Willem Bouma (born July 27, 1972) is a Dutch-Canadian politician, who was elected to 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 ...

in the 2018 provincial election. He represents the riding of

Brantford—Brant Brantford—Brant is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1904 to 1949 and since 1968. Prior to the 42nd Canadian federal election, 2015 ...

as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. Before becoming an MPP, Bouma practised

optometry Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care. In the Uni ...

and was a member of the

Brant County Council The Brant County Council is the governing body of the County of Brant government in Brant, Ontario, Canada. Members represent wards throughout the county, and are known as councillors. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors, two repre ...

Early life and optometry career

Born in the village of

Rinsumageast Rinsumageast ( nl, Rinsumageest) is a village in the Dantumadiel municipality of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 965 in 2017. The village is locally called ''De Geest'' (Dutch) or ''De Geast''Gildemacher, Karel F. (2007). ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Bouma's family moved to Ontario when he was four years old. His parents operated a dairy farm near

Forest, Ontario Forest is a community in Lambton Shores, Ontario, Canada, near Sarnia and Lake Huron in Lambton County. It has a population of 2,876 (2011 Census) and a land area of . Community Forest's high school, North Lambton Secondary School. This fac ...

. Bouma attended the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1995. He then studied at the Michigan College of Optometry, graduating in 1999. He practiced optometry in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

for seven years, but moved back to Ontario in 2006, settling in

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, where he established an optometry office.

Politics

Bouma served in several community positions before he ran for office, including the Brant County Committee of Adjustment; the Brant County Board of Health; and as president of the Brant Waterways Foundation.

Brant County Council

In 2014, he ran for the Brant County Council in ward 1, which consists of the rural areas in the north of the municipality. Bouma placed second in the election, 28 votes behind incumbent councillor John Wheat, winning one of the two seats.

Provincial Parliament

Bouma ran to succeed retiring MPP

Dave Levac David Joseph Levac (born April 6, 1954) is a retired Canadian politician who was the 41st speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2011 to 2018. Levac was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Legislative Assembly in 1999 ...

in the 2018 provincial election. He was nominated by the Brantford—Brant Progressive Conservative Riding Association on April 8, 2017. Bouma's campaign focused primarily on cost-of-living, healthcare, hydro prices, and taxation. Bouma defeated

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

candidate Alex Felsky in the June 7 election, winning by 635 votes (1.09%). Bouma was sworn-in on July 11, 2018. In June 2019, he was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier.

Abortion controversy

Bouma, along with fellow Progressive Conservative MPPs

Christina Mitas Christina Mitas is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election. She represents the riding of Scarborough Centre as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Bef ...

and

Sam Oosterhoff Samuel Earl Oosterhoff (born August 22, 1997) is a Canadian politician. Oosterhoff is currently the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding of Niagara West. Oosterhoff is a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario a ...

, spoke at an anti-abortion rally in Queen's Park in May 2019. Bouma quoted from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, while Oosterhoff pledged to "make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime". This drew criticism from parts of the Progressive Conservative Party, as well as the New Democratic Official Opposition. The Brantford—Brant NDP issued a statement calling Bouma's comments "archaic", and Opposition Leader

Andrea Horwath Andrea Horwath (; born October 24, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the 58th mayor of Hamilton since 2022. Horwath previously served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre from 2004 to 2022, as leader of t ...

said that she was "horrified" that the MPPs' participation in the demonstration. Following the rally, Premier

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 ...

said that he would not re-open the abortion debate. Demonstrators on both sides of the issue gathered outside of Bouma's office in Brantford on May 31, 2019.

Personal life

Bouma lives in the town of St. George with his wife Joni and their five children. He is a member of the

Free Reformed Churches of North America The Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRCNA) is a theologically conservative federation of churches in the Dutch Calvinist tradition with congregations in the United States and Canada. It officially adopted its current name in 1974. Thes ...

Electoral record

{, , valign=top width=10%, {, class=wikitable , - !colspan="3", 2014 Brant County Council election, Ward 1 , - ! style="background:#ddf; width:200px;", Candidate ! style="background:#ddf; width:50px;", Vote ! style="background:#ddf; width:30px;", % , - , John Wheat , , 956 , , 20.69 , - , Will Bouma , , 928 , , 20.09 , - , Willie Morley , , 754 , , 16.32 , - , Dave Thomson , , 490 , , 10.61 , - , John MacApline , , 448 , , 9.70 , - , Ken Burns , , 429 , , 9.28 , - , John Bell , , 411 , , 8.90 , - , William Kelley , , 112 , , 2.42 , - , Ray Grummett , , 92 , , 1.99 , - , colspan="3", Source:

County of Brant The County of Brant (2021 population 39,474) is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word "county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. The C ...

, -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouma, Will Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 21st-century Canadian politicians People from the County of Brant Living people Canadian optometrists 1972 births