51 Facts About Jim Karygiannis

Jim Karygiannis served in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal MP from 1988 to 2014, and as member of the Toronto City Council from 2014 until 2020, when his seat was vacated due to campaign spending violations.

In opposition, Jim Karygiannis attracted substantive attention from the media and various ethnic community groups as he took polemical stances on foreign policy issues and as part of his role as multiculturalism critic.

In November 2019, Jim Karygiannis was removed from office for exceeding election expenses in the 2018 municipal election.

Jim Karygiannis was then reinstated and removed twice during the ensuing legal saga that resulted in his final removal from office on September 24,2020.

Jim Karygiannis immigrated to Canada in 1966, and has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Jim Karygiannis holds a degree of Fellowship of Business Administration from the Canadian School of Management.

Jim Karygiannis has been involved with politics as a Liberal since the late 1980s, first in provincial politics and later as a federal MP.

Jim Karygiannis ran as a candidate of the Ontario Liberal Party for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1987 provincial election.

Jim Karygiannis lost to David Reville of the Ontario New Democratic Party by about 1,500 votes.

Jim Karygiannis was one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus, and is opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Jim Karygiannis won a landslide re-election in the 1993 federal election as the Liberals won a majority government, and was easily re-elected in subsequent federal elections.

Jim Karygiannis was a prominent Toronto organizer for Jean Chretien in the Liberal Party's 1990 leadership contest, and was credited with delivering considerable support to Chretien from the city's Greek community.

In 2002, Jim Karygiannis was voted "laziest MP" in a poll of Parliamentary staffers by The Hill Times.

Jim Karygiannis played a prominent role in organizing Toronto-area support for victims of the December 2004 earthquake in Southeast Asia.

Jim Karygiannis called for cooperation between the city's Tamil and Sinhalese communities for the relief effort in Sri Lanka, and personally travelled to Sri Lanka to witness the tsunami devastation firsthand.

Jim Karygiannis was later criticized by fellow Member of Parliament David Kilgour for traveling to an area of Sri Lanka dominated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the faction was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many countries.

Jim Karygiannis defended his decision, saying that his intent was to confirm that disaster aid was reaching the region.

In March 2005, Jim Karygiannis travelled to Guyana to witness the damage that recent floods had done in the country.

Jim Karygiannis helped to secure CIDA aid for Guyana of over million Canadian.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in September 2005, Jim Karygiannis was one of the first Canadian parliamentarians to organize a Canadian relief effort.

Jim Karygiannis was the National Chairman for MP Joe Volpe's campaign to lead the Liberal Party of Canada, but he resigned on July 21,2006, over disagreements with Volpe's pro-Israeli stance on the conflict in Lebanon.

On July 26,2006, Jim Karygiannis said that he was considering a run for the Liberal leadership himself because he felt the other candidates were "lacking" on the issue of foreign policy.

Jim Karygiannis opposed the government's decision and indicated that the Greek-Canadian community would mobilize against it.

Jim Karygiannis subsequently asked the parliamentary ethics commissioner, Mary Dawson, to investigate whether Kenney was abusing his position.

On February 22,2011, Jim Karygiannis joined a protest rally of the Armenian Youth Federation by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ottawa timed to the anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist movement in Azerbaijan.

In July 2012, Jim Karygiannis travelled to the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on the invitation of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, to observe its presidential election.

In February 2013, Jim Karygiannis was accused of using his political position to intervene to facilitate the passage of five Greek musicians into Canada.

Jim Karygiannis was reported to have misinformed the authorities about the purpose of their visit, stating they had intended to participate in his father's wake, when in fact they were coming to Canada to perform at a paid concert.

Jim Karygiannis did not comment other than confirming that he had intervened in the matter but "did not profit from it".

On December 1,2014, Jim Karygiannis joined the Toronto city council as the elected councillor for ward 39.

Jim Karygiannis was re-elected in 2018 in the redistricted ward 22.

Jim Karygiannis is a vocal opponent of Uber, Karygiannis is a lifelong personal friend of Co-Op Cab company CEO Peter Zahakos.

Zahakos has made donations to Jim Karygiannis, and is a lobbyist on taxi licensing issues.

In February 2016, Jim Karygiannis brought up the possibility of banning recording artist Beyonce from Canada.

Jim Karygiannis went public with his interpretation of the routine as "anti-policy" and "pro-gun culture".

In May 2016, Jim Karygiannis put forward a motion to the Toronto City Council to recognize the Pontian Greek genocide.

On November 6,2019, Jim Karygiannis was removed as a member of City Council for Ward 22 due to misspending on the supplementary financial statement of his 2018 election.

The Municipal Elections Act permitted a maximum of 10 per cent of total funds to be spent for "parties and other expressions of appreciation" in Ward 22 after election day; Jim Karygiannis exceeded this limit by $25,962.70.

Jim Karygiannis argued that the expense was an inadvertent clerical error, which represented a legitimate and legal expense that was simply miscategorized in the wrong line item.

Jim Karygiannis returned to City Hall and resumed his work as a councillor the next day.

On June 24,2020, the Court of Appeal overturned the Superior Court's ruling stating that Jim Karygiannis had "not clearly demonstrated to this court that this was a mere 'clerical error'" and he was removed from office for a second time.

The Supreme Court declined to give Jim Karygiannis leave to appeal on September 24,2020; therefore the Court of Appeal decision was upheld and he was removed from office.

On February 22,2011, Jim Karygiannis joined a protest rally of the Armenian Youth Federation by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ottawa timed to the anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist movement in Azerbaijan.

In July 2012, Jim Karygiannis caused a diplomatic scandal when he travelled to the South Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh on the invitation of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, which paid for the trip.

In February 2013, Jim Karygiannis was accused of using his political position to intervene to facilitate the passage of five Greek musicians into Canada.

Jim Karygiannis was reported to have misinformed the authorities about the purpose of their visit, stating they had intended to participate in his father's wake, when in fact they were coming to Canada to perform at a paid concert.

Jim Karygiannis did not comment other than confirming that he had intervened in the matter but "did not profit from it".

In February 2016, Jim Karygiannis brought up the possibility of banning recording artist Beyonce from Canada.

Jim Karygiannis went public with his interpretation of the routine as "anti-policy" and "pro-gun culture".

In May 2016, Jim Karygiannis put forward a motion to the Toronto City Council to recognize a Greek genocide.

In 2014, Jim Karygiannis was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal from the Government of Armenia for his substantial input in international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.