Paul Calandra Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Paul Calandra
Honorific-Suffix:MPP
Office:Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Term Start:September 5, 2023
Predecessor:Steve Clark
Premier:Doug Ford
Office1:Ontario Government House Leader
Term Start1:June 20, 2019
Term End1:June 6, 2024
Predecessor1:Todd Smith
Successor1:Steve Clark
Premier1:Doug Ford
Parliament2:Ontario Provincial
Riding2:Markham—Stouffville
Term Start2:June 7, 2018
Predecessor2:Helena Jaczek
Office3:Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care
Term Start3:January 14, 2022
Term End3:September 4, 2023
Predecessor3:Rod Phillips
Successor3:Stan Cho
Premier3:Doug Ford
Office4:Ontario Minister of Legislative Affairs
Term Start4:October 19, 2021
Premier4:Doug Ford
Predecessor4:Position created
Office5:Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines (Energy)
Term Start5:June 29, 2018
Term End5:June 20, 2019
Predecessor5:Han Dong
Successor5:Position abolished
Riding6:Oak Ridges—Markham
Parliament6:Canadian
Term Start6:October 14, 2008
Term End6:August 4, 2015
Predecessor6:Lui Temelkovski
Successor6:Constituency abolished
Office7:Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada for Intergovernmental Affairs
Term Start7:September 19, 2013
Term End7:November 3, 2015
Predecessor7:Dean Del Mastro
Successor7:Adam Vaughan
Birth Date:13 May 1970
Birth Place:Markham, Ontario, Canada
Party:Progressive Conservative
Residence:Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
Otherparty:Conservative
Canadian Alliance

Paul A. Calandra (born May 13, 1970) is a Canadian politician who has served as a minister in the Ontario provincial cabinet since 2019. Calandra has been the minister of municipal affairs and housing since 2023. He previously served as the minister of long-term care from 2022 to 2023 and Government House Leader from 2019 to 2024. Calandra represents Markham—Stouffville in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

He previously sat in the federal House of Commons from 2008 to 2015 for the Conservative Party, serving as a parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2013 to 2015. In the 2015 federal election, he was a candidate in the Markham—Stouffville riding, created as a result of the federal electoral redistribution of 2012, and was defeated by Jane Philpott.

Education

Calandra studied history with a minor in political science at Carleton University.[1] His claim on his campaign website in 2007 to have "complet(ed) full-time university studies" was controversial[2] since, at that time he had not graduated.[3] In an interview with WhiStle Radio on September 29, 2015, he stated that he left school in the early '90s before completing his degree and had later obtained the remaining credits required to graduate by correspondence course.[4] He obtained bachelor's degree from Carleton in November 2008.[1]

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Calandra worked in the insurance business from 1995 to 2003. He then served as chief of staff to Steve Gilchrist, who was the PC MPP for Scarborough East in the Mike Harris government.[5]

Family dispute

In 2005, Calandra was involved in a family dispute. In the early 2000s, he had power of attorney to manage his mother's affairs. In a lawsuit filed by his sisters, it was claimed the power of attorney had been revoked by his mother months before her death in August 2005, but Calandra had invoked it for personal gain.[3] Calandra's sisters alleged that he had charged $8,000 to his mother's credit card without her knowledge. In his statement of defence, Calandra said that the charges had been authorized. The sisters also alleged that Calandra took $25,000 from his mother to pay taxes, but instead wrote the cheque to himself and left the taxes unpaid. Calandra claimed in his statement of defence that the money was given to him by his mother "freely, without pretext, and of her own volition." A document filed on September 8, 2008, the first full day of the 2008 federal election campaign, said that the parties had settled the case out of court.[6]

Politics

Calandra ran as the Canadian Alliance candidate in the 2000 federal election in the riding of Toronto riding of Scarborough East. He was defeated by Liberal incumbent John McKay by 16,460 votes.[7] He ran eight years later in the 2008 federal election as the Conservative candidate in the York Region riding of Oak Ridges—Markham. He defeated Liberal incumbent Lui Temelkovski by 545 votes.[8] He was re-elected in 2011 defeating Temelkovski again, this time by 20,680 votes.[9]

Following his election in 2008, in Calandra's first term he sat on the Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics Committee, Citizenship and Immigration Committee, and the Government Operations and Estimates Committee.

During this term he also introduced two private member's bills. On June 19, 2009, he introduced 'An Act to Change the Name of the Electoral District of Oak Ridges—Markham,[10] and on March 11, 2011, he introduced 'An Act Respecting the Establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-Hand Precious Metal Articles'.[11] Neither of these bills proceeded past first reading.[12]

Parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages

He was re-elected in the 2011 election and was subsequently appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages where he sat on the Standing Committee for Canadian Heritage and formerly the Standing Committee on Bill C-11. In 2012 Calandra was forced to repay $5,000 that his riding association had received in donations at a fundraiser held at the home of Kirupalini Kirupakaran, at which he had been present. Kirupakaran was the sister of the CEO of WorldBand Media Inc., which was one of the firms lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the 88.1 FM frequency allocation in the Toronto area. She had pledged to the CRTC that she would invest up to $2,000,000 in WorldBand Media should it win the competition. The CRTC at the time was under the Department of Canadian Heritage thereby giving rise to allegations of a conflict of interest. Following questions from The Globe and Mail, and despite initially denying any donations had been received from anyone associated with the bid, Calandra eventually repaid donations made by five people listed with the CRTC as proposed WorldBand investors.[13]

In the same year a controversial $500 donation was made to Calandra's riding association by Stanislaus Antony at another fundraising event. Antony was leading a competing bid for 88.1 FM with the CRTC for a station to be called STAN FM. Immediately prior to The Globe and Mail's publication of the article questioning the WorldBand donations Calandra confirmed that his riding association was reviewing the Antony contribution.[14] The donation was not returned.[15]

Parliamentary secretary to the prime minister

In September 2013 Paul Calandra was appointed parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and minister of intergovernmental affairs.

As parliamentary secretary Calandra often fielded questions on behalf of Prime Minister Harper during the Senate Scandal (2013). This brought Calandra under a great deal of scrutiny for his perceived non-answers, deflections, and attacks, and prompted widespread backlash in the form of media articles,[16] social media postings, vandalization of his Wikipedia page,[17] and being covered on the Rick Mercer Report.[18] On September 23, 2014, Calandra's repeated refusal to acknowledge questions about Canada's involvement in Iraq led the Opposition leader, Thomas Mulcair to question the integrity of the speaker of the House, Andrew Scheer, who did not intervene. Instead of giving an answer on Iraq, Calandra insisted on reiterating Canada's commitment to Israel, prompting Global News to describe the exchange as "unreal", and The Globe and Mail publishing an editorial stating "to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery".[19] On September 26, 2014, Calandra gave a tearful speech in Parliament in order to "unconditionally, unreservedly apologize to the House".[20]

2015 general election

Following an interview on CBC's Power & Politics about the Mike Duffy trial, Peter Mansbridge referred to Calandra's responses as being "The Full Calandra", as he felt that he was answering different questions from those posed. This led to a Twitter hashtag of the same name[21] [22] Following this, the comedian Mark Critch tweeted that Calandra was "a slippery tool". Subsequently, Calandra blocked Critch from accessing his posts on Twitter. Critch then offered to donate money to charity for any user who tweeted similar messages to Calandra.[23] [24] Other people blocked by Calandra on Twitter included parliamentary press gallery reporters Alex Boutilier, Lee Berthiaume, along with TheTyee.ca reporter Jeremy Nuttall and Jim Mason, the editor (@stouffeditor) of the Stouffville Sun-Tribune, the local newspaper in Calandra's riding, who had been blocked in 2014. Calandra later said that blocking of Mason had been accidental and subsequently unblocked him.[25] The habit of Conservative party members blocking those who disagreed with them on social media became referred to as #conblocked.[26] [27]

Calandra entered the debate on the future of the Pickering Airport lands that had previously been expropriated by the Government of Canada. He expressed support for a Buttonville sized airport on the lands in contrast to the position taken by all his opponents.[28]

He was defeated by Jane Philpott in the Markham—Stouffville riding, created as a result of the federal electoral redistribution of 2012.[29] In a CBC interview he blamed his loss on the Conservative Party's focus on identity issues, specifically the Niqāb issue, the stripping of citizenship from dual nationals and the launching of a barbaric cultural practices hot line, claiming that voters were "confused" about the application of Bill C-24.[30]

Entry into provincial politics

In September 2016 Calandra announced that he would be seeking the Ontario PC nomination for the provincial riding of Markham-Stouffville.[31] On November 11, it was announced that Calandra won the nomination and would represent the PCs in the 2018 provincial election.[32]

Calandra had claimed to be a "big fan"[33] and "good friend" of erstwhile PC leader Patrick Brown, since 2008 but, following Brown's sudden resignation on January 25, 2018 due to allegations of sexual misconduct, Calandra threw his support behind Caroline Mulroney in the subsequent leadership contest[34] [35] despite Brown's re-entry into the race.[36] Three weeks later, however, when it appeared that Mulroney's bid was struggling,[37] he switched allegiances once again to back Christine Elliott.[38]

In the 2018 Ontario election, Calandra won the riding of Markham-Stouffville, defeating Liberal incumbent Helena Jaczek. On June 29, 2018, Calandra was appointed as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of energy, northern development and mines (energy).[39] He was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election with 48.42% of the vote.[40]

Provincial cabinet

Calandra was appointed to the provincial cabinet of Premier Doug Ford in 2019 as government house leader and minister without portfolio. He was later promoted to a full minister in 2021, becoming the first minister of legislative affairs.[41] In 2022, Calandra assumed the role of minister of long-term care, following the resignation of Rod Philips.[42] In September 2023, he was named minister of municipal affairs and housing following the resignation of Steve Clark.[43]

References

Citations

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Full text of "133rd Convocation, Nov 8 2008". Internet Archive (Carleton University). 1 October 2015.
  2. Web site: None too bright. Accidental Deliberations. 25 June 2007. 1 October 2015.
  3. News: 13 June 2007. Lives of candidates must be open book. Newmarket Era. 30 September 2015. YorkRegion.com.
  4. Stouffville Morning Show . 29 September 2015 . WhiStle Radio.
  5. http://www.kingsentinel.com/news/2007/0314/news/006.html "Paul Calandra will be federal Conservative candidate in Oak Ridges - Markham"
  6. News: Paul Calandra court documents point to family dispute over money, assets . 9 January 2014 . McGregor, Glen.
  7. News: Election Results . Star - Phoenix . Saskatoon, SK . November 28, 2000 . A8.
  8. News: Greater Toronto Area Results . The Toronto Star . October 15, 2008 . U2.
  9. News: Riding results from across Canada . Edmonton Journal . May 3, 2011 . A6.
  10. http://www.georginaadvocate.com/News/Whitchurch-Stouffville/article/93533 "MP wants riding name to better reflect towns"
  11. Web site: An Act respecting the establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-hand Precious Metal Articles. Government of Canada Publications. July 2002. 11 May 2015.
  12. Web site: LEGISinfo. Parliament of Canada. 8 November 2015.
  13. News: Competing bidders for radio spot donated money to Tory MP. 13 May 2015.
  14. News: Man vying for broadcast licence urged to donate to Tory fundraiser. 2020-12-20.
  15. Web site: Contributions - Details. Elections Canada. 13 May 2015.
  16. Web site: Paul Calandra's non-answer period week in videos. CBC.ca. 13 May 2015.
  17. Web site: Bizarre Conservative MP Paul Calandra's Wikipedia Page Vandalized. THE CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE. 11 May 2015.
  18. News: Rick Mercer Report: Paul Calandra's Fragrance Would Be Called 'Obfuscation'. 11 May 2015.
  19. News: Unreal exchange in House of Commons over Canada's involvement in Iraq. 24 September 2014.
  20. News: O'Malley. Kady. Paul Calandra apologizes for non-answers as sources pin blame on PMO. 9 May 2015.
  21. Web site:
    1. fullcalandra
    . 15 August 2015.
  22. Web site: The Full Calandra. 15 August 2015.
  23. Web site: Mark Critch Pledges $1 For Every Tweet Calling Paul Calandra A Tool. 14 August 2015. 15 August 2015.
  24. Web site: Mark Critch launches 'u are a tool' campaign against Paul Calandra. 15 August 2015.
  25. Web site: 'Blocked' CBC comedian launches Twitter campaign at Stouffville MP. Aug 14, 2015. Sandra. Bolan. Stouffville Sun-Tribune. YorkRegion.com. 15 August 2015.
  26. Web site: CPC accused of banning conservative C-51 protesters from social media. iPolitics. 24 June 2015. 1 October 2015.
  27. Web site:
    1. conblocked
    . 1 October 2015.
  28. Web site: Pickering airport won't fly with Liberals, NDP: Markham-Stouffville election meeting. Sep 24, 2015. Laura. Finney. Stouffville Sun-Tribune. YorkRegion.com. 4 October 2015.
  29. Web site: 6 Controversial Tory Incumbents Who Lost (And 2 Who Didn't) . . 20 October 2015 . 21 October 2015 . Maloney, Ryan.
  30. Web site: Paul Calandra says it was a 'mistake' to focus on niqab, barbaric practices. CBC. 7 November 2015.
  31. Web site: Former MP Paul Calandra seeks Ontario PC nomination for Markham-Stouffville. Sep 29, 2016. Ali. Raza. Stouffville Sun-Tribune. YorkRegion.com. 29 September 2016.
  32. Web site: Calandra is Markham-Stouffville's Ontario PC nominee for next election. Nov 11, 2016. Ali. Raza. Stouffville Sun-Tribune. YorkRegion.com. 12 November 2016.
  33. Web site: Patrick Brown: Once-obscure MP rises from the ranks with Ontario PC leadership bid. Ottawa Citizen. 28 February 2018.
  34. Web site: Rickford endorses Mulroney to lead Ontario PCs. TBNewsWatch. 2 February 2018 . 28 February 2018.
  35. Web site: MULRONEY LAUNCHES HER CAMPAIGN IN FRONT OF A FRIENDLY CROWD. 6 February 2018. QPBriefing. 28 February 2018.
  36. News: Patrick Brown buoyed by supporters as he launches comeback bid. Toronto Star. 18 February 2018. 28 February 2018. Gignac. Julien.
  37. Web site: Signs suggest Caroline Mulroney leadership bid is struggling. CBC. 28 February 2018.
  38. Web site: Calandra switches allegiance from Mulroney to Elliott in PC leadership race. Feb 26, 2018. Simon. Martin. Markham Economist & Sun. YorkRegion.com. 28 February 2018.
  39. News: Premier Ford Announces Parliamentary Assistant Assignments as Part of Ontario's Government for the People. news.ontario.ca. 2018-07-05. en.
  40. Web site: Ontario . Elections . Markham—Stouffville . 2022-06-05 . www.elections.on.ca.
  41. News: Ferguson. Rob. 2021-10-20. Doug Ford under fire for new minister's pay hike. en-CA. The Toronto Star. 2022-01-15. 0319-0781.
  42. Web site: 2022-01-14. Ajax MPP Rod Phillips says he will not seek re-election; Calandra to replace him as LTC minister. 2022-01-15. CP24. en.
  43. Web site: 2023-09-04. Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffles cabinet after housing minister resigns. 2023-09-04. CBC. en.