Politics and Government
A longtime organizer for the Liberal Party of Canada and media commentator, Mahoney is strongly associated with the fiscally moderate and socially progressive neoliberal movement that characterized Canada's political state for the better part of two decades under the direction of then Finance Minister Paul Martin. Mahoney was executive assistant to Martin during the latter's unsuccessful 1990 leadership campaign. He was elected president of the Liberal Party of Ontario from 1992 to 1995. After the 1995 provincial election resulted in a Progressive Conservative victory, Mahoney traveled the province on what he "wryly called the Hugh Grant apology tour'".
He returned to full-time legal practice in the early 1990s after serving in numerous capacities within Liberal governments as a strategist, executive member, advisor, and minister's aide. His position as party president led Mahoney to wide media exposure in the Ontario press, and saw him acting as a political commentator for many years on TVO's Studio Two, CTV, CBC, 580 CFRA News Talk Radio, and other television and radio networks. After his term a Liberal Party president expired, he remained a close confidant of many federal and provincial politicians and was and advisor to Martin during his term as Canada's finance minister from 1993-2002. In 2003, the two worked closely on a successful Liberal leadership campaign, ultimately leading to Martin's election as Liberal leader and appointment as Canada's 21st Prime Minister.
After incumbent Liberal MP Mac Harb was appointed to the Senate in 2003, Mahoney garnered the party's nomination in Ottawa-Centre. Expecting to run in a by-election, he and his opponents were thrust into a national election when one was called for the early summer of the following year. The riding was captured by New Democratic Party candidate Ed Broadbent, one of the most formidable and respected politicians in Canada's recent political history. After a short-lived minority parliament, Mahoney ran as the Liberal candidate again in the election of 2006, but the riding was carried by Broadbent's NDP successor, Paul Dewar.
In April 2007, Mahoney announced that he would seek the Liberal nomination in the riding of Pontiac, then held by Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon. This came as rumours circulated that Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion had encouraged Mahoney to run and gave the candidacy his blessing. On April 15, however, Farrelton farmer Cindy Duncan-McMillan won the nomination and was the Liberal candidate for Pontiac in the 2008 federal election.
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