Zeeshan Hamid MPP 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]
Zee Hamid | |
|---|---|
 Zee Hamid in 2022 | |
| Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance | |
| Assumed office Jun 2024 | |
| Minister | Peter Bethlenfalvy |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Stephen Crawford |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Milton | |
| Assumed office May 2, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Parm Gill |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zeeshan Hamid Karachi, Pakistan |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario |
| Residence(s) | Milton, Ontario |
| Alma mater | University of Waterloo Bachelor of Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Occupation | Tech Executive |
Background
editWhile 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.
Politics
editHamid 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]
Town of Milton Council
editIn 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.
Region of Halton Council
editIn 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.[3]
Provincial Parliament
editWhen 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.[3]
Personal life
editHamid and his wife have a blended family of six children.[12]
Electoral record
edit| Ontario provincial by-election, May 2, 2024: Milton Resignation of Parm Gill | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ** Preliminary results — Not yet official ** | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Zee Hamid | 12,880 | 47.04 | +3.97 | ||||
| Liberal | Galen Naidoo Harris | 10,473 | 38.25 | -0.50 | ||||
| New Democratic | Edie Strachan | 1,851 | 6.76 | -2.94 | ||||
| New Blue | John Spina | 1,102 | 4.02 | -0.03 | ||||
| Green | Kyle Hutton | 755 | 2.76 | -1.38 | ||||
| Ontario Party | Frederick Weening | 111 | 0.41 | |||||
| Family Rights | Tony Walton | 101 | 0.37 | |||||
| Independent | John Turmel | 64 | 0.23 | |||||
| Independent | Arabella Vida | 42 | 0.15 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 27,379 | |||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 27.72 | -14.99 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 98,785 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | +2.24 | ||||||
| 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 |
References
edit- ^ "Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives easily win both Ontario by-elections". The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2024.
- ^ Clara Pasieka and Olivia Bowden, "PC candidate Zee Hamid wins Milton provincial byelection". CBC News Toronto, May 2, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Progressive Conservative candidate for Milton byelection once sought federal Liberal nomination". Toronto Star. March 6, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ "Zeeshan Hamid Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
- ^ "Hamid eyes Ward 8 councillor seat".
- ^ "Resident starts petition to speed up underpass".
- ^ "UPDATE: Milton votes to shrink size of council".
- ^ "Milton election results 2018".
- ^ "Doug Ford names Milton byelection candidate".
- ^ "Ford's Progressive Conservatives win both Ontario byelections | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
- ^ Casey, Liam (May 2, 2024). "Progressive Conservatives win both Ontario byelections". CP24. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
- ^ "Ontario PC Party Nominates Zee Hamid as Candidate". Yahoo News. March 6, 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
- ^ "Gordon Krantz re-elected Milton mayor | inHalton". October 25, 2022.
- ^ "2018 Milton election results".