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John Rafferty (Canadian politician)

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John Rafferty
Member of Parliament
for Thunder Bay—Rainy River
In office
October 14, 2008 – October 19, 2015
Preceded byKen Boshcoff
Succeeded byDon Rusnak
Personal details
Born(1953-07-03)July 3, 1953
Wingham, Ontario, Canada
DiedJune 30, 2019(2019-06-30) (aged 65)
Neebing, Ontario, Canada
Political partyNew Democratic Party
Professioninstructor, teacher, small business owner

John Rafferty (July 3, 1953 – June 30, 2019) was a Canadian politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River from 2008 to 2015 for the NDP.

Rafferty was previously the party's candidate in Thunder Bay—Superior North for the 2000 federal election, in Thunder Bay—Rainy River for the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, and in Thunder Bay—Atikokan in the 2003 and 2007 provincial elections. Provincially, he lost to incumbent MPP Bill Mauro by a margin of just 50 votes in 2007.

Rafferty was born in Wingham, Ontario. He worked as a radio broadcaster for CKPR in Thunder Bay before leaving to pursue his first election campaign. He subsequently launched his own business producing voiceovers for educational and training videos.

Rafferty introduced one piece of legislation: the National Strategy for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Act. He first introduced it on September 30, 2010, in the third session of the 40th Parliament as a private member's bill. He re-introduced it in June 2011, during the first session of the 41st Parliament.

He was slated to represent the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 2018 Ontario provincial election campaign, but withdrew in January 2018 due to ill health.[1] He died on June 30, 2019, from cancer, at the age of 65.[1][2]

Electoral record

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2015 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Don Rusnak 18,523 44.01 +22.31 $69,724.11
New Democratic John Rafferty 12,483 29.66 -18.99 $106,616.41
Conservative Moe Comuzzi 8,876 21.09 -6.12 $64,890.91
Green Christy Radbourne 2,201 5.23 +2.79 $3,586.52
Total valid votes/Expense limit 42,083 100.0     $233,739.33
Total rejected ballots 176
Turnout 42,259 67.6 +7.5
Eligible voters 62,773
Source: Elections Canada[3][4]
2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic John Rafferty 18,039 48.1 +7.8
Conservative Moe Comuzzi-Stehmann 10,096 27.2 +3.6
Liberal Ken Boshcoff 8,066 21.7 -10.6
Green Ed Shields 909 2.4 -1.4
Total valid votes 37,110
2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic John Rafferty 14,473 40.3 +6.9
Liberal Ken Boshcoff 11,589 32.3 -2.8
Conservative Richard Neumann 8,466 23.6 -3.6
Green Russ Aegard 1,377 3.8 +0.7
Total valid votes 35,905
2007 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Bill Mauro 10,913 37.7 -20.55
New Democratic John Rafferty 10,877 37.5 +15.88
Progressive Conservative Rebecca Johnson 5,914 20.4 +2.78
Green Russ Aegard 1,271 4.4 +1.89
2006 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ken Boshcoff 13,525 35.1%
New Democratic John Rafferty 12,862 33.4%
Conservative David Leskowski 10,485 27.2%
Green Russ Aegard 1,189 3.1%
Marijuana Doug MacKay 424 1.1%
Total valid votes 38,485
2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Ken Boshcoff 14,290
New Democratic John Rafferty 10,781
Conservative David Leskowski 9,559
Green Russ Aegard 856
Marijuana Doug Thompson 547
Christian Heritage Johannes Scheibler 267
2003 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Bill Mauro 17735 58.25 -5.78
New Democratic John Rafferty 6582 21.62 4.86
Progressive Conservative Brian McKinnon 5365 17.62 -1.59
Green Kristin Boyer 762 2.5
2000 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal Joe Comuzzi 15,241
Alliance Doug Pantry 6,278
New Democratic John Rafferty 6,169
Progressive Conservative Richard Neumann 2,753
Green Carl Rose 648
Marijuana Denis A. Carrière 581

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Former MP John Rafferty dies". TBNewsWatch.com. July 1, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  2. ^ "John Thomas Rafferty Obituary (1953 - 2019) the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal". Legacy.com.
  3. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Thunder Bay—Rainy River, 30 September 2015
  4. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
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