Tom Manley
Encyclopedia
Tom Manley is a politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Ontario, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He was one of three co-Deputy Leaders of the Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

 until 2005, and was considered a leading candidate to be its next leader. On Friday, September 23, 2005, Manley resigned from the Green Party to join the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

. He ran in the 39th General Election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

 in the Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry
Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry
Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.Its population in 2001 was 98,933.-Geography:...

 riding in Ontario, losing to Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 Guy Lauzon
Guy Lauzon
Guy Lauzon is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry as a Conservative. He was born in St...

 with a margin of over 14,000 votes.

Background

Manley has a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean
Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean
Royal Military College Saint-Jean is a Canadian military academy located on the site of Fort Saint-Jean , originally built 1666, which is now part of the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, 40 km south of Montreal, Quebec...

, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. He lives with Isabelle Masson, his partner of 13 years. He has one son, Yannick. Manley comes from a political family. Peter Manley
Peter Manley (politician)
Peter Thomas Manley was an Ontario dairy farmer and political figure. He represented Stormont in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1951 to 1963.He was born in Berwick, Stormont County, Ontario.- External links :...

, his grandfather, was a successful dairy farmer in Berwick, and served as an Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for twelve years following a long involvement in municipal politics.

Manley is fluently bilingual in French and English. During his youth, he served as president of the Ontario Liberal Party Youth Association in his riding. He lived in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 for a year and in Quebec for sixteen years after his graduation, before returning to Ontario. During his time in Quebec, he worked for Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...

 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 as a telecommunications sales engineer and engineering manager. His claim to fame came as the project leader in the development and launch of the Bell Sympatico Internet Services system.

Green Party

Starting as the sole Green Party member in his riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 of Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh
Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh
Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh was a federal electoral district in eastern Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2004, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007...

 for two years, he founded local provincial and federal Green Party associations in 2003. He obtained 2098 votes (5.5%) in the provincial election of October 2003, ranking seventh among the highest returns for Ontario Green Party candidates and finishing third in the riding, ahead of the Ontario New Democratic Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...

 candidate. His grassroots campaign style attracted several new party members from across the political spectrum.

The Green Party of Canada council appointed Manley as Agriculture and Food Advocate, the first member of the GPC Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...

, in 2004. He gained national media attention for his suggestions on how to confront and properly address the problems facing the rural economy and farming in Canada.

In the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

, he ran as a Green candidate in the redistributed riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry
Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry
Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.Its population in 2001 was 98,933.-Geography:...

 and received 3450 votes, or 7.25%. This was the fifth-best performance of a Green candidate in Ontario.

In July 2004, Manley launched a campaign to become leader of the Green Party of Canada. At the party's convention in August 2004, he ran a credible second in a three-way race against incumbent leader Jim Harris
Jim Harris (politician)
James R. M. "Jim" Harris is a Canadian author, environmentalist, and politician. He was leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006, when he was succeeded by Elizabeth May.-Early life and Green activism:...

 and party activist John Grogan
John Grogan (Canadian politician)
John Grogan is a Canadian politician and teacher.Grogan has lived and worked in the Robson Valley, B.C. for the past 30 years. He has held a variety of jobs—for the railway, in a sawmill, as a teacher and as a small businessperson...

. Manley's campaign appealed to Green Party members concerned that Harris was changing the party too quickly, and taking it too far to the right. He expressed particular concern with Harris's endorsement of big business and large corporations, noting that the transportation methods used by such entities are fundamentally at odds with environmental activism and community-oriented economics. (The Green Party has historically supported small businesses and local production.)

About 28% of the party membership voted in the leadership contest. Manley received 352 votes, against 524 for Harris and 74 for Grogan. In January 2005, the GPC Council appointed Manley one of three co-deputy leaders of the party, along with Lynette Tremblay and Andrew Lewis
Andrew Lewis
Andrew Lewis may refer to:* Andrew J Lewis , British comics writer* Andrew L. Lewis, Jr. , American railroad executive* Andrew Lewis , Guyanese boxer...

.

Liberal Party

On joining the Liberal Party in 2005, Manley indicated that he had not changed his beliefs, and would continue to fight for agriculture and the environment. In November 2005, Manley won the nomination to stand as the Liberal Candidate in the next federal election. At his nomination, Manley noted that his Liberal roots ran deep.

As a teenager, the younger Manley served as president of the Young Liberals Association in S,D and G and was influenced by the leadership of not only his grandfather, but of other prominent Liberals, including Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...

, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Lucien Lamoureux
Lucien Lamoureux
Lucien Lamoureux, PC, OC was a Canadian politician and Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1966 to 1974...

 and Ed Lumley
Ed Lumley
Edward C. Lumley, PC is a corporate executive and former Canadian politician.Born in Windsor, Ontario, he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1961 from Assumption University . Lumley established himself in business in Cornwall in the other end of the province before entering politics...

.

“I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of these Liberal heroes,” said Manley. “I look forward to joining their ranks.”

Other activities

Manley runs Homestead Organics, a leading Ontario organic farm service & supply business with organic livestock feed, grain processing for food markets, organic farm inputs, & gardening supplies.

He has chaired the Ottawa Chapter of Canadian Organic Growers since 1998, and has chaired Eco Farm Day (a large scale organic farmers conference in eastern Ontario) since 1999. He is also an active member of the National Farmers Union and the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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