Raymond Cho (politician)

Raymond Sung Joon Cho (Template:Langx; born November 18, 1936) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Ontario minister of seniors and accessibility since June 29, 2018. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, Cho has sat as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) since 2016. He currently represents Scarborough North, and is the Legislative Assembly's oldest sitting MPP. Cho's over 30-year long political career began in 1991 when he was first elected to the Metro Toronto Council. Following amalgamation in 1998, Cho ran for Toronto City Council, where he re-elected eight times until resigning in 2016 following a successful run for Scarborough—Rouge River in a provincial by-election. Prior to entering politics, Cho worked as a social worker.

Early life and education

Cho immigrated to Canada from South Korea in 1967. He worked as a janitor, waiter and miner, before attending the University of Toronto.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> Already holding an undergraduate degree from Korea, he completed a Master of Social Work, Master of Education, and a Doctorate of Counseling Psychology.<ref name="raychopc">Template:Cite web</ref> Cho then worked as a social worker for the Catholic Children's Aid Society, the Toronto Board of Education, and the Scarborough Board of Education.<ref name="raychopc" />

Personal life

Cho is married to Soon Ok, and has three adult sons: Raymond Jr., Ronald, and William.<ref name="raychopc" />

In 2018, while campaigning in Scarborough, Cho suffered a stroke. He was taken to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and treated in intensive care. Cho continued to suffer balance issues after his stay in hospital.<ref name=":0" />

Political career

Cho was a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River for election to the House of Commons in the 1988 federal election.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was initially identified as a New Democrat when he joined Metro Council, however, he soon became an ally and supporter of then-Metropolitan Toronto Chairman Alan Tonks and dropped his NDP affiliation. He subsequently took out membership in the Liberal Party though, like most non-NDP municipal politicians in Ontario he did not run on a party label in municipal elections.

He was first elected to Metropolitan Toronto Council for Scarborough-Malvern in 1991, and was re-elected in 1994. After the Scarborough and the other suburbs were amalgamated into the new City of Toronto, Cho was elected to the new council representing Scarborough-Malvern in 1997 along with Bas Balkissoon. In 2000, he was again re-elected, representing the new ward of Scarborough Rouge-River. He won re-election in 2003, 2006 and 2010. Cho was Chairman of the Toronto Zoo for two successive terms.

He ran in the 2004 federal election as an independent candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River. Cho called himself an "independent Liberal", and used the Liberal Party of Canada's red-and-white colours for his campaign materials. He was accused of trying to mislead voters by the official Liberal candidate, Derek Lee. Lee, who has been the MP since 1988 said that Cho caused some controversy by claiming to have been shut out of the candidate nomination process.<ref>Ho Anderson. Rookies challenge Liberal MP. Toronto Star. June 19, 2004. Pg. H03.</ref> Lee won the election, Cho placed a distant second with 6,692 votes (17.8% of the total).

On August 13, 2004, the Toronto Star reported that Cho spent nearly all of his allotted councillor expense fund, one of the highest on city council. While there was some speculation that some of this money was diverted to Cho's failed bid to run in the federal election campaign, his executive assistant said the money was needed for newsletters mailed out to constituents to provide information on a rash of fatal shootings in the Malvern neighbourhood earlier in the year.<ref>Catherine Porter. Cho biggest spender at city hall; $53,100 limit nearly spent Councillor ran in federal election. Toronto Star. August 13, 2004. Pg. F02.</ref>

In 2005, Cho expressed interest in being the Ontario Liberal Party's candidate in the Scarborough—Rouge River provincial by-election which was made necessary by the appointment of incumbent Liberal MPP Alvin Curling to a diplomatic position. However, the Liberal riding association used a clause of its constitution to declare another city councillor, Bas Balkissoon, as its candidate without a contested nomination process. Media reports suggested that this was done to exclude Cho as the provincial riding association was displeased with Cho's "independent Liberal" candidacy in the 2004 federal election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cho was also mentioned as a potential candidate for the Progressive Conservatives since he helped former leader John Tory during the March 2005 by-election in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey.<ref>Robert Benzie. Twice bitten, McGuinty shy of vote; Curling's Scarborough riding considered a safe Liberal seat. Toronto Star. August 27, 2005. Pg F02.</ref> In the end, Cho chose not to run in the by-election which was won handily by Balkissoon.

In 2012, Cho was named as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial riding of Scarborough—Rouge River.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2014 provincial election, Cho placed third with 27.68% of the vote.

In 2016, Cho was nominated as the Progressive Conservative Party candidate for the September 1 by-election in Scarborough—Rouge River, after incumbent Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon resigned to spend more time with family. Cho won the by-election in an upset victory,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> becoming the first Korean-Canadian elected to the Ontario Legislature. Cho was handily re-elected in 2018 in the new riding of Scarborough North, winning over half of the popular vote. Doug Ford, then a former city councillor, served as his campaign chair.<ref name=":0" />

During the 2018 Ontario general election, Cho was involved in a physical altercation with a 12-year-old child while campaigning. He later apologized.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Election results

Federal

Scarborough—Rouge River

Template:Canadian election result/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:Canadian election result/total Template:End Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

Municipal

Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)

2010 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	%
(x) Raymond Cho	10,811	52.93%
Neethan Shan	6,873	33.65%
Shamoon Poonawala	586	2.869%
Mohammed Ather	474	2.321%
Namu Ponnambalam	443	2.169%
Ruth Tecle	437	2.14%
George Singh	353	1.728%
Leon Saul	323	1.581%
Venthan Ramanathavavuniyan	125	0.612%
Total	20,425	100%

2006 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	7480	52.2
Kumar Nadarajah	3683	25.7
Mohammed Ather	1639	11.4
Bonnie Irwin	1532	10.7

2003 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	8,302	70.0
Paulette Senior	3,314	27.9
Akeem Fasasi	245	2.1

2000 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	7,428
Eden Gajraj	2,101
Horace Dockery	1,890
Pat Johnson	562

1997 Toronto election, Ward 18 - Scarborough Malvern (2 elected)
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	11,190
Bas Balkissoon	10,745
Edith Montgomery	10,659
Jim Mackey	2,621
Terry Singh	1,812
Sinna Chelliah	1,165
Jasmine Singh	871
Arlanna Lewis	666
George B. Singh	339

1994 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	10,272
Diamond Tobin-West	3,382
Yaqoob Khan	1,807

1991 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate	Votes	%
Raymond Cho	5,283
(x) Bob Sanders	3,977
Shan Rana	1,321

(x) - incumbent

External links

• Template:Ontario MPP biography