France Gélinas

France Gélinas MPP (/ʒeɪliˈnɑː/ zheh-li-NA) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in 2007. She represents the riding of Nickel Belt.

France Gélinas MPP
Gélinas in 2020
Critic, Health Care
Incumbent
Assumed office June 25, 2014
Leader	Andrea Horwath and Peter Tabuns (interim)
Chief Whip of the Ontario New Democratic Party
In office August 23, 2018 – August 30, 2019
Leader	Andrea Horwath
Preceded by	John Vanthof
Succeeded by	John Vanthof
Critic, Francophone Affairs; and Long-Term Care
In office June 25, 2014 – June 7, 2018
Leader	Andrea Horwath
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Nickel Belt
Incumbent
Assumed office October 10, 2007
Preceded by	Shelley Martel
Personal details
Political party	New Democratic
Residence(s)	Naughton, Sudbury, Ontario
Profession	Physiotherapist, health care administrator

Background

Gélinas was born and raised in Shawinigan, Quebec. She is trained as a physiotherapist and has been the executive director of the Community Health Centre of Sudbury, on the United Way's Citizens' Advisory Panel, served as president of the Francophone Reference Group of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. She lives in the Naughton neighborhood of Sudbury with her family.^[1]

Politics

She ran in the 2007 provincial election as the New Democratic candidate in the riding of Nickel Belt. She defeated Liberal candidate Ron Dupuis by 2,762 votes.^[2] She was re-elected in the 2011, 2014 and 2022 elections.^[3][4]

In May 2008, she joined caucus colleagues Michael Prue and Peter Tabuns in calling on the provincial government to crack down on private hydroelectricity marketers.^[5]

She has been an outspoken critic of competitive bidding in the province's home care services,^[6] and of layoffs affecting nurses in provincial hospitals.^[7]

Following the announcement of Howard Hampton's retirement as leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, there was some speculation in Sudbury's local media that Gélinas might join the leadership campaign. However, she indicated on June 16, 2008 that as a relatively new MPP, she did not feel that she was ready to become a leadership candidate.^[8] She later endorsed Gilles Bisson for the leadership, and supported the eventual winner, Andrea Horwath, on the final ballot at the convention.

In 2009, Gélinas introduced the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Eating bill, a private member's bill which would mandate the provision of nutritional and calorie information on restaurant menus.^[9] In 2011, she introduced a private member's bill to have the provincial Commissioner of French Language Services report to the full Legislative Assembly of Ontario, rather than exclusively to the Minister of Francophone Affairs.^[10]

In 2014 she was re-elected with 62.66% of the vote, the highest percent of any MPP in Ontario that year.

In 2015, Gélinas introduced a private member's bill to mandate the creation of a fully independent French-language university in Ontario.^[11]

She is currently the party's critic for Health and Long-Term Care, and francophone affairs in the NDP's shadow cabinet.^[12]

Electoral Record

2018 Ontario general election: Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	France Gélinas	23,157	63.50	+0.84
	Progressive Conservative	Jo-Ann Cardinal	8,018	21.99	+10.11
	Liberal	Tay Butt	3,182	8.73	-13.19
	Green	Bill Crumplin	1,137	3.12	-0.41
	Northern Ontario	Matthew Del Papa	373	1.02
	Libertarian	James Chretien	220	0.60
	Consensus Ontario	Kevin R. Brault	214	0.59
	None of the Above	Bailey Burch-Belanger	166	0.46
Total valid votes			36,467	100.0
Turnout				57.00
Eligible voters			63,973
	New Democratic hold		Swing
Source: Elections Ontario^[13]

2014 Ontario general election: Nickel Belt
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	France Gélinas	19,941	62.66	+7.77
	Liberal	James Tregonning	6,977	21.92	-2.33
	Progressive Conservative	Marck Blay	3,782	11.88	-6.47
	Green	Heather K. Dahlstrom	1,123	3.53	+1.03
Total valid votes			31,823	100.00
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+5.05
Source: Elections Ontario^[14]

2011 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	France Gélinas	16,826	54.89	+8.26
	Liberal	Tony Ryma	7,434	24.25	-13.79
	Progressive Conservative	Paula Peroni	5,625	18.35	+8.29
	Green	Stephanie-Lynn Russell	770	2.5	-1.72
Total valid votes			30,655	100.00

2007 Ontario general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	France Gélinas	15,126	46.6	0.08
	Liberal	Ron Dupuis	12,341	38.0	-0.64
	Progressive Conservative	Renée Germain	3,264	10.1	-3.39
	Green	Fred Twilley	1,368	4.2	2.85
	Family Coalition	Richard St-Denis	341	1.1

References

1. "About France". Retrieved 21 July 2012.
2. (PDF). Elections Ontario. 10 October 2007. p. 9 (xviii). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
3. (PDF). Elections Ontario. 6 October 2011. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
4. . Elections Ontario. 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014.
5. . Northern Life. 23 May 2008. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
6. Mulligan, Carol (February 2009). "Bidding for care, Cause for concern -- or rhetoric?". Sudbury Star.
7. "Nurses protest layoffs in legislature". Toronto Star. 5 March 2009.
8. Bradley, Bill (16 June 2008). . Northern Life. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
9. Ferguson, Rob (10 April 2009). "Calorie-count bill clears hurdle". Toronto Star.
10. "New bill to change who French language commissioner reports to". Sudbury Star. 30 May 2011.
11. "Ontario needs a French university? Bien sûr, Gélinas says". Northern Life, May 26, 2015.
12. Reevely, David (25 June 2014). "Horwath sticks around, names NDP shadow cabinet".
13. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
14. Elections Ontario (2014). . Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.

External links

• Official website  
• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history