John Oliver (born 1956) is a

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 ...

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 C ...

, Canada. He is a former

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 ...

member of the House of Commons of Canada who was elected in 2015 in the riding of Oakville. He served one term and chose not to run for re-election.

Early life

Oliver was born in

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...

, the son of Ellice and Peter Oliver, who was a local

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

. He is the second oldest of 3 siblings. He attended

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

earning a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree. In 1982 he became a Chartered Accountant. He was later named a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (FCPA). Oliver also attended the

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

, where he earned a master's degree in health administration, the Canadian College of Health Executives where he became a Certified Health Executive and in 2003 became a Member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Career

Oliver served in a variety of jobs in the public and private sectors, including as an Assistant Deputy Minister in the

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care The Ministry of Health is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for administering the health care system in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ministry is responsible to the Ontario Legislature through the minister of health, presentl ...

. He has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of numerous hospitals including Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital and

Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital The Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital is a full-service acute care community hospital located at 3001 Hospital Gate in Oakville, Ontario. It offers a comprehensive range of primary and secondary care services in addition to some tertiary servi ...

. He presided over the amalgamation of the Milton District Hospital, Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital and later the Georgetown and District Memorial to form Halton Healthcare Services. The amalgamation of Milton District Hospital and Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital has been noted by the Ministry of Health to be one of the most successful and least problematic amalgamations in Ontario. Oliver served as President and CEO of Halton Healthcare for more than 16 years before retiring. While at Halton Healthcare he supervised the development of the $2.7 billion New Oakville Hospital. The new hospital opened on time and on budget in 2015, and is one of Canada's single largest infrastructure projects to date. Oliver has served as the Chair of the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario, Chair of the Halton-Peel District Health Council, and as Chair of the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the M ...

(CIHR) Partnerships for Health System Improvement Committee.

Politics

On October 2, 2014, Oliver won the Liberal nomination for the Oakville riding in the next general election, defeating local lawyer Jennifer Malabar. In the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister. The election was held to elect ...

, he defeated Conservative Party incumbent Terence Young by 4,480 votes. On July 26, 2018, Oliver was nominated to be the Liberal candidate for the 2019 general election, becoming one of the first Liberal candidates to be nominated. Oliver has been quoted as saying his main reason for entering politics was seeing the deterioration of Canada's healthcare and research systems by the previous government. Oliver is a fierce proponent of National Pharmacare. One of his first actions after taking office was to initiate a study into a National Pharmacare program for Canada at the Standing Committee on Health. The report titled ''Pharmacare Now: Prescription Medicine Coverage for All Canadians'' was released in April 2018. It calls for the creation of a national prescription drug formulary, and for the

Canada Health Act The ''Canada Health Act'' (CHA; ''french: Loi canadienne sur la santé'') is a statute of the Parliament of Canada, adopted in 1984, which establishes the framework for federal financial contributions to the provincial and territorial health in ...

be amended to include drugs prescribed outside of a hospital to be an insured service. Oliver is quoted as saying after the report's release "For me it’s simple, no Canadian should be denied access to necessary prescription medicines because they can’t afford it". He served on the Standing Committee on Health and the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations. As of 2016, Oliver was the Chair of the Liberal Automotive Caucus.

Electoral record

Personal life

John lives in Oakville with his wife Joanna. He has three children Rachel, Alex and William.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, John 1956 births Living people Liberal Party of Canada MPs McMaster University alumni Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario People from Oakville, Ontario University of Toronto alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian healthcare chief executives