Steven Offer (born November 4, 1949) is a former

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 ...

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

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

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 1985 to 1995 who represented the riding of

Mississauga North Mississauga North was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 1988. This riding was created in 1976 from parts of Halton (electoral dist ...

. He served as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the government of

David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Backgro ...

Background

Offer has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, and a law degree from

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgoode, ...

Politics

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1985 provincial election, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

by 1,424 votes in

. The Liberal party formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

after the election, and Offer 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 U ...

to the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations from June 26, 1985 to September 1987. Offer was easily re-elected in the 1987 provincial election, in which the Liberal party won a landslide majority. He continued serving as a parliamentary assistant until August 2, 1989, when he was promoted to cabinet as Solicitor General. In 1990, Offer was challenged for the Liberal nomination in Mississauga North by a representative of the local

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

community, who claimed that the Peterson government was insufficiently responsive to the concerns of minorities. He won the challenge, and was narrowly re-elected in the 1990 provincial election, defeating

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 ...

candidate John Foster by 1,442 votes. The Liberals lost the provincial election to the NDP, and Offer moved to the opposition benches. In opposition, he served as his party's critic for Labour and Environment. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the 1995 provincial election, and Offer lost to Tory candidate

John Snobelen John Snobelen (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Mike Harris. Background S ...

by over 4,000 votes. After politics, Offer continued with a number of charitable causes. He is currently the Senior Vice President (Sales, Business Development and Government Relations with FNF Canada. which is a division of Fidelity National Financial .

Cabinet posts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Offer, Steve 1949 births Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Politicians from Toronto