federal electoral redistribution of 2012.[30] In a CBC interview he blamed his loss on the Conservative Party's focus on identity issues, specifically the Niqāb issue, the stripping of citizenship from dual nationals and the launching of a barbaric cultural practices hot line, claiming that voters were "confused" about the application of Bill C-24.[31]

Entry into provincial politics

In September 2016 Calandra announced that he would be seeking the Ontario PC nomination for the provincial riding of Markham-Stouffville.[32] On November 11, it was announced that Calandra won the nomination and would represent the PCs in the 2018 provincial election.[33]

Calandra had claimed to be a "big fan"[34] and "good friend"[32] of erstwhile PC leader Patrick Brown, since 2008 but, following Brown's sudden resignation on January 25, 2018 due to allegations of sexual misconduct, Calandra threw his support behind Caroline Mulroney in the subsequent leadership contest[35][36] despite Brown's re-entry into the race.[37] Three weeks later, however, when it appeared Mulroney's bid was struggling,[38] he switched allegiances once again to back Christine Elliott.[39]

In the 2018 Ontario Election, Calandra won the riding of Markham-Stouffville, defeating Liberal Incumbent Helena Jaczek. On June 29, 2018, Calandra was appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of energy, northern development and mines (energy).[40]

Electoral record

2018 Ontario general election: Markham—Stouffville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Paul Calandra	25,912	48.12
	Liberal	Helena Jaczek	14,007	26.01
	New Democratic	Kingsley Kwok	10,997	20.42
	Green	Jose Etcheverry	2,153	4.00
	Libertarian	Paul Balfour	660	1.23
	Ontario Moderate Party	Yuri Duboisky	117	0.22
Total valid votes			53,846	100.0
Source: Elections Ontario[41]

2015 Canadian federal election: Markham-Stouffville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jane Philpott	29,416	49.21	+20.26	$112,011.35
	Conservative	Paul Calandra	25,565	42.77	-7.72	$164,609.85
	New Democratic	Gregory Hines	3,647	6.10	-10.88	$7,176.28
	Green	Myles O'Brien	1,145	1.92	-0.81	$1,395.62
Total valid votes/Expense limit			59,773	100.00		$225,802.37
Total rejected ballots			189	0.32
Turnout			59,962	68.56
Eligible voters			87,460
	Liberal notional gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.99
Source: Elections Canada[42][43]

2011 Canadian federal election: Oak Ridges—Markham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Paul Calandra	46,241	51.12	+8.88	$133,192
	Liberal	Lui Temelkovski	25,561	28.26	-13.26	$108,951
	New Democratic	Janice Hagan	15,229	16.84	+7.45	$4,650
	Green	Trifon Haitas	2,349	2.60	-4.23	$0.00
	Progressive Canadian	John Sicilano	1,080	1.19	–	$564
Total valid votes/Expense limit			90,460	100.00	–	$134,351
Total rejected ballots			430	0.47	–
Turnout			90,890	59.96	+4.30
Eligible voters			151,584	–	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		+11.07%

2008 Canadian federal election: Oak Ridges—Markham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Calandra	32,028	42.2%	+ 3.7%
	Liberal	Lui Temelkovski	31,483	41.5%	- 5.5%
	New Democratic	Andy Arifin	7,126	9.4%	- 0.5%
	Green	Richard Taylor	5,184	6.8%	+ 2.2%
Total valid votes			75,821	–	+1.80%
Turnout			–	61.26%

2000 Canadian federal election: Scarborough East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John McKay	24,019	59.82	$37,639
	Alliance	Paul Calandra	7,559	18.83	$32,135
	Progressive Conservative	Paul McCrossan	6,284	15.65	$26,016
	New Democratic	Denise Lake	1,884	4.69	$4,973
	Canadian Action	Dave Glover	292	0.73	none listed
	Marxist–Leninist	France Tremblay	113	0.28	$8
Total valid votes			40,151	100.00
Total rejected ballots			155
Turnout			40,306	55.91
Electors on the lists			72,092
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada.

Cabinet Positions

References

Notes

1. Oak Ridges-Markham

Citations

1. Ontario, Elections. "Markham—Stouffville". www.elections.on.ca. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
2. "Full text of "133rd Convocation, Nov 8 2008"". Internet Archive (Carleton University). Retrieved 1 October 2015.
3. "None too bright". Accidental Deliberations. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
4. "Lives of candidates must be open book". Newmarket Era. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2015 – via YorkRegion.com.
5. "Stouffville Morning Show" (Interview). WhiStle Radio. 29 September 2015.
6. "Paul Calandra will be federal Conservative candidate in Oak Ridges - Markham" Archived 2008-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. King Township Sentinel, March 14, 2007.
7. McGregor, Glen (9 January 2014). "Paul Calandra court documents point to family dispute over money, assets". Ottawa Citizen.
8. "Election Results". Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, SK. November 28, 2000. p. A8.
9. "Greater Toronto Area Results". The Toronto Star. October 15, 2008. p. U2.
10. "Riding results from across Canada". Edmonton Journal. May 3, 2011. p. A6.
11. "MP wants riding name to better reflect towns". Georgina Advocate, June 22, 2009.
12. "An Act respecting the establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-hand Precious Metal Articles". Government of Canada Publications. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
13. "LEGISinfo". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
14. "Competing bidders for radio spot donated money to Tory MP". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
15. "Man vying for broadcast licence urged to donate to Tory fundraiser". Retrieved 2020-12-20.
16. "Contributions - Details". Elections Canada. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
17. "Paul Calandra's non-answer period week in videos". CBC.ca. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
18. "Bizarre Conservative MP Paul Calandra's Wikipedia Page Vandalized". THE CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
19. "Rick Mercer Report: Paul Calandra's Fragrance Would Be Called 'Obfuscation'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
20. "Unreal exchange in House of Commons over Canada's involvement in Iraq". Global News. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
21. O'Malley, Kady. "Paul Calandra apologizes for non-answers as sources pin blame on PMO". CBC. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
22. "#fullcalandra". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
23. "The Full Calandra". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
24. "Mark Critch Pledges $1 For Every Tweet Calling Paul Calandra A Tool". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
25. "Mark Critch launches 'u are a tool' campaign against Paul Calandra". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
26. Bolan, Sandra (Aug 14, 2015). "'Blocked' CBC comedian launches Twitter campaign at Stouffville MP". Stouffville Sun-Tribune. Retrieved 15 August 2015 – via YorkRegion.com.
27. "CPC accused of banning conservative C-51 protesters from social media". iPolitics. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
28. "#conblocked". Retrieved 1 October 2015.
29. Finney, Laura (Sep 24, 2015). "Pickering airport won't fly with Liberals, NDP: Markham-Stouffville election meeting". Stouffville Sun-Tribune. Retrieved 4 October 2015 – via YorkRegion.com.
30. Maloney, Ryan (20 October 2015). "6 Controversial Tory Incumbents Who Lost (And 2 Who Didn't)". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
31. "Paul Calandra says it was a 'mistake' to focus on niqab, barbaric practices". CBC. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
32. Raza, Ali (Sep 29, 2016). "Former MP Paul Calandra seeks Ontario PC nomination for Markham-Stouffville". Stouffville Sun-Tribune. Retrieved 29 September 2016 – via YorkRegion.com.
33. Raza, Ali (Nov 11, 2016). "Calandra is Markham-Stouffville's Ontario PC nominee for next election". Stouffville Sun-Tribune. Retrieved 12 November 2016 – via YorkRegion.com.
34. "Patrick Brown: Once-obscure MP rises from the ranks with Ontario PC leadership bid". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
35. "Rickford endorses Mulroney to lead Ontario PCs". TBNewsWatch. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
36. "MULRONEY LAUNCHES HER CAMPAIGN IN FRONT OF A FRIENDLY CROWD". QPBriefing. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
37. "Patrick Brown buoyed by supporters as he launches comeback bid". Toronto Star. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
38. "Signs suggest Caroline Mulroney leadership bid is struggling". CBC. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
39. Martin, Simon (Feb 26, 2018). "Calandra switches allegiance from Mulroney to Elliott in PC leadership race". Markham Economist & Sun. Retrieved 28 February 2018 – via YorkRegion.com.
40. "Premier Ford Announces Parliamentary Assistant Assignments as Part of Ontario's Government for the People". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
41. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 5. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
42. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Markham—Stouffville, 30 September 2015; Elections Canada, Electoral Districts
43. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Paul Calandra, Constituency Office Website
• Paul Calandra – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca