# John Rafferty (Canadian politician)

John Rafferty (July 3, 1953 – June 30, 2019) was a Canadian politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River from 2008 to 2015 for the NDP.
Rafferty was previously the party's candidate in Thunder Bay—Superior North for the 2000 federal election, in Thunder Bay—Rainy River for the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, and in Thunder Bay—Atikokan in the 2003 and 2007 provincial elections. Provincially, he lost to incumbent MPP Bill Mauro by a margin of just 50 votes in 2007.
Rafferty was born in Wingham, Ontario. He worked as a radio broadcaster for CKPR in Thunder Bay before leaving to pursue his first election campaign. He subsequently launched his own business producing voiceovers for educational and training videos.
Rafferty introduced one piece of legislation: the National Strategy for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Act. He first introduced it on September 30, 2010, in the third session of the 40th Parliament as a private member's bill. He re-introduced it in June 2011, during the first session of the 41st Parliament.
He was slated to represent the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 2018 Ontario provincial election campaign, but withdrew in January 2018 due to ill health. He died on June 30, 2019, from cancer, at the age of 65.

## Electoral record

2015 Canadian federal election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Don Rusnak | 18,523 | 44.01 | +22.31 | $69,724.11 |
| | New Democratic | John Rafferty | 12,483 | 29.66 | -18.99 | $106,616.41 |
| | Conservative | Moe Comuzzi | 8,876 | 21.09 | -6.12 | $64,890.91 |
| | Green | Christy Radbourne | 2,201 | 5.23 | +2.79 | $3,586.52 |
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | Total valid votes/Expense limit | Total valid votes/Expense limit | 42,083 | 100.0 | | $233,739.33 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 176 | – | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 42,259 | 67.6 | +7.5 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 62,773 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||
2011 Canadian federal election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | John Rafferty | 18,039 | 48.1 | +7.8 |
| | Conservative | Moe Comuzzi-Stehmann | 10,096 | 27.2 | +3.6 |
| | Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 8,066 | 21.7 | -10.6 |
| | Green | Ed Shields | 909 | 2.4 | -1.4 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 37,110 |
2008 Canadian federal election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | John Rafferty | 14,473 | 40.3 | +6.9 |
| | Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 11,589 | 32.3 | -2.8 |
| | Conservative | Richard Neumann | 8,466 | 23.6 | -3.6 |
| | Green | Russ Aegard | 1,377 | 3.8 | +0.7 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 35,905 |
2007 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Liberal | Bill Mauro | 10,913 | 37.7 | -20.55 |
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 10,877 | 37.5 | +15.88 |
| Progressive Conservative | Rebecca Johnson | 5,914 | 20.4 | +2.78 |
| Green | Russ Aegard | 1,271 | 4.4 | +1.89 |
2006 Canadian federal election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 13,525 | 35.1% |
| | New Democratic | John Rafferty | 12,862 | 33.4% |
| | Conservative | David Leskowski | 10,485 | 27.2% |
| | Green | Russ Aegard | 1,189 | 3.1% |
| | Marijuana | Doug MacKay | 424 | 1.1% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 38,485 |
2004 Canadian federal election :
| Candidate | Votes |
| Liberal | Ken Boshcoff | 14,290 |
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 10,781 |
| Conservative | David Leskowski | 9,559 |
| Green | Russ Aegard | 856 |
| Marijuana | Doug Thompson | 547 |
| Christian Heritage | Johannes Scheibler | 267 |
2003 Ontario general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Liberal | Bill Mauro | 17735 | 58.25 | -5.78 |
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 6582 | 21.62 | 4.86 |
| Progressive Conservative | Brian McKinnon | 5365 | 17.62 | -1.59 |
| Green | Kristin Boyer | 762 | 2.5 |
2000 Canadian federal election :
| Candidate | Votes |
| Liberal | Joe Comuzzi | 15,241 |
| Alliance | Doug Pantry | 6,278 |
| New Democratic | John Rafferty | 6,169 |
| Progressive Conservative | Richard Neumann | 2,753 |
| Green | Carl Rose | 648 |
| Marijuana | Denis A. Carrière | 581 |