Raymond Sung Joon Cho (Korean: 조성준; born November 18, 1936) is a Canadian politician who has served as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in Ontario since 2016. Initially the member for the riding of Scarborough—Rouge River, he currently represents Scarborough North, and is the Legislative Assembly's oldest sitting MPP. A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC), Cho has served in the cabinet of Premier Doug Ford as the minister for seniors and accessibility since 2018.
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 served on Toronto City Council until his election as MPP in 2016. Prior to entering politics, Cho worked as a social worker.
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Early life and education
Cho graduated from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea, with a Bachelor of Arts in English. After working for a while at the American embassy in Seoul, he immigrated to Canada in 1967. He initially arrived in Vancouver and worked as a dishwasher, then moved to northern British Columbia to work as an asbestos miner, janitor and waiter. He started the Master of Business Administration program at the University of British Columbia, but did not finish it. He subsequently re-settled in Toronto, where he went on to receive a Master of Social Work, Master of Education, and a Doctorate of Counseling Psychology from the University of Toronto. 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, Cho suffered a stroke while campaigning in Scarborough. 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 ran in the 1988 federal election as a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River, but lost to Liberal candidate Derek Lee. He was first elected to Metropolitan Toronto Council for Scarborough-Malvern in 1991, and was re-elected in 1994. He 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 federal Liberals, although like most non-NDP municipal politicians in Ontario, he did not run on a party label in municipal elections.
With Scarborough and other suburbs being amalgamated into the new City of Toronto, Cho was elected to the new council in the 1997 municipal election, representing Scarborough-Malvern along with Bas Balkissoon. He was re-elected to council in 2000 for the new ward of Scarborough-Rouge River, and won re-election there in 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2014. He also served as chair of the Toronto Zoo board of management for four terms.
In the 2004 federal election he once again contested the riding of Scarborough—Rouge River; this time he 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, who had been the riding's member of Parliament since 1988. Lee said that Cho caused some controversy by claiming to have been shut out of the candidate nomination process. Lee won the election, while Cho placed a distant second with 6,962 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.
Election results
Federal
Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.
Municipal
(x) - incumbent