Joseph Preston (born June 14, 1955) is a Canadian politician, currently the mayor of St. Thomas,

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 ...

. He was previously a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, representing

Elgin—Middlesex—London Elgin—Middlesex—London is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from Elgin—Norfolk, Lambton—Middlesex, and London—Middlesex r ...

riding from 2004 to 2015 as a member of a

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. He defeated

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

incumbent

Gar Knutson Thomas Garfield "Gar" Knutson, (born May 4, 1956) is a lawyer and former member of the Parliament of Canada, as well as a former Cabinet Minister in the Government of Canada. Gar Knutson holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree ...

in the 2004 federal election. He was re-elected in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and 2011 federal elections. He did not run again in 2015 and retired from parliament. On July 10, 2018, Preston announced that he was running for mayor of St. Thomas in the 2018 Ontario municipal election, which he won. Prior to being an MP, he was an entrepreneur in St. Thomas, and was active in local politics.

Electoral record

References

External links

* 1955 births Canadian restaurateurs Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario People from Chatham-Kent Mayors of St. Thomas, Ontario Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians {{Ontario-MP-stub