===Ian West (
Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing)=== West entered political life as a member of the
Progressive Conservative Party, and was 25 years old when he first campaigned for the PCs in the
2000 election. A graduate of the
University of Windsor, he had recently completed a work term with
DaimlerChrysler in
Germany (
Windsor Star, 31 October 2000). His campaign focused on environmental concerns, and highlighted his party's plan to eliminate Canada's debt in twenty-five years (
Windsor Star, 25 November 2000). Although credited by the local media for running a solid campaign, he finished a distant fourth against longtime
Liberal incumbent
Herb Gray in
Windsor West. West campaigned for the Progressive Conservatives again in a 2002 by-election, after Gray retired from the House of Commons. He emphasized the environment and cross-border trade with
America (
Windsor Star, 17 April 2002), and again finished fourth against
New Democrat Brian Masse. West later joined the
Conservative Party of Canada, and was the party's candidate for
Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing in the
2006 federal election. As of 2005, he is in his last year of studies at the law school at the
University of Ottawa (
Sudbury Star, 12 December 2005). ===Peter Conroy (
Beaches—East York)=== Conroy was born and raised in Beaches-East York, where he attended St. Denis elementary school and Cardinal Newman Secondary School. In 1988, he led an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Newman board from mandating school uniforms (
Toronto Star, 7 June 1988). After completing an Honours degree in History and Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, he worked in
Ottawa for four years as an executive and legislative assistant to
Liberal Member of Parliament (MP)
Tom Wappel in
Ottawa.He then returned to Beaches-East York to start a family and pursue a career in business. Conroy and his wife Shelley have three children: twin daughters Alexandra and Elizabeth and son Jacob. They are homeowners in the
Upper Beach area. Conroy is a founder and executive of CollectiveBid Systems Inc, through which he has launched a fixed income exchange designed to eliminate the inefficiencies in the Canadian Bond Market. He currently works for the
Montreal Exchange. He is an active member of the Beaches
Lions Club where he has helped to raise funds in support of local causes including Kew Play and Community Centre 55's Hamper program. Along with three friends, he has promoted a community-based business, The Christmas Tree Company, since 1992. This venture has also raised money for the
Children's Wish Foundation of Canada. Conroy was thirty-six years old in the 2006 campaign (
Toronto Star, 16 July 2006). He received 9,238 votes (18.04%) in the 2006 election, finishing third against
Liberal incumbent
Maria Minna. ===Peter Coy (
Eglinton—Lawrence)=== Coy was born on the
Isle of Wight,
England in 1951. He was a flight sergeant in the British Air Training Force at age sixteen, and flew in
RAF jet trainers over
Germany and England.[http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/127/#PeterCoy A Business Studies graduate from
Crawley College, he entered the data processing profession and studied computer programming and system design. He moved to Canada in 1974. Since 1991, he has been president of Prodigm Inc., creating system designs and software for customer sales and service systems. Coy has served as president of the Toronto Operetta Theatre, chair of the outreach and social concern committee of Grace Church on-the-Hill, vice-president of the Eglinton-Lawrence Conservative EDA, and previously vice-president of the Eglinton-Lawrence
Progressive Conservative riding association. He received 14,897 votes (30.25%), finishing second against
Liberal incumbent
Joseph Volpe. ===John Capobianco (
Etobicoke—Lakeshore)===
John Capobianco (born 1965) is a
Canadian corporate executive and activist. He has twice been a political candidate for the
Conservative Party of Canada. Capobianco's parents immigrated from
Italy in 1960. He was born and raised in
Etobicoke and has undertaken a career as a consultant, rising to the position of Senior Vice President Public Affairs with Edelman Canada, one of the largest integrated communications firms. In his political life, Capobianco has been president of the
Ontario PC Youth Association. During the government of
Mike Harris he worked as an advisor to then-Minister of Education
David Johnson. Capobianco ran for Parliament as a Conservative in the
2004 election, losing to
Jean Augustine in
Etobicoke—Lakeshore by almost 10,000 votes. He was again the Tory standard-bearer in Etobicoke—Lakeshore after defeating
Morley Kells for his party's nomination and lost to
Liberal candidate
Michael Ignatieff in the
2006 federal election, losing by less than 5,000 votes. Both times Capobianco received the most votes of any Conservative candidate in
Toronto. He is married with one child. ===Eliot Lewis Hill (
Hamilton Centre)=== Hill is a police officer, with experience in
Hamilton and
Toronto. He has been also active with
Habitat For Humanity, and received the Alan Ladkin Memorial trophy for community involvement in 1993. Hill worked in Toronto at the time of the election, but resided in Hamilton. He was thirty-one years old (
Hamilton Spectator, 13 January 2006). He defeated former candidate Leon Patrick O'Connor for the Conservative nomination in Hamilton Centre (
Hamilton Spectator, 13 May 2005), and focused his campaign on "law and order" issues (
Hamilton Spectator, 19 September 2005). He received 9,696 votes (20.29%), finishing third against
New Democratic Party incumbent
David Christopherson. ===Lou Grimshaw (
Kingston and the Islands)=== Grimshaw was born in
St. Catharines,
Ontario. He holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Political and Economic Science and a
Master of Arts degree in War Studies, both from
Royal Military College of Canada. He was a professional army officer for thirty-nine years before retiring in 1996], and received training as a
paratrooper (
Kingston Whig-Standard, 5 January 2006). Grimshaw saw action with
NATO forces in
Germany as a member of the
British army, and served with the
United Nations detachment in
Cyprus. He was a defense management consultant and the owner of Louis E. Grimshaw Military Antiques during the 2006 election. He has also written on military topics. In 2005, he received the Province of Ontario Volunteer Service Award.Grimshaw was a
Progressive Conservative for many years, and became president of the party's federal Kingston and the Islands association in 2002. He supported
Scott Brison's bid for the party leadership in 2003 (
KWS, 2 June 2003). He later endorsed the party's merger with the
Canadian Alliance in 2003-04, and was the founding association president of the resulting Conservative Party of Canada (
KWS, 22 March 2004). Grimshaw has also been a church warden and member of the
Synod of the
Anglican Diocese of Ontario. He won the Conservative Party nomination in May 2005, defeating Connie Wilkins and Keith Bilow (
KWS, 16 May 2005). He received 16,230 votes (26.07%), finishing second against
Liberal incumbent
Peter Milliken. ===Steven Cage (
Kitchener Centre)===
Steven Cage was educated at
York University, receiving both his
Bachelor of Business Administration and his
Master of Business Administration. He is a member of the business community with more than 20 years of financial management experience and is a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. Cage is a public representative on the Provincial Appeals Committee of the Human Resource Professionals Association of Ontario, a director of the Confederation Club of Waterloo Region and an active member of several local business organizations. He has been a business news reader on 570AM
Kitchener radio and is an occasional guest lecturer at the
Richard Ivey School of Business. Cage was active in development of the
Conservative Party's [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930183548/http://www.conservative.ca/EN/policy_declaration policy declaration, passed in
Montreal in March 2005. ===Ajmer Mandur (
Kitchener—Waterloo)===
Ajmer Mandur is a member of the
Conservative Party of Canada and has been nominated to run in the
2006 Canadian federal election in the
riding of
Kitchener—Waterloo. Ajmer immigrated to
Canada in 1983 with his family. He went to high school in
Waterloo and then graduated from Conestoga College with a diploma in Business Administration-Materials Management. Mandur is a small businessman that has operated two businesses in his community since 1990. He is an active member in the community and has lived in Kitchener-Waterloo since he and his family immigrated in 1983. Mandur sits on the Regional Safety and Crime Prevention Council and the Waterloo Neighbourhood Watch Board. ===John Mazzilli (
London North Centre)=== ===Albert Gretzky (
London West)===
Albert (Al) Gretzky (born 1942) ran as a Conservative in London West in the 2006 federal election and finished second, 1,329 votes behind incumbent
Liberal Sue Barnes. The uncle of
Wayne Gretzky, he has been a resident of Byron and London West for the last 25 years. Most recently an employee of
Eatons and
Sears, he is active in the community, giving his time in support of such causes as the Thames Valley Children's Centre, the
Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Canada Games, and the Palace Theatre. In 2013, Gretzky was the
Freedom Party of Ontario's candidate in a provincial by-election held in
London West placing fourth with 4.9% of the vote. ===Vincent Veerasuntharam (
Scarborough Southwest)=== Veerasuntharam moved to Canada from
Sri Lanka in 1983. He is president of Suvara Travels Canada Inc., and a director on the Sri Lanka Business Council. Veerasuntharam is a member of St. Bonaventure's
Catholic parish in Toronto. He drew attention to Toronto's
gun violence in the 2006 campaign, and highlighted his family and religious convictions. He received 10,017 votes (24.04%), finishing second against Wappel. ===Kevin Serviss (
Sudbury)===
Kevin Serviss was born in
Iroquois,
Ontario, and raised in
Guilletville near
Sudbury. He moved to
Hamilton as a young adult, and joined its Metropolitan Police Force in 1976. He returned to Sudbury in 1978 and worked for that city's police force until 1999, when he became a pastor at the city's
Pentecostal Glad Tidings Tabernacle. He has also hosted a radio program on
CJTK-FM, Sudbury's Christian station, and was a founder of the Elgin Street Mission and the Pregnancy Care Crisis Centre. He helped to organize a rally against
same-sex marriage in 2005, and indicated that his belief in "traditional values" was a catalyst for his decision to run for office. Serviss won the Conservative Party nomination in May 2005, at a meeting that was marked by some controversy. Former Conservative Party candidate Stephen L. Butcher alleged that most Serviss supporters were not members of the Conservative Party until shortly before the meeting, and that many were members of his church. He described Serviss as a special-interest candidate, who should not have been allowed to contest the nomination. When the
House of Commons of Canada granted legal sanction to same-sex marriage in June 2005, Serviss said that it was a "sad and regrettable day in Canadian history". Later, however, he indicated that he would vote "against his conscience" in support of same-sex marriage if his constituents directed him to do so. He received 10,332 votes (21.68%), finishing third against
Liberal incumbent
Diane Marleau. ===Anthony Reale (
Thornhill)=== Reale is a
real estate agent by profession, and works for
RE/MAX. Reale originally lost the Conservative nomination on the first ballot to former Canadian Alliance EDA President Dan Samson, but was appointed after Mr. Samson resigned the nomination in the Fall of 2005 for personal reasons (
Vaughan Weekly, January 11, 2006. pg 2). Reale was city councillor in
Vaughan from 1985 to 1988. He ran for mayor in 1988, and was defeated by the then incumbent mayor
Lorna Jackson. Reale has served as the returning officer for the
1999 and
2003 provincial elections in the riding of Thornhill. Reale ran against
Liberal incumbent
Susan Kadis, the
New Democratic Party candidate Simon Strelchik, the
Green Party of Canada candidate Lloyd Helferty, and the
Progressive Canadian Party candidate Mark Abramowitz. Reale came second to Kadis, who won by 10,929 votes. ===Lewis Reford (
Toronto Centre)=== Born in 1960 in
Ottawa, Reford spent his early childhood in
Australia and
Egypt where his scientist father was posted. Moving back to Canada in time to start kindergarten, he spent the rest of his childhood at his family home on a farm in
Quebec's
Ottawa Valley, where he became fluently
bilingual. To further his
CEGEP college education, Reford attended the
Colorado School of Mines, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Science honours degree in
geophysical engineering. A summer job with
Exxon led to his first career, posting in frontier
oil exploration in
Perth, Western Australia, where he worked for close to two years. After that stint, he returned to the academic world to undertake
post-graduate work in
geology at the
University of Cambridge in
England. From
Cambridge, Reford embarked on a new career path in global finance, first in
London with
Citicorp Investment Bank, and then in
Paris with energy
multinational Total S.A. He met his Canadian wife, Susan, in Paris and their eldest son was born there. While based in
Europe, his work took him to
Latin America, the
Middle East and
Asia. He returned to Canada and resided in
Toronto Centre in 1993, where he worked in
investment banking for
Smith Barney and
J.P. Morgan out of offices in
Toronto and
New York respectively. ===Sam Goldstein (
Trinity-Spadina)=== Goldstein is a
lawyer, a former
playwright who was born in
Ottawa and received his
Bachelor of Arts from
Carleton University before earning a
Master of Arts in Political Theory from
McMaster University. He then obtained his
Bachelor of Laws from the
University of Calgary and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1997. He is currently practicing as a defence attorney and was previously an Assistant Crown Attorney. Goldstein has been a resident of Trinity-Spadina since 1996. He is on the board of directors of the
Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre and the
Downtown Jewish Community School. He was awarded the
Canadian Jewish Playwrighting Award in 1991. He received 5,625 votes (9.00%), finishing third against New Democrat
Olivia Chow. ===Richard Majkot (
Vaughan)=== Richard Majkot ran against Liberal incumbent
Maurizio Bevilacqua in the 2006 federal election and was defeated. ===Alphonso Teshuba (
Windsor West)=== Teshuba (born March 23, 1968, in
Windsor) holds a
Bachelor of Commerce degree from the
University of Windsor. He is a Security Brokers Dealer, manages a communications and marketing business, and has been co-owner of the Nine Ball Heaven billiards and arcade club with his sister (
Windsor Star, 13 June 1989). Teshuba sits on the Windsor
Jewish Community Centre board of directors and strategic planning committee, and was Jordan Katz's campaign manager in the
2004 election. He was thirty-seven years old in 2006 (
Windsor Star, 10 January 2006). He received 9,592 votes (20.11%), finishing third against
New Democratic Party's
Brian Masse. ===Michael Mostyn (
York Centre)=== Mostyn is currently serving as the Director of Government Relations for
B'nai Brith Canada. In 1996, Mostyn received his
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Philosophy from the
University of Western Ontario. During his time as an undergraduate, Mostyn was a member of the Dean's Honour List, as well as a recipient of the Honour W Award. Graduated from the University of Western Ontario Law School in 1999, Mostyn was awarded the Douglas May Memorial Award, and delivered a paper at the 14th BILETA Conference:
Cyberspace 1999: Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Internet at the
College of Ripon and York St John, York, England while in his third year of law school. Called to the Bar in the Province of Ontario in 2001, he practiced law at Mostyn & Mostyn, Barristers and Solicitors in the areas of civil litigation, entertainment law, criminal law, family law, and wills and estates. He has run twice federally, in 2004 and 2006, and was defeated both times by
Liberal Party of Canada candidate
Ken Dryden, but had increased previous Conservative vote totals in both elections, receiving 30% of the popular vote in 2006. He was the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario's nominee in the provincial York Centre riding for the
2011 provincial election losing against Liberal incumbent
Monte Kwinter. ==Manitoba==