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Elaine Ziemba
Elaine Ziemba
Ontario MPP
	In office; 1990–1995
Preceded by	David Fleet
Succeeded by	Derwyn Shea
Constituency	High Park-Swansea
Minister of Citizenship
	In office; 1990–1995
Preceded by	Bob Wong
Succeeded by	Marilyn Mushinski
Personal details
Born	1942 (age 81–82); Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	New Democratic Party
Children	2
Relatives	Ed Ziemba (brother-in-law)
Residence(s)	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Executive director

Elaine Ziemba (born c. 1942) is a former Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.

Background

Ziemba was born and raised in the west end Roncesvalles neighbourhood. Her family owned a television store. She was executive director of the St. Clair West Meals-on-Wheels and president of the Metro Toronto Federation of Community-based Seniors' Agencies, and was strongly involved in activities involving Toronto's Polish community.^[1] She also wrote articles on the history of canoeing in Canada during the 1980s. Her brother-in-law, Ed Ziemba, represented the Toronto riding of High Park—Swansea for the Ontario NDP from 1975 to 1981.

Politics

Ziemba ran for Toronto city council in the 1980 election in Ward 2.^[2] She placed fourth behind Tony Ruprecht and Ben Grys.

Provincial politics

She ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1985 provincial election, but lost to Progressive Conservative incumbent Yuri Shymko by 330 votes.^[3] She ran again in the 1987 provincial election and finished third, behind Shymko and the winner, Liberal David Fleet.^[4]

The NDP won a majority government in the 1990 provincial election and Ziemba was elected over Fleet by over 3,000 votes.^[5] On October 1, 1990, Ziemba was appointed Minister of Citizenship with responsibility for disabled persons and seniors.^[6]

In 1992, Ziemba's department passed an "Advocacy Act" enshrining the right of consumers to accurate information.^[7] In 1996, the Tories repealed the legislation.^[8]

Employment equity

Ziemba's most controversial ministerial decisions involved the issue of employment equity. She was given control of this file at the beginning of the Rae government's mandate, and she hired Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré as an employment equity commissioner to draft legislation on the subject.^[9] Westmoreland-Traoré said that the purpose of employment equity was to remove cultural biases that prevent certain segments of society from getting good jobs. She said, "Targets for racial minorities, women, aboriginals and the disabled is the best way to "even the playing field" that's favored white males."^[10]

Premier Bob Rae argued that employment equity was a goal set out in the Liberal-NDP accord in 1985 but the Peterson government failed to act on it. He said the NDP were firmly opposed to quotas and that any law would be implemented gradually.^[11] Critics of the policy argued that the legislation would inevitably lead to quotas. Alan Borovoy of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said, "We are concerned that a requirement of numerical goals could produce unfairness."^[12]

The Employment Equity Act was passed in December 1993 with implementation set to start on September 1, 1994.^[13] Opponents of the bill argued that while the goal of employment equity was laudable, the result of the bill would be discrimination against one section of society in favour another. Some felt the bill would encourage racist elements of society.^[14] In 1995 after the NDP defeat, the governing Tories under Mike Harris tabled the Job Quotas Repeal Act which removed all of the work done by Ziemba.^[15]

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Ziemba lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Derwyn Shea by fewer than 2,000 votes.^[16]

Cabinet positions

Cabinet post (1)
Ontario provincial government of Bob Rae
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Bob Wong	Minister of Citizenship 1990–1995 Also Responsible for human rights, the disabled, seniors and race relations.	Marilyn Mushinski

Electoral record

1995 Ontario general election: High Park—Swansea
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Derwyn Shea	10,559	38.77	+20.32
	New Democratic	Elaine Ziemba	8,899	32.68	-12.44
	Liberal	Ted Lojko	7,121	26.15	-6.05
	Green	David Burman	368	1.35	+0.04
	Natural Law	Greg Roberts	286	1.05	–
Total valid votes			27,233

1990 Ontario general election: High Park—Swansea
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Elaine Ziemba	11,432	45.12	+13.69
	Liberal	David Fleet	8,159	32.20	-2.36
	Progressive Conservative	Yuri Pokaliwsky	4,674	18.45	-13.19
	Family Coalition	Colum Tingle	409	1.61	–
	Green	Bill Sengay	332	1.31	–
	Libertarian	Michael Beech	331	1.31	-1.06
Total valid votes			25,337

1987 Ontario general election: High Park—Swansea
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Fleet	9,637	34.56	+13.20
	Progressive Conservative	Yuri Shymko	8,823	31.64	-6.49
	New Democratic	Elaine Ziemba	8,764	31.43	-5.44
	Libertarian	Bob Cumming	660	2.37	+0.46
Total valid votes			27,884

1985 Ontario general election: High Park—Swansea
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Yuri Shymko	9,960	38.13
	New Democratic	Elaine Ziemba	9,630	36.87
	Liberal	John Rudnicki	5,578	21.36
	Libertarian	Bob Cumming	498	1.91
	Independent	Robert Seajkowski	244	0.93
	Green	Andrew Scorer	209	0.80
Total valid votes			26,119

1980 Toronto City Council election: Ward 2 (Parkdale and Brockton)	Vote	%
Tony Ruprecht (X)	9,447	38.22
Ben Grys	4,923	19.92
Susan Atkinson	4,907	19.85
Elaine Ziemba	4,137	16.74
Elaine Taylor	684	2.77
John Lauter	620	2.51
Total valid votes	24,718	–

References

^ Tyler, Tracey (August 20, 1990). "Environment at heart of 3-way battle High Park Swansea riding". Toronto Star. p. A7. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Marina Strauss and Patricia Horsford. Left-leaning candidates seek big Toronto gains. The Globe and Mail. 3 November 1980. pg. P4.
^ Geoffrey York and Robert MacLeod. PCs hold only seat in the west end, but support drops. The Globe and Mail. 3 May 1985. pg. P15.
^ "Results from individual ridings". Windsor Star. The Canadian Press. September 11, 1987. p. F2. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ "Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results". The Globe and Mail. September 7, 1990. p. A12.
^ "Ontario cabinet". Windsor Star. The Canadian Press. October 1, 1990. p. A4. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Sacheli, Sarah (October 23, 1991). "Advocates will help fight for 'the vulnerable'". The Windsor Star. p. A5. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ "Advocacy Act gone". Toronto Star. April 22, 1996. p. A16. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Mackie, Richard (February 19, 1991). "Rae defends choice of equity boss Ontario Liberals to challenge nomination of Quebecker". The Globe and Mail. p. A10.
^ "Job equity law to aid minorities". Kitchener-Waterloo Record. The Canadian Press. March 21, 1991. p. A3. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Rae, Bob (1996). From Protest to Power: Personal Reflections on a Life in Politics. Penguin Books of Canada. pp. 249–50. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
^ Mungan, Christina (June 24, 1992). "Employment equity Critics fear scales could tip too far". The Globe and Mail. p. A7.
^ "Equity rules kicking in". The Hamilton Spectator. Hamilton, Ontario. The Canadian Press. June 30, 1994. p. E3. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Loney, Martin (August 19, 1993). "Equity overkill; New Ontario bill on employment will fuel hatred". The Ottawa Citizen. p. A11. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ Martin, Sandra. "The inevitable backlash; Ontario's Tories say it's time to abandon group rights and go back to the old liberal notion of individual rights". and "'Quota' business haunted equity efforts from start (page F4)". and "'Quota' business haunted equity efforts from start (page F5)". Toronto Star. November 19, 1995. pp. F1–F5. Retrieved January 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-02.^{[permanent dead link]}