Bruce Crozier Explained

Office1:Ontario MPP
Term Start1:1999
Term End1:2011
Predecessor1:Riding established
Successor1:Taras Natyshak
Constituency1:Essex
Term Start2:1993
Term End2:1999
Predecessor2:Remo Mancini
Successor2:Riding abolished
Constituency2:Essex South
Party:Liberal
Birth Date:26 June 1938
Birth Place:Leamington, Ontario
Death Place:Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Occupation:Certified General Accountant

Bruce Crozier (June 26, 1938 – June 3, 2011) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the ridings of Essex South and Essex for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Background

Crozier was a Certified General Accountant and member of the Certified General Accountants of Ontario. He worked for the H.J. Heinz Company for eleven years and was the Vice-President of Finance and Secretary-Treasurer for Bennie Lumber and Building Materials Ltd. He was also the National Director of the Kinsmen Club from 1975 to 1976, and was a life member of the Leamington Kinsman Club.

Politics

He was elected to the Leamington city council in 1985, and later served as the town's Mayor from 1988 to 1993. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in a by-election in on December 2, 1993 in the riding of Essex South, held after longtime Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Remo Mancini announced his resignation from the legislature. He won this election very easily, defeating his nearest opponent (Progressive Conservative candidate Joan Flood) by almost 10,000 votes, amid fewer than 20,000 cast.[1]

Crozier was re-elected in the 1995 provincial election, defeating his nearest opponent by almost 9,000 votes.[2] The Progressive Conservatives won the election, and Crozier joined 29 other Liberals in the official opposition. He supported Dwight Duncan for the party leadership in 1996, and gave his support to Dalton McGuinty after Duncan was eliminated.

Crozier was re-elected in the 1999 election by over 10,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Essex, though again the Progressive Conservatives formed government at the provincial level.[3]

His margin of victory was reduced in the 2003 provincial election, which the Liberals won in a landslide. He faced a strong challenge from New Democrat Pat Hayes, who supplanted the Tories for a second-place finish.[4] He was not appointed to Cabinet, but was named as the Legislature's Deputy Speaker on December 8, 2003.[5] In December 2007, Crozier was made chair of the Committee of the Whole House, a senior parliamentary role responsible for maintaining order during house sessions.[6]

Crozier announced on November 29, 2010, that he would not be a candidate in the 2011 election.[7]

On June 4, 2011, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that Crozier had died the previous evening of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at a hospital in Windsor, Ontario.[8] [9]

Notes and References

  1. News: Liberal win expected in by-election . Mittelstaedt . Martin . The Globe and Mail . December 2, 1993 . A8.
  2. Web site: Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate . Elections Ontario . June 8, 1995 . 2014-03-02 .
  3. Web site: Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate . Elections Ontario . June 3, 1999 . 2014-03-02 .
  4. Web site: Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate . Elections Ontario . October 2, 2003 . 2014-03-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140517152442/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/2003_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=38&rec=0&district=essex&flag=E&layout=G . May 17, 2014 .
  5. News: MPP Arnott will oversee legislature on occasion . Ferris . Alan . The Guelph Mercury . December 10, 2003 . A4.
  6. News: Crozier deputy speaker, again . The Windsor Star . December 6, 2007 . A5.
  7. News: Veteran MPP calls it quits . Rennie . Gary . The Windsor Star . November 30, 2010 . A3.
  8. News: Retiring Liberal MPP Bruce Crozier dead . Toronto Star . June 3, 2011.
  9. Web site: Bruce Crozier, the Ontario Liberal MPP for Essex, dies in hospital at 73. 4 June 2011.