1. George Smitherman was born on February 12,1964 and is a former Canadian politician and broadcaster.
31 Facts About George Smitherman
1. 2.
George Smitherman represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election.
3.
George Smitherman was a candidate in the 2018 municipal election running for Toronto City Council in Ward 13 Toronto Centre which included much of the provincial riding he represented as an MPP.
4.
George Smitherman was born at Humber Memorial Hospital in Weston, Ontario and spent much of his early years in Etobicoke.
5.
George Smitherman is the son of Irene Margaret and Arthur Smitherman, and one of four children.
6.
George Smitherman spent much time working with his father's business, Smitty's Haulage.
7.
George Smitherman admitted a five-year addiction to an illegal drug before running for political office.
8.
George Smitherman has not indicated the specific drugs he was addicted to during this time, except to say that they were part of the "Toronto party scene", and that "the drugs were not injected".
9.
George Smitherman is estranged from his older brother, saying they didn't fall out but just drifted apart.
10.
George Smitherman was active in politics at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, where he was the high school's student council president.
11.
George Smitherman decided against post-secondary education and began his political career.
12.
George Smitherman worked as an organizer for the Ontario Liberal Party and Premier David Peterson.
13.
George Smitherman was chief of staff to Ontario cabinet minister Hugh O'Neil and senior advisor to Ontario federal political ministers Herb Gray and David Collenette.
14.
George Smitherman ran a private consulting business and co-owned a photofinishing shop in downtown Toronto until 1994.
15.
George Smitherman was named to cabinet as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and the Toronto Regional Minister.
16.
George Smitherman launched the Ministry's "Aging at Home" strategy in 2007.
17.
However, Smitherman was criticized for ignoring calls for an independent investigation into C difficile deaths in hospitals, and he was unable improve the lives of nursing home residents who were often forced to sit in soiled diapers for hours on end.
18.
George Smitherman was criticized for failures related to the implementation of an electronic health records system called eHealth that partly occurred during his tenure as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.
19.
On June 20,2008, George Smitherman was shuffled to the new Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, a merger of two formerly separate government departments.
20.
On September 9,2009, George Smitherman strongly suggested that he would be running for mayor of Toronto in the upcoming 2010 mayoral election.
21.
George Smitherman emphasized that any official announcements would not come before "the unofficial campaign season municipally begins in the new year".
22.
George Smitherman remained in the legislature as a backbench MPP until January 4,2010.
23.
George Smitherman admitted telling a volunteer working for rival Rocco Rossi to "screw off".
24.
George Smitherman's campaign has been criticized for swaying first to the left and then the right.
25.
George Smitherman vowed to lead the "anybody-but-Ford" movement and encouraged strategic voting.
26.
George Smitherman joined radio station CFRB on an occasional basis in January 2011.
27.
George Smitherman turned down an invitation from Premier McGuinty to run in the 2011 provincial election but said he intended to run for office again at some point in the future.
28.
George Smitherman serves on the boards of medical marijuana producer THC Meds Ontario Inc.
29.
George Smitherman wrote a memoir called Unconventional Candour, published in 2019 by Dundurn Press.
30.
George Smitherman announced in February 2017 that he intended to run for a seat on Toronto City Council for one of the Toronto Centre wards in the 2018 municipal election.
31.
George Smitherman originally ran for an open seat but after Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government reduced the number of seats on Toronto City Council by half, Smitherman opted to run in Toronto Centre Ward 13 against incumbent councillors Kristyn Wong-Tam and Lucy Troisi for the new ward's single seat on council.