John Hastings (born March 16, 1942) is a Canadian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1995 to 2003.

Background

Hastings has degrees from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

(1963) and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(1967). He worked as a political researcher, and as a teacher in Ontario's Secondary School system. In 1975, he worked as executive assistant to provincial cabinet minister

Lorne Henderson Lorne Henderson (October 31, 1920 – February 7, 2002) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis. Henderson was a mem ...

. Hastings was a member of the Worker's Compensation Board from 1977 to 1994, and also served on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Study of Antisocial behaviour in Youth before entering public life.

Politics

Hastings ran for the City of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

's Hydro Commission in 1985, and was elected on the second position. He was elected to the

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

City Council in 1988, and held this position until 1995. Hastings was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating long-serving

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Ed Philip Edward Thomas Philip (March 11, 1940 - January 31, 2022) was a former Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party of Ontario, New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1995 who repr ...

by fewer than 1,000 votes in

Etobicoke—Rexdale Etobicoke—Rexdale was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was created prior to the 1987 provincial election and eliminated in 1996, when its territory was incorporated into the riding of Etobicoke North. Etobicoke—Rexdale ri ...

. IN April 1997 he was appointed as a

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 U ...

to the

Minister of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

. In the 1999 provincial election, Hastings ran for re-election in the redistributed riding of

Etobicoke North Etobicoke North (french: Etobicoke-Nord) is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented by one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It covers the neighbourhood of Rexdale, ...

, and retained his seat with less than 40% of the popular vote. Hastings's riding was targeted by both the Liberals and NDP, and many believe that "vote-splitting" among the opposition parties caused his re-election. In 2000, Hastings supported

Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as minister ...

for the leadership of the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

on the second ballot of the newly formed party's leadership contest (''Regina Leader Post'', 28 June 2000). He supported

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...

to replace Harris as party leader in 2002, even though his riding executive endorsed rival candidate

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...

. Hastings rarely spoke in the legislature after Harris's retirement as premier, and did not seek re-election in 2003. On November 13, 2006, Hastings was elected to the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

as Trustee for Ward 1 (Etobicoke North), defeating incumbent Stan Nemiroff. Hastings took office in December 2006. He was re-elected in 2010 but was defeated in 2014 by Michael Ford who was fifty-two years his junior, the nephew of then-Mayor

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

and then-councillor

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...

. After 17 months, Michael Ford vacated his school board seat to run for the municipal council seat held by Rob Ford at his death. Hastings sought to regain the school board seat in the 2016 byelection, but was defeated by business owner Avtar Minhas.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, John 1942 births Living people People from Collingwood, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Toronto alumni Toronto District School Board trustees 21st-century Canadian politicians