Long-serving Ontario MPP Monte Kwinter will not seek reelection

Ontario MPP Monte Kwinter

York Centre MPP Monte Kwinter, Ontario’s oldest-serving member of the provincial legislature, announced on July 20 that he will not seek reelection in 2018.

“The time has come to let the next generation serve, and I look forward to offering my support to our future York Centre Liberal MPP,” Kwinter, 86, said in a statement.

“I am proud of what we accomplished during that time in my riding, and it has been a privilege to serve under three Liberal premiers.”

READ: KWINTER BECOMES ONTARIO’S OLDEST-EVER MPP AT 82

Kwinter was first elected to the legislature in May 1985. Under Premier David Peterson, he served as minister of consumer and commercial relations, minister of financial institutions and minister of industry, trade and technology. Under Premier Dalton McGuinty, Kwinter served as minister of community safety and correctional services, solicitor general and as chair of the Ontario Investment Trade Advisory Council.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, for whom he currently works as a parliamentary assistant to the minister of international trade and chair of the Ontario Investment Trade Advisory Council, praised Kwinter, saying, “his representation for his constituency, for the Jewish community and his stalwart example to MPPs of all stripes is a testament to his character.”

On Jan. 26, 2013, Kwinter, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, became the province’s oldest member of the legislature at 82. Four-and-a-half years later, he’s known to tell anyone who’ll listen that he breaks that record with each day he continues to serve.

Ontario MPPs Monte Kwinter, left, and Gila Martow attend the opening night of the Toronto Israeli Film Series at the Vaughan City Playhouse in February. GILA MARTOW PHOTO

Throughout the years, Kwinter served the Jewish community in many ways, in part by helping to launch an annual event, in partnership with the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem, during which Holocaust survivors are honoured at Queen’s Park.

Kwinter also helped organize McGuinty’s 2010 visit to Israel, which resulted in many partnerships between Ontario and Israel, in the areas of brain research, science and technology.

Wynne, who travelled to Israel on a similar mission last year, said Kwinter “has deepened Ontario’s ties with Israel and advanced the values of inclusion and respect for all faiths.”

Eglinton-Lawrence MPP Mike Colle referred to Kwinter as a “giant political mensch” who was a “pioneer for putting matters important to the Jewish community on the political landscape in Ontario.”

Thornhill MPP Gila Martow said she and her colleagues were all saddened last year to see that although Kwinter was still committed to serving Ontarians, his failing health prevented him from coming into the legislature as regularly as he had in the past.

Martow said Kwinter is “very sociable, very aware of everything and everybody, and he really had the right personality for community politics.”