Joe Daniel

Joe Daniel
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Don Valley East
In office 2011–2015
Preceded by	Yasmin Ratansi
Succeeded by	Yasmin Ratansi
Personal details
Born	December 5, 1954 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Profession	Engineer, Professor

Joe Daniel (born December 5, 1954) is a former Canadian politician. He was a Conservative member of the Canadian House of Commons from 2011 to 2015 who represented the Toronto riding of Don Valley East. He was the first Canadian MP of Malayali descent.^[1]

Background

Daniel was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He came to Canada in 1987 to work on a contract with the Canadian military. In 1995, he moved to Toronto and joined (IBM) Celestica Inc. where he worked for 14 years as a manager in engineering. He was also a part-time professor at Humber and Centennial College and during this period presented a number of papers on fibre optic technology.^[2][3]

Politics

In the 2011 Canadian federal election, he ran as the Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of Don Valley East. He defeated Liberal incumbent Yasmin Ratansi by 870 votes.^[4] He served as a backbench member of the Stephen Harper government.

In the 2015 election he ran in the new riding of Don Valley North but lost to newcomer Geng Tan by 6,215 votes.^[5] During the election, Daniel was recorded giving a talk in front of supporters where he was quoted as saying that the 2015 refugee crisis was part of a Muslim agenda, which he would oppose and not allow it to spread to Canada.^[6] He refused media requests for clarification of his statement, as part of his policy to avoid all interviews with media until after the election.^[7] Later, during an all-candidates debate in October, Daniel referred to the "so-called" Syrian refugees, questioned their need for food and water, and criticized the Middle East for not doing more to support them.^[8]

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Don Valley North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Geng Tan	23,494	51.4	+14.1	–
	Conservative	Joe Daniel	17,279	37.8	-2.5	–
	New Democratic	Akil Sadikali	3,896	8.5	-12.3	–
	Green	Caroline Brown	1,018	2.2	+0.88	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			–	100.0		$204,217.72
Total rejected ballots			259	–	–
Turnout			45,946	–	–
Eligible voters			71,812
	Liberal notional gain from Conservative		Swing		+8.3%
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]

Canadian federal election, 2011: Don Valley East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joe Daniel	14,422	36.78	+5.78
	Liberal	Yasmin Ratansi	13,552	34.56	-13.51
	New Democratic	Mary Trapani Hynes	9,878	25.19	+11.87
	Green	Akil Sadikali	1,114	2.84	-4.05
	Christian Heritage	Ryan Kidd	246	0.63	-0.07
Total valid votes			39,212	100.00
Total rejected ballots			218	0.55	–
Turnout			39,430	57.24	–
Eligible voters			68,890	–	–

References

1. "As multicultural as his constituents: MP Joe Daniel". Retrieved 2013-02-12.
2. "About Joe". Retrieved 2012-04-09.
3. "SPIE Digital Library: Search results (3 papers found)". SPIE. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
4. "Riding results from across Canada". Edmonton Journal. May 3, 2011. p. A6.
5. "Canada Votes". The Toronto Star. October 20, 2015. pp. GT13–GT15.
6. Harper, Tim (23 September 2015). "Conservative candidate claims Muslim 'agenda' in refugee crisis: Tim Harper". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
7. Brennan, Richard J. and Robert Benzie (26 August 2015). "Tory candidates told to avoid debates, media during campaign". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
8. Campion-Smith, Bruce (2 October 2015). "Toronto Tory candidate Joe Daniel questions 'so-called' refugees". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
9. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Don Valley North, 30 September 2015
10. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

External links

• Joe Daniel – Parliament of Canada biography