Olivia Chow - Federal Politics

Federal Politics

In 1997, Chow ran as the New Democratic Party candidate for the Canadian House of Commons in Trinity—Spadina. Chow came close to defeating Liberal Party incumbent Tony Ianno.

In 2004, Chow again won the Trinity—Spadina NDP nomination for the summer federal election, giving her another chance to unseat Tony Ianno of the Liberal Party. With support from Jack Layton, a new urban focus of the NDP, and higher party popularity nationwide, she was widely expected to win despite some criticism from voters who elected her to a municipal seat just six months prior. She managed another strong second place showing, but failed to unseat Ianno by only 2% of the total vote.

Tactical voting was blamed partially for Chow's defeat, as the Liberal attack ads on Stephen Harper attempted to make the election a choice between the Liberals and Conservatives, with the effect of attracting NDP leaning voters to support the Liberals and stave off a potential Harper government. Chow also did not resign her council seat to run federally, with some suggesting that her constituents were able to vote Liberal and while still having Chow around to represent them.

When the Liberal federal government was defeated on a motion of non-confidence, Chow resigned her city council seat of fourteen years on November 28, 2005 to making a third run at seat in the House of Commons. She was succeeded on city council on an interim basis Martin Silva. As Silva was not allowed to run for re-election, Chow's constituency assistant Helen Kennedy ran but lost to Adam Vaughan.

During the 2006 campaign, Mike Klander, an executive of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, made comments in his blog insinuating that Chow was a Chow Chow dog and said of her husband, "...I just want to say that I think Jack Layton is an asshole..." Layton denounced the comments about Chow as racist, and Klander apologized and resigned.

On January 23, 2006, she won the Trinity—Spadina seat for the NDP in the federal election. She defeated Ianno by 3,667 votes, almost 6%. Along with Jack Layton she is part of only the second husband and wife team in Canadian parliamentary history. (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal were the first, winning their seats in the 2004 election.)

In 2007, Chow sponsored a motion calling for Japan to apologise for forcing some 200,000 women to serve as wartime sex slaves. The motion was passed unanimously by Canada's parliament in November 2007. Chow stated, "for me, this isn't crimes against 200,000 women. It's crimes against humanity and all of the world's citizens have a responsibility to speak out against it."

On June 3, 2008, Olivia Chow, "who brought in the motion," voted to implement a program which would "allow conscientious objectors...to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations...to...remain in Canada..." The motion gained international attention from the New York Times, Britain's BBC and the New Zealand press. The Toronto Star reported: " passed 137 to 110.....But the motion is non-binding and the victory was bittersweet as the government (Conservative Party of Canada) is likely to ignore it." This same motion, again re-introduced by Olivia Chow in the 40th Parliament of Canada, was again passed on March 30, 2009, with a vote of 129 - 125. Chow has been instrumental in debates and actions surrounding Canada and Iraq War Resisters.

In the 2011 Canadian federal election, which saw the NDP's historic rise to Official Opposition, Chow was reelected handily in her riding of Trinity—Spadina, with a margin of more than 20,000 votes over her nearest rival. She was named Critic for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet. She also became the first spouse of a Leader of the Opposition to also be an MP.

However, her time in Stornoway was to be short, as Jack Layton died of cancer just three months after assuming office. Chow was in the spotlight as Layton's widow during the mourning period and state funeral, winning respect for her care for her husband in his last days and for her dignity and poise in grief, and her and Layton's partnership in both life and politics was eulogized. Subsequently, she ruled out a bid for the leadership of the NDP and pledged neutrality in the leadership race.