Joe Comartin
| Ridings | Windsor—St. Clair (2000-2004) Windsor—Tecumseh (2004-present) |
|---|---|
| Political party: | New Democratic Party |
| First elected: | 2000 election |
| Profession(s): | Lawyer, managing director |
Joe Comartin (born December 26, 1947 in Stoney Point, Ontario) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. Comartin joined the New Democratic Party in 1969.
A civil litigation lawyer based in Windsor, Ontario, Comartin enjoyed strong support from local union members when he ran for a seat in the House of Commons, but narrowly lost in the 1997 general election and in a 1999 by-election.
He won the seat in the 2000 election, becoming the first federal NDP candidate to win a seat in Ontario in ten years (Mike Breaugh of Oshawa had been the last to win in a 1990 by-election ). He was re-elected in the 2004 election and the 2006 election.
Comartin stood as a candidate in the leadership of the NDP in 2003, and finished fourth.
He is currently the party's critic for Justice and Public Security. Comartin has been an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq.
Following his vote in favor of Same-sex marriage in Canada in June 2005, Comartin was disciplined by Ronald Fabbro, the Roman Catholic bishop of London, Ontario, barring him from acting as a Catholic marriage counsellor until he has a "change of mind" on the use of the word marriage to describe same-sex unions.
Electoral Record
|- |Liberal |Shaughnessy Cohen |align="right"|16,496 |New Democratic Party |Joe Comartin |align="right"|14,237 |Reform |Harold Downs |align="right"|5,899 |Progressive Conservative |Bruck Easton |align="right"|4,253 |Green |Timothy Dugdale |align="right"|357 |Marxist-Leninist |Dale Woodyard |align="right"|115
By-election: On Mrs. Cohen's death:
|- |Liberal |Rick Limoges |align="right"|13,891 |New Democratic Party |Joe Comartin |align="right"|13,800 |Progressive Conservative |Bruck Easton |align="right"|2,074 |Reform |Scott Cowan |align="right"|1,956 |Unknown |John Turmel |align="right"|106
|- |New Democratic Party |Joe Comartin |align="right"|17,001 |Liberal |Rick Limoges |align="right"|16,600
|Canadian Alliance |Phillip Pettinato |align="right"|5,639 |Progressive Conservative |Bruck Easton |align="right"|1,906 |Green |Stephen Lockwood |align="right"|390 |Marxist-Leninist |Dale Woodyard |align="right"|95
|-
|COMARTIN, Joe |align="right"| 20,037 |align="right"| 41.85% |-
|LIMOGES, Rick |align="right"| 16,219 |align="right"| 33.88% |-
|FUSCHI, Rick |align="right"| 9,827 |align="right"| 20.53% |-
|POWLES, Elizabeth |align="right"| 1,613 |align="right"| 3.37% |-
|CHESNIK, Laura |align="right"| 182 |align="right"| 0.38%
|-
|COMARTIN, Joe |align="right"| 22,646 |align="right"| 44.6% |-
|EASTON, Bruck |align="right"| 13,412 |align="right"| 26.4% |-
|FUSCHI, Rick |align="right"| 12,852 |align="right"| 25.3% |-
|PLUARD, Catherine |align="right"| 1,644 |align="right"| 3.2% |-
|CHESNIK, Laura |align="right"| 193 |align="right"| 0.4%