June 20-2014
Reza Moridi, the highest ranking Iranian-born elected official in North America, easily won re-election last week in the province of Ontario.
Moridi, a member of the Liberal Party, was first elected to the Ontario provincial legislature in 2007, re-elected in 2011 and re-elected again last Thursday. Along the way, in February 2013, he was named the provincial minister of research and innovation, qualifying him as the highest ranking elected official of Iranian origin in North America. It isn’t yet known if he will remain in that cabinet post in the new government to be formed.
Moridi, 69, first won election with 47.0 percent of the vote in his constituency of Richmond Hill, which is a suburb north of Toronto that has attracted a large Iranian-born population. He won re-election in 2011 with a slightly increased margin of 47.8 percent even while the Liberals saw their province-wide margin fall by 4.7 percentage points. This time, running against the same opponents from the Progressive Conservative and National Democratic Parties, his margin grew further to 48.5 percent.
He will be one of 58 Liberals in the 107-seat provincial legislature, facing 28 Progressive Conservatives and 21 NDP members in the opposition.
The Liberals have held power for more than a decade in the province. The Conservative leader, Tim Hudak, fought the election in 2011 on a series of populist wedge issues and lost. This time he ran on a strictly rightist economic platform—less spending, lower taxes, reduced borrowing—while the Liberals promised the opposite. The result was that the Conservatives came in four percentage points lower than in 2011.
Conservative commentator Andrew Coyne summarized: “There isn’t any point in sugar-coating it. This election was very much a referendum on fiscal conservatism, and the fiscal conservatives lost.”
The election proceeded with nary a mention of the fact that the Liberal Party leader, Kathleen Wynne, is a lesbian. It was Wynne who named Moridi to her 27-member cabinet when she became premier last year. In Canada, the term “premier” is sued for the head of a provincial government and the term “prime minister” is for the head of the national government.
Moridi’s riding—as Canada terms a legislator’s district—is in Richmond Hill, a suburb of Toronto lying 12 miles (20 kilometers) directly north of downtown Toronto. It is a very diverse community. The census shows that 56 percent of the riding’s residents have a mother language other than English or French.
Moridi is a physicist who has spent most of his career working in the field of nuclear safety. He migrated from Iran to Richmond Hill in 1991.
Moridi was born in Urumiyeh in 1945 and educated in Britain, receiving both his master’s and doctorate in physics from Brunel University there.
He returned to Iran to teach at Alzahra University in Tehran where he eventually became dean of the School of Sciences, chair of the Physics Department and the university’s chief librarian.
He came to specialize in radiation safety issues.
In 1991, he moved to Canada and became chief scientist and vice president of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada. In 2002, the US Health Physics Society recognized him for his contributions in the field of radiation protection.
Moridi left Iran just shortly after it re-started its nuclear program.
A few years ago, Moridi expressed concern about low voter turnout. His riding commonly has a poor turnout. “It’s a blessing that we live here and voting is our duty,” he told the local York Guardian. “It should be automatic, like breathing. I grew up in a dictatorship, so I’m not one to take this right for granted. I hope more will feel the same way.”
In the 107-seat provincial assembly, Moridi has been chiefly active in science and health issues. But he has also been vocal about pressing for freedom for Reza Malekpour, a fellow resident of Richmond Hill who has been jailed in Iran the last few years. He has also sponsored legislation to recognize Now Ruz and has spoken out often on human rights issues in both Iran and Azerbaijan.
One other Iranian is known to hold elective office in Canada. That is Amir Khaddar, born in Tehran, who was elected in December 2008 to the provincial legislature of Quebec. He was the first member of Quebec Solidaire, which supports Quebec independence, ever elected in the province. He represents parts of Montreal.
Eight people from Iranian families currently hold elective office in North America—five in California, two in Canada and one in Washington State.
