| Zee Hamid | |
| Birth Name: | Zeeshan Hamid |
| Office1: | Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance |
| Premier1: | Doug Ford |
| Minister1: | Peter Bethlenfalvy |
| Term Start1: | Jun 2024 |
| Predecessor1: | Stephen Crawford |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MPP |
| Birth Place: | Karachi, Pakistan |
| Residence: | Milton, Ontario |
| Occupation: | Tech Executive |
| Alma Mater: | University of Waterloo Bachelor of Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Party: | Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario |
| Parliament2: | Ontario Provincial |
| Riding2: | Milton |
| Term Start2: | May 2, 2024 |
| Predecessor2: | Parm Gill |
Zee Hamid is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a by-election on May 2, 2024.[1] He represents the electoral district of Milton as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.[2] Before becoming an MPP, Hamid was a tech executive[3] and has at least two patents under his name.[4]
While Hamid was born in Karachi, Pakistan, his family is from Bihar, India and his grandfather had lived in Calcutta, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh before settling in Pakistan. He immigrated to Canada with his family as a teenager and has a Bachelor of Mathematics and Computer Science degree from the University of Waterloo.
Hamid served in several community positions before he ran for office, including the Milton Transit Advisory Committee and Halton's Inter-Municipal Committee on Sustainability.[5] In 2009 he ran a petition to advocate for an underpass on Derry Road in Milton.[6]
In 2010, he ran for the Milton Town Council in ward 8 and beat his opponent by 23.38 points. He was elected again in 2014.
In 2016, he voted to reduce the size of the Milton council by two councillors, rather than increasing it by two.[7] As he was the last person to vote and the vote was equal, his final vote was seen as a tiebreaker vote.
In 2018 he ran for the Halton Regional Council, facing another councillor John Pollard and former Regional Councillor Tony Lambert. Hamid won by getting 54.47% of the total votes against 4 other challengers.[8]
Hamid ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Milton in the 2022 municipal election, losing by fewer than 1,000 votes to long-time incumbent Gordon Krantz.
When Milton MPP Parm Gill resigned from his seat to run Federally, Hamid was tapped to become the Ontario PC candidate.[9] On May 2, 2024, Hamid won 47 per cent of the vote to 38.3 per cent for Ontario Liberal's Naidoo Harris[10] despite polls showing a neck to neck race.[11] He increased the winning margin from 4.32 points in 2022 to 8.79 points in 2024.
Before running as a PC candidate, Hamid had donated $3,508 to the Ontario Liberal Party since 2014, including to former Liberal leader Steven Del Duca's 2020 leadership campaign. He had also run unsuccessfully for the federal Liberal nomination in his riding for the 2015 Canadian federal election.
Hamid and his wife have a blended family of six children.[12]
See main article: 2024 Milton provincial by-election.
| 2022 Milton mayoral election [13] | |||
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon Krantz | 11,391 | 49.51 | |
| Zee Hamid | 10,396 | 45.18 | |
| Rajiv Dhawan | 625 | 2.72 | |
| Saba Ishaq | 597 | 2.59 | |
| Total | 23,009 | 100.00 | |
| 2018 Milton ward 4 regional election[14] | |||
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zee Hamid | 2,100 | 54.47 | |
| Sammy Ijaz | 687 | 17.82 | |
| John Pollard | 548 | 14.22 | |
| Tony Lambert | 321 | 8.33 | |
| David Hertzman | 199 | 5.61 | |
| Total | 3,855 | 100.00 | |