Frank de Jong

Frank De Jong
Speaking at an economics forum in 2007
Leader of the Green Party of Ontario
In office 1993–2009
Preceded by	First Leader
Succeeded by	Mike Schreiner
Personal details
Born	October 16, 1955 West Luther Township, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Green Party of Ontario
Other political affiliations	Green Party of Canada
Occupation	Environmentalist, politician
Profession	Elementary school-teacher

Frank de Jong, (born October 16, 1955 in West Luther Township, northeast of Arthur, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, environmentalist and elementary school teacher at Fern Avenue Public School. He joined the Green Party of Ontario in 1987 and became the party's first official leader in 1993 – a position he held until November 14, 2009, when he was replaced by Mike Schreiner.

In the September 14, 2006, Parkdale—High Park by-election, de Jong received 6.2 percent of the vote. On November 7, 2006, he was nominated as the GPO candidate in the riding of Davenport for the 2007 Ontario general election.^[1] In that election, de Jong captured 10.26 percent of the vote, his best showing as a member of the Green Party.

De Jong has also campaigned for federal office as a member of the Green Party of Canada.

Education and activism

Born into a Dutch background, De Jong earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1978, and a Bachelor of Education from University of Ottawa in 1979. After graduating, he worked as an elementary school teacher. He developed an interest in environmental concerns during the mid-1980s, and became involved in campaigns to save Ontario's old growth forests. He was also involved in the anti-nuclear, renewable energy and pro-choice movements. De Jong now resides in Faro, Yukon with his partner Tove Christensen.

Politics

The Ontario Green Party did not originally have a formal leadership structure, and was run in a very decentralized manner (nominal leaders were sometimes chosen for elections, but they had no personal authority over party decisions). De Jong and others opposed this approach, and successfully campaigned for a formal leadership contest in 1993. De Jong himself entered this contest, and defeated Jim Harris, who later became leader of the Green Party of Canada. De Jong supported Harris's leadership of the federal party until Harris stepped down in 2006, at which time de Jong supported David Chernushenko's leadership bid. He was challenged for the leadership of the Ontario Green Party by Judy Greenwood-Speers in 2001.

Frank De Jong (right), with his successor as Ontario Greens Leader, Mike Schreiner (left)

Like Harris, de Jong is an eco-capitalist. He defines his political philosophy as "socially progressive, fiscally conservative, and environmentally aware".^[2] He has long supported conservative economic policies, including a gradual shift from the taxation of incomes to the taxation of natural resources. Recently, he has also spoken against extensive government subsidies and funding for crown corporations.

At the October 2005 Green Party of Ontario Annual General Meeting, de Jong narrowly avoided a "leadership review" when 67% of voting members voted against it. The GPO constitution requires that a leadership review be held bi-annually; If more than one-third of voting members had opted for a review, a leadership race would have been held in 2006. At the 2007 AGM, de Jong survived the next scheduled review, this time with approximately 71% support from party members. This followed what was considered the strongest election performance by the GPO to date.^[3] Speaking at the Green Party of Ontario AGM in May 2009, de Jong announced that he will not be running for re-election as leader of the party.^[4]

De Jong was a candidate for Ward 18 in Toronto's 2010 municipal election.

As of December 2014, de Jong was living in Faro, Yukon and has been nominated as the Green Party of Canada candidate in the Yukon riding in the 2015 federal election.^[5]

Election campaigns

De Jong has campaigned for federal and provincial office several times. His best showing was in the provincial election of 2003, when he ran against sitting Premier Ernie Eves and finished third, ahead of the New Democratic Party candidate. On all other occasions, de Jong has finished well behind candidates of the major parties.

During the 1995 provincial campaign, de Jong cycled on a "leader's tour" from Ottawa to Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor and Niagara Falls before returning northward to Ottawa. Subsequently, he was involved in creating constituency contact lists throughout the province.

His electoral record is as follows:

Canadian federal election, 1988: Rosedale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	David MacDonald	22,704	41.36	-11.44
	Liberal	Bill Graham	22,624	41.21	+15.08
	New Democratic	Doug Wilson	8,266	15.06	-2.77
	Libertarian	Chris Blatchly	411	0.75	+0.09
	Green	Frank de Jong	397	0.72	-1.15
	Rhinoceros	Liane McLarty	265	0.48
	Independent	Mike Constable	102	0.19
	Independent	Harry Margel	91	0.17
	Commonwealth of Canada	Paul Therrien	33	0.06	-0.27
Total valid votes			54,893	100.00

Ontario general election, 1990: Ottawa East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Bernard Grandmaître	16,363	62.41	−11.85
	New Democratic	Lori Lucier	6,103	23.28	+7.08
	Progressive Conservative	Diana Morin	2,203	8.40	−1.14
	Family Coalition	Richard Hudon	826	3.15
	Green	Frank de Jong	723	2.76
Total valid votes			26,218	100.0	+2.69

Ottawa municipal election, 1991

Capital Ward
Candidate	Votes	%
Jim Watson	4,123
Lynn Smyth (X)	1,817
Michael Lynch	638
Frank De Jong;;	482

Canadian federal election, 1993: Ottawa—Vanier
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Jean-Robert Gauthier	31,216	70.46	+11.25
	Progressive Conservative	Marie-Christine Lemire	4,486	10.13	-13.07
	Reform	Sam Dancey	3,553	8.02
	New Democratic	Willie Dunn	2,935	6.62	-9.36
	Green	Frank de Jong	606	1.37
	National	Raymond Samuels	497	1.12
	Independent	David Talbot	429	0.97
	Natural Law	Roger Bouchard	414	0.93
	Marxist–Leninist	Serge Lafortune	138	0.31
	Abolitionist	Steven Edward White	28	0.06
Total valid votes			44,302	100.00

Canadian federal by-election, February 13, 1995: Ottawa—Vanier
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mauril Bélanger	11,918	60.06	−10.41	$52,001
	Reform	Kevin Gaudet	4,034	20.33	+12.44	$36,995
	Progressive Conservative	Françoise Guenette	1,899	9.57	−0.96	$30,933
	New Democratic Party	Bob Lawson	1,259	6.34	−0.16	$5,764
	Christian Heritage	Gilles Gauthier	299	1.51		$1,751
	Green	Frank de Jong	218	1.10	−0.24	$0
	Natural Law	Ian A.G. Campbell	109	0.55	−0.35	$131
	Marxist-Leninist	Serge Lafortune	61	0.31	+0.02	$136
	Abolitionist	John Turmel	46	0.23	+0.17	$0
Total valid votes			19,843	100.00
Total rejected ballots			201
Turnout			20,004	30.39	−32.04
Electors on the lists			65,824

Ontario general election, 1995: Nepean
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	John Baird	17,510	49.66	$40,800.37
	Liberal	Hans Daigeler	13,575	38.50	$45,021.83
	New Democratic	John Sullivan	3,274	9.29	$15,380.57
	Green	Frank de Jong	390	1.11	$0.00
	Natural Law	Brian E. Jackson	259	0.73	$0.00
	Freedom	Cathy Frampton	252	0.71	$2,307.70
Total valid votes			35,260	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			363
Turnout			35,623	64.97
Electors on the lists			54,832

Canadian federal election, 1997: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Mac Harb	25,987	45.19	-6.71
	New Democratic	Jamey Heath	13,646	23.73	+1.07
	Progressive Conservative	Peter Annis	9,391	16.33	+4.45
	Reform	John Perocchio	6,651	11.57	+2.03
	Green	Frank de Jong	855	1.49	+0.30
	Canadian Action	Howard Bertram	236	0.41
	Natural Law	Neil Paterson	211	0.37	-0.34
	Independent	Susan Cumby	190	0.33
	Marxist–Leninist	Hardial Bains	150	0.26	+0.07
	Independent	Malek Khouri	92	0.16
	Independent	Ray Joseph Cormier	91	0.16
Total valid votes			57,500	100.00

Ontario general election, 1999: Parkdale—High Park
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Gerard Kennedy	23,022	54.92
	Progressive Conservative	Annamarie Castrilli	12,647	30.17
	New Democratic	Irene Atkinson	4,937	11.78
	Green	Frank de Jong	500	1.19
	Libertarian	Doug Burn	325	0.78
	Family Coalition	Stan Grzywna	289	0.69
	Independent	Jorge Van Schouwen	99	0.24
	Natural Law	Lynne Hea	99	0.24
Total valid votes			41,918	100.0
Source: Elections Ontario[6]

Ontario general election, 2003: Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Ernie Eves	29,222	56.64	-8.12
	Liberal	Dan Yake	14,859	28.8	-0.03
	Green	Frank De Jong	3,161	6.13	3.68
	New Democratic	Mitchel Healey	3,148	6.1	+2.13
	Family Coalition	Dave Davies	1,202	2.33

2005 by-election: Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	John Tory	15,610	56.3	-
	Liberal	Bob Duncanson	4,625	16.7	-
	New Democratic	Lynda McDougall	3,881	14.0
	Green	Frank de Jong	2,767	10.0
	Family Coalition	Paul Micelli	479	1.7	-
	Independent	William Cook	163	0.6	-
	Libertarian	Philip Bender	135	0.5	-
	Independent	John Turmel	85	0.3	-

Ontario provincial by-election, September 14, 2006: Parkdale—High Park
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Cheri DiNovo	11,677	41.04	+25.27
	Liberal	Sylvia Watson	9,387	32.99	-24.84
	Progressive Conservative	David Hutcheon	4,921	17.29	+1.11
	Green	Frank De Jong	1,753	6.16	-0.77
	Family Coalition	Stan Grzywna	367	1.29	-0.2
	Libertarian	Jim McIntosh	162	0.57
	Freedom	Silvio Ursomarzo	111	0.39	-0.02
	Independent	John Turmel	78	0.27
Total valid votes			28,456	100.0
Source: Elections Ontario[7]

Ontario provincial by-election, January 12, 2007 by-election: Burlington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Joyce Savoline	11,143	48.98	+2.83
	Liberal	Joan Lougheed	9,365	41.17	-1.01
	New Democratic	Cory Judson	1,310	5.76	-2.46
	Green	Frank de Jong	734	3.23	+0.90
	Freedom	Barry Spruce	106	0.47
	Independent	John Turmel	90	0.40
Total valid votes			22,748	100.00

Ontario general election, 2007: Davenport
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Tony Ruprecht	12,467	41.82	-13.70
	New Democratic	Peter Ferreira	10,880	36.49	+7.12
	Green	Frank de Jong	3,047	10.22	*
	Progressive Conservative	Antonio Garcia	2,805	9.41	+2.11
	Communist	Dave McKee	191	0.64
	Family Coalition	Gustavo Valdez	157	0.53
	Libertarian	Nunzio Venuto	152	0.51	*
	Independent	Annette Kouri	114	0.38
Total valid votes			29,813	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing	-10.41

Toronto municipal election, 2010, Ward 18: Davenport

Ward 18
Candidate	Votes	%
Ana Bailão	6,277	43.754%
Kevin Beaulieu	4,911	34.233%
Frank de Jong	869	6.057%
Hema Vyas	776	5.409%
Joe MacDonald	669	4.663%
Kirk Russell	326	2.272%
Nha Le	154	1.073%
Ken Wood	106	0.739%
Mohammad Muhit	94	0.655%
Joanna Teliatnik	70	0.488%
Doug Carroll	52	0.362%
Abdirazak Elmi	42	0.293%
Total	14,346	100%

Ontario general election, 2011: Davenport
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Jonah Schein	14,367	45.93	+9.44
	Liberal	Cristina Martins	12,953	41.41	-0.41
	Progressive Conservative	Kirk Russell	2,480	7.93	-1.48
	Green	Frank de Jong	855	2.73	-7.49
	Independent	Mark Jagg	250	0.80
	Communist	Miguel Figueroa	163	0.52	-0.12
	Freedom	Franz Cauchi	96	0.31
	Human Rights	Alix Thompson	82	0.26
	The Only Party	Kiros Ghiwot	33	0.11
Total valid votes			31,279	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			178	0.57
Turnout			31,457	45.59
Eligible voters			68,998
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+4.93
Source: Elections Ontario[8]

Canadian federal election, 2015: Yukon
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Larry Bagnell	10,715	53.62	+20.67	–
	Conservative	Ryan Leef	4,800	24.02	-9.75	–
	New Democratic	Melissa Atkinson	3,890	19.47	+5.10	–
	Green	Frank de Jong	577	2.89	-16.02	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			19,982	100.0		$209,471.75
Total rejected ballots			–	–	–
Turnout			–	–	–
Eligible voters			26,283
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+15.21
Source(s)  "Yukon - October 19, 2015 preliminary results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 October 2015. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

Footnotes

1. Davenport Green Party nominates de Jong, Green Party of Ontario news release, November 8, 2006.
2. Green Party of Ontario Leader Profile
3. "Green leader gets 71 per cent support". Toronto Star, November 26, 2007.
4. "Frank de Jong to step down as Green party leader". Toronto Star, May 23, 2009.
5. Reynolds, Christopher (2014-12-18). "Whitehorse Daily Star: Local man pursues NDP nomination". Whitehorsestar.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
6. Chief Returning Officer of Ontario. "Parkdale—High Park General Election of June 3, 1999". Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate. Elections Ontario. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
7. Chief Returning Officer. "Parkdale–High Park By-election 2006". Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for each Candidate. Toronto: Elections Ontario. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
8. "Official return from the records / Rapport des registres officiels - Davenport" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2014.

See also

• List of Green party leaders in Canada

External links

• Green Party of Ontario official website