Christopher Ballard is a former politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He was a

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member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the riding of

Newmarket—Aurora Newmarket—Aurora is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. The district contains the towns of Newmarket, Aurora, and a very small portion of East Gwillimbury. ...

. He was a member of cabinet in the government of

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

Background

Attended King City Secondary School where upon graduation had aspirations of becoming a Marine Biologist. Ballard was a journalist with the '' Newmarket Era'', the ''Aurora Banner'', the ''Orillia Packet and Times'', Canadian Press and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. He has run his own business consultancy firm CSB Communications with clients in the business, education, association sectors in Ontario. He was also the Executive Director for a consumers advocacy group. He lives in Aurora with his wife Audrey where they raised three children. Ballard was presented with an honorary lifetime member award by Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, Michael A. Brown, on behalf of the Public Affairs Association of Canada. Ballard is a former president of the association and was recognized for his years of dedication to the association.

Politics

Ballard was elected as a town councillor in

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in 2010 and vacated his council seat before finishing a full term. He ran in the 2014 provincial election as the

candidate in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, a long-time PC held riding north of Toronto. In a surprising upset, he defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Jane Twinney by 3,432 votes. Ballard's win was part of a strong showing by the Ontario Liberals in the York Region, where the party had a historically strong showing in many traditionally PC and swing ridings. He previously served as

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...

to the

Minister of Government and Consumer Services The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery (formerly the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services) is a ministry of the Government of Ontario. It is responsible for ServiceOntario, which, among other responsibilities, issues driver' ...

. In June 2016, he was appointed to

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty-Reduction Strategy. After the resignation of Glen Murray as Minister of Environment and Climate Change on July 31, 2017, Ballard was appointed his successor by Premier

. While MPP Ballard moved bill 42 to directly elect the chair of the Region of York. This was never realized as it was reversed in July 2018. He ran for re-election in the 2018 provincial election and was defeated soundly, coming in 3rd in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora with less than 23% of the vote. Ballard's loss was part of a weak showing by the Ontario Liberals who retained only 7 seats and lost official party status. He ran in the 2018 municipal election for Mayor of the Town of Aurora and was soundly defeated, coming in 3rd with less than 20% of the vote. Ballard exited politics in 2019 to be the CEO of Passive House Canada.

Cabinet positions

Election results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Chris 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian columnists Canadian newspaper reporters and correspondents Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Ontario municipal councillors People from King, Ontario Toronto Star people Year of birth missing (living people)