Joe Daniel

Joe Daniel (born December 5, 1954) is a former Canadian politician. He was a Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015 who represented the Toronto riding of Don Valley East. He was the first Canadian MP of Malayali Indian descent.[1]

Joe Daniel
Member of Parliament
for Don Valley East
In office
May 2, 2011 – October 19, 2015
Preceded byYasmin Ratansi
Succeeded byYasmin Ratansi
Personal details
Born (1954-12-05) December 5, 1954
Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika Territory
Political partyConservative
Residence(s)Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ProfessionEngineer, Professor

Background

Daniel was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He came to Canada in 1987 to work on a contract with the Canadian military. In 1995, he moved to Toronto and joined (IBM) Celestica Inc. where he worked for 14 years as a manager in engineering. He was also a part-time professor at Humber and Centennial College and during this period presented a number of papers on fibre optic technology.[2][3]

Politics

In the 2011 Canadian federal election, he ran as the Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of Don Valley East. He defeated Liberal incumbent Yasmin Ratansi by 870 votes.[4] He served as a backbench member of the Stephen Harper government.

In the 2015 election he ran in the new riding of Don Valley North but lost to newcomer Geng Tan by 6,215 votes.[5] During the election, Daniel was recorded giving a talk in front of supporters where he was quoted as saying that the 2015 refugee crisis was part of a Muslim agenda, which he would oppose and not allow it to spread to Canada.[6] He refused media requests for clarification of his statement, as part of his policy to avoid all interviews with media until after the election.[7] Later, during an all-candidates debate in October, Daniel referred to the "so-called" Syrian refugees, questioned their need for food and water, and criticized the Middle East for not doing more to support them.[8]

In March 2017, Daniel attempted a comeback by running for the Conservative Party nomination for an April by-election in Markham—Thornhill, but was defeated by journalist and radio host Gavan Paranchothy.[9]

Electoral record
2015 Canadian federal election: Don Valley North
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalGeng Tan23,49451.42+14.13$89,171.01
ConservativeJoe Daniel17,27937.82-2.47$70,723.13
New DemocraticAkil Sadikali3,8968.53-12.20$16,603.42
GreenCaroline Brown1,0182.23+0.91–
Total valid votes/expense limit 45,687100.00 $205,015.85
Total rejected ballots 2590.56–
Turnout 45,94663.12–
Eligible voters 72,787
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +8.30
Source: Elections Canada[10][11]
2011 Canadian federal election: Don Valley East
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
ConservativeJoe Daniel14,42236.78+5.78
LiberalYasmin Ratansi13,55234.56-13.51
New DemocraticMary Trapani Hynes9,87825.19+11.87
GreenAkil Sadikali1,1142.84-4.05
Christian HeritageRyan Kidd2460.63-0.07
Total valid votes 39,212100.00
Total rejected ballots 218 0.55–
Turnout 39,430 57.24–
Eligible voters 68,890 ––

References
  1. "As multicultural as his constituents: MP Joe Daniel". Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  2. "About Joe". Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  3. "SPIE Digital Library: Search results (3 papers found)". SPIE. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  4. "Riding results from across Canada". Edmonton Journal. 3 May 2011. p. A6.
  5. "Canada Votes". The Toronto Star. 20 October 2015. pp. GT13–GT15.
  6. Harper, Tim (23 September 2015). "Conservative candidate claims Muslim 'agenda' in refugee crisis: Tim Harper". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  7. Brennan, Richard J. and Robert Benzie (26 August 2015). "Tory candidates told to avoid debates, media during campaign". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  8. Campion-Smith, Bruce (2 October 2015). "Toronto Tory candidate Joe Daniel questions 'so-called' refugees". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  9. Rona Ambrose [@RonaAmbrose] (9 March 2017). "Congrats to @gavanp and Jimmy Yu on becoming @CPC_HQ candidates! Proud of our Party's fair and open nominations" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Don Valley North, 30 September 2015
  11. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
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