Joseph Cressy (born July 10, 1984) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and activist who served on the

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

from 2014 to 2022. Cressy represented Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York, and was the chair of the

Toronto Board of Health Toronto Public Health (TPH) is the public health unit in Toronto, Ontario. It is responsible for delivering public health programs and services, enforcing public health regulations and advising Toronto City Council on health issues. The current ...

. He resigned from city council, effective April 30, 2022, to accept an appointment as senior vice president for external relations, communications and real estate development at

George Brown College George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...

Career

Activism

Cressy has worked on various social justice issues, which traces back to high school when he spent a year in South Africa. Upon returning to high school in Toronto, he got involved in the anti-Iraq war movement and has since worked on anti-poverty campaigns in South Africa, literacy programs with First Nations communities in Northern Ontario, and worked with The Stop Community Food Centre. Cressy also supports

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

issues, volunteering for an LGBTQ organization while studying abroad in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

and supporting the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

's (NDP) call for a visa ban against legislators who passed anti-gay laws in Russia.

Federal politics

Cressy ran for the

(NDP) in a by-election seeking to represent

Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2015. It generally encompassed the western portion of Downtown Toronto. Its federal Member of Parliam ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

following former NDP member of Parliament (MP)

Olivia Chow Olivia Chow (; born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian retired politician who was a federal New Democratic Party (NDP) member of Parliament (MP) representing Trinity—Spadina from 2006 to 2014. Chow ran in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, placin ...

's resignation to run for

mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

in the 2014 mayoral election. Cressy placed second, following winner

Adam Vaughan Adam G. Vaughan (born July 3, 1961) is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2014 until 2021. Vaughan represented the Toronto area riding of Spadina—Fort York as a member of the Liberal Party. He previously sat o ...

who previously represented Ward 20 on Toronto City Council."Joe Cressy wins second time in Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina"
''

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 ...

'', October 27, 2014.

Toronto City Council

Following his defeat federally, Cressy ran and was elected in the 2014 municipal election in Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina, succeeding

Ceta Ramkhalawansingh Ceta Ramkhalawansingh is a Canadian civil servant and former politician, who was appointed on July 7, 2014 to represent Ward 20 (Trinity—Spadina) on Toronto City Council, following the resignation of Adam Vaughan. As councillor, Cressy has sat on the Toronto Board of Health (serving as chair), the board of directors for

Toronto Community Housing Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is the public housing agency in Toronto, Ontario. A municipally owned corporation, municipal corporation of the Municipal government of Toronto, City of Toronto, TCHC provides approximately 60,000 unit ...

, the Parks and Environment Committee and the sub-committee on Climate Change and Adaptation. Cressy ran again in the 2018 municipal election in the newly formed Ward 10 Spadina—Fort York, which his old ward was amalgamated into. He was re-elected by one of the widest victory margins of any councillor in the city with 55.06 per cent of the vote. Cressy has announced he intends to retire from electoral politics and will not stand in the 2022 Toronto municipal election.

Personal life

Cressy is the son of former Toronto city councillors

Gordon Cressy Gordon Cressy (born 1943) is a former Canadian politician, who served on Toronto City Council from 1978 to 1982."Gordon Cressy fonds", City of Toronto Archives. Background Cressy was born in 1943 in Toronto, and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate ...

and

Joanne Campbell Joanne Campbell (8 February 1964 – 20 December 2002) was a British actress and drama therapist best known for playing Liz in the 1980s sitcom '' Me and My Girl'' and Josephine Baker on stage in ''This Is My Dream''.Hedley, Philip"Obituary: ...

."NDP turns to young activist with deep Chow roots in Trinity-Spadina"
''

'', March 17, 2014. His birth in 1984 made Campbell the first woman in Toronto City Council history to give birth to a child while serving as a councillor."City Hall Notebook". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', July 23, 1984. He studied public affairs and policy management at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. Prior to his entry into electoral politics, he worked for the

Stephen Lewis Foundation The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a non-governmental organization that assists mostly AIDS- and HIV-related grassroots projects in Africa. History The foundation was started by Stephen Lewis, a veteran Canadian politician and former Canadian ambass ...

and the

Polaris Institute The Polaris Institute is a Canadian think tank based in Ottawa, Ontario. Its stated goal is "to help empower citizen movements towards democratic social change". It was formed in 1997 in response to its view that citizens were becoming politically ...

,"Meet Joe Cressy: The man who seeks to replace Olivia Chow in Ottawa"
Yahoo! News Canada, April 2, 2014. and was campaign manager for

Mike Layton Michael Layton (born November 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician who served on Toronto City Council from 2010 until 2022. Layton most recently represented Ward 11 University—Rosedale. He was first elected in the 2010 municipal election in W ...

's (son of former federal NDP leader

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...

) successful campaign for a city council seat in the 2010 municipal election and NDP MP

's re-election campaign in the 2011 federal election. He was also initially involved in Chow's mayoral campaign in 2014, but withdrew when he decided to run in the Trinity—Spadina by-election.

Election results

Unofficial results as of October 27, 2014 10:05 PMCity of Toronto elections page
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References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cressy, Joe 1984 births Living people New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Toronto city councillors Carleton University alumni