Raymond Cho (politician)

For other people named Raymond Cho, see Raymond Cho (disambiguation).

The Honourable Raymond Cho MPP
조성준
Minister for Seniors and Accessibility
Incumbent
Assumed office June 29, 2018
Premier	Doug Ford
Preceded by	Dipika Damerla
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Scarborough North (Scarborough—Rouge River; 2016-2018)
Incumbent
Assumed office September 1, 2016
Preceded by	Bas Balkissoon
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 42 Scarborough—Rouge River
In office December 1, 2000 – September 10, 2016
Preceded by	New ward
Succeeded by	Neethan Shan
Chair of the Scarborough Community Council
In office December 1, 2003 – June 27, 2005
Preceded by	Ron Moeser
Succeeded by	Michael Thompson
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 18 Scarborough Malvern
In office January 1, 1998 – December 1, 2000
Preceded by	Ward created
Succeeded by	Ward dissolved
Metro Toronto Councillor for Ward 18 Scarborough Malvern
In office December 1, 1991 – January 1, 1998
Preceded by	Bob Sanders
Succeeded by	City amalgamated
Personal details
Born	(1936-11-18) November 18, 1936 Seoul, Japanese-Occupied Korea
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Other political affiliations	New Democratic (until 1991) Independent Liberal (2004) Ontario Liberal (2005) Independent (municipal)
Spouse	Soon Ok
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Occupation	Social worker politician

Raymond Sung Joon Cho (Korean: 조성준; born November 18, 1936) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Ontario minister of seniors and accessibility since June 29, 2018. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, Cho has sat as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) since 2016. He currently represents Scarborough North, and is the Legislative Assembly's oldest sitting MPP. Cho's over 30-year long political career began in 1991 when he was first elected to the Metro Toronto Council. Following amalgamation in 1998, Cho ran for Toronto City Council, where he re-elected eight times until resigning in 2016 following a successful run for Scarborough—Rouge River in a provincial by-election. Prior to entering politics, Cho worked as a social worker.

Early life and education

Cho immigrated to Canada from South Korea in 1967. He worked as a janitor, waiter and miner, before attending the University of Toronto. Already holding an undergraduate degree from Korea, he completed a Master of Social Work, Master of Education, and a Doctorate of Counseling Psychology. Cho then worked as a social worker for the Catholic Children's Aid Society, the Toronto Board of Education, and the Scarborough Board of Education.

Personal life

Cho is married to Soon Ok, and has three adult sons: Raymond Jr., Ronald, and William.

In 2018, while campaigning in Scarborough, Cho suffered a stroke. He was taken to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and treated in intensive care. Cho continued to suffer balance issues after his stay in hospital.

Political career

Cho was a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River for election to the House of Commons in the 1988 federal election. He was initially identified as a New Democrat when he joined Metro Council, however, he soon became an ally and supporter of then-Metropolitan Toronto Chairman Alan Tonks and dropped his NDP affiliation. He subsequently took out membership in the Liberal Party though, like most non-NDP municipal politicians in Ontario he did not run on a party label in municipal elections.

He was first elected to Metropolitan Toronto Council for Scarborough-Malvern in 1991, and was re-elected in 1994. After the Scarborough and the other suburbs were amalgamated into the new City of Toronto, Cho was elected to the new council representing Scarborough-Malvern in 1997 along with Bas Balkissoon. In 2000, he was again re-elected, representing the new ward of Scarborough Rouge-River. He won re-election in 2003, 2006 and 2010. Cho was Chairman of the Toronto Zoo for two successive terms.

He ran in the 2004 federal election as an independent candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River. Cho called himself an "independent Liberal", and used the Liberal Party of Canada's red-and-white colours for his campaign materials. He was accused of trying to mislead voters by the official Liberal candidate, Derek Lee. Lee, who has been the MP since 1988 said that Cho caused some controversy by claiming to have been shut out of the candidate nomination process. Lee won the election, Cho placed a distant second with 6,692 votes (17.8% of the total).

On August 13, 2004, the Toronto Star reported that Cho spent nearly all of his allotted councillor expense fund, one of the highest on city council. While there was some speculation that some of this money was diverted to Cho's failed bid to run in the federal election campaign, his executive assistant said the money was needed for newsletters mailed out to constituents to provide information on a rash of fatal shootings in the Malvern neighbourhood earlier in the year.

In 2005, Cho expressed interest in being the Ontario Liberal Party's candidate in the Scarborough—Rouge River provincial by-election which was made necessary by the appointment of incumbent Liberal MPP Alvin Curling to a diplomatic position. However, the Liberal riding association used a clause of its constitution to declare another city councillor, Bas Balkissoon, as its candidate without a contested nomination process. Media reports suggested that this was done to exclude Cho as the provincial riding association was displeased with Cho's "independent Liberal" candidacy in the 2004 federal election. Cho was also mentioned as a potential candidate for the Progressive Conservatives since he helped former leader John Tory during the March 2005 by-election in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey. In the end, Cho chose not to run in the by-election which was won handily by Balkissoon.

In 2012, Cho was named as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial riding of Scarborough—Rouge River. In the 2014 provincial election, Cho placed third with 27.68% of the vote.

In 2016, Cho was nominated as the Progressive Conservative Party candidate for the September 1 by-election in Scarborough—Rouge River, after incumbent Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon resigned to spend more time with family. Cho won the by-election in an upset victory, becoming the first Korean-Canadian elected to the Ontario Legislature. Cho was handily re-elected in 2018 in the new riding of Scarborough North, winning over half of the popular vote. Doug Ford, then a former city councillor, served as his campaign chair.

Election results

Federal

Scarborough—Rouge River

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Derek Lee	22,564	57.9	−21.2
	Independent	Raymond Cho	6,962	17.9
	Conservative	Tony Backhurst	5,184	13.3	−2.7
	New Democratic	Fauzia Khan	3,635	9.3	+4.4
	Green	Kathryn Holloway	610	1.5
Total valid votes			38,955	100.0

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Derek Lee	22,767	47.1
	Progressive Conservative	Doug Boswell	18,171	37.6
	New Democratic	Raymond Cho	6,589	13.6
	Libertarian	Simon Harvey	513	1.1
	Green	Lois James	286	0.6
Total valid votes			48,326	100.0

Provincial

Scarborough North

2022 Ontario general election: Scarborough North
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	12,646	48.31	−2.74	$59,970
	Liberal	Anita Anandarajan	7,750	29.61	+7.56	$27,802
	New Democratic	Justin Kong	4,820	18.41	−5.98	$46,774
	Green	Tara Mcmahon	479	1.83	+0.24	$0
	New Blue	James Bountrogiannis	277	1.06		$1,067
	Ontario Party	Pete Grusys	105	0.40		$0
	None of the Above	Mark Dickson	100	0.38		$156
Total valid votes/Expense limit			26,177	99.46	+0.30	$93,845
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			141	0.54	-0.30
Turnout			26,318	39.26	-11.50
Eligible voters			66,444
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		−5.15
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21.

2018 Ontario general election: Scarborough North
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	17,413	51.05
	New Democratic	Dwayne Morgan	8,320	24.39
	Liberal	Chin Lee	7,519	22.04
	Green	Nicole Peltier	543	1.59
	Libertarian	Sean Morgan	318	0.93
Total valid votes			34,113	100.0
	Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario

Scarborough—Rouge River

Ontario provincial by-election, September 1, 2016 Resignation of Bas Balkissoon
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	9,644	38.58	+10.92
	Liberal	Piragal Thiru	7,257	28.91	−9.79
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	6,905	27.40	−3.91
	Independent	Queenie Yu	575	2.32
	Green	Priyan De Silva	216	0.86	−0.51
	Libertarian	Allen Small	146	0.58
	None of the Above	Above Znoneofthe	133	0.54	−0.42
	Freedom	Wayne Simmons	59	0.30
	People's Political Party	Dwight McLean	45	0.22
	Pauper	John Turmel	37	0.15
	Trillium	Ania Krosinska	36	0.14
Total valid votes			25,182	100.00
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+10.36

2014 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bas Balkissoon	16,095	38.71	−3.17
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	13,019	31.31	−4.66
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	11,500	27.66	+8.87
	Green	George B. Singh	571	1.37	+0.12
	None of the Above	Amir Khan	398	0.96
Total valid votes			41,583	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			479	1.14
Turnout			42,062	47.48
Eligible voters			88,592
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.75
Source: Elections Ontario

Municipal

Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)

2010 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	10,811	52.93%
Neethan Shan	6,873	33.65%
Shamoon Poonawala	586	2.869%
Mohammed Ather	474	2.321%
Namu Ponnambalam	443	2.169%
Ruth Tecle	437	2.14%
George Singh	353	1.728%
Leon Saul	323	1.581%
Venthan Ramanathavavuniyan	125	0.612%
Total	20,425	100%

2006 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	7480	52.2
Kumar Nadarajah	3683	25.7
Mohammed Ather	1639	11.4
Bonnie Irwin	1532	10.7

2003 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	8,302	70.0
Paulette Senior	3,314	27.9
Akeem Fasasi	245	2.1

2000 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	7,428
Eden Gajraj	2,101
Horace Dockery	1,890
Pat Johnson	562

1997 Toronto election, Ward 18 - Scarborough Malvern (2 elected)
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	11,190
Bas Balkissoon	10,745
Edith Montgomery	10,659
Jim Mackey	2,621
Terry Singh	1,812
Sinna Chelliah	1,165
Jasmine Singh	871
Arlanna Lewis	666
George B. Singh	339

1994 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate	Votes	%
(x) Raymond Cho	10,272
Diamond Tobin-West	3,382
Yaqoob Khan	1,807

1991 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate	Votes	%
Raymond Cho	5,283
(x) Bob Sanders	3,977
Shan Rana	1,321

(x) - incumbent

External links

• Raymond Sung Joon Cho – Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history