Gila Martow
Gila Deborah Martow ("née" Gladstone; born June 5, 1961) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She represents the electoral district of Thornhill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. She held the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour until November 2018, when she was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney following the departure of Amanda Simard from the PC Caucus. Background. Originally from Chomedey, Quebec, Martow was an optometrist. She and her husband, an ophthalmologist, jointly ran an eye clinic at the Markham Stouffville  Hospital. Martow's maternal grandparents lived on a kibbutz organized by the Hashomer Hatzair Marxist-Zionist youth movement in the early 1930s in Mandatory Palestine (later to become Israel). Martow attended the socialist movement's summer camp, Camp Shomria, from 1973 to 1977. The camp's Mia Gladstone Art Program is named in memory of Martow's mother. Political activism. In 2007, she was a spokesperson for the Multi-Faith Coalition. During the provincial election that year, she supported Progressive Conservative leader John Tory's plan to create funding among Ontario’s private faith-based schools. She said, "By not  funding non-Catholic faith-based schools, there is going to be social unrest. This is discrimination against non-Catholics." Martow's first run for elected office was in 2010, when she ran for city council in Vaughan Ward 5, placing second. Ontario legislature. In early 2014, she ran in a by-election in the riding of Thornhill to replace the retiring Peter Shurman. She defeated Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco on February 13, 2014. Four months later she ran again in the 2014 provincial election. She faced Racco again in a rematch. Initially Racco was declared the winner but the  decision was reversed the next day following the official Elections Ontario tally of the vote. Martow was declared the winner by 85 votes. A recount was done and Martow was declared the winner on June 23, 2014 by a margin of 106 votes. On December 1, 2016, Martow presented a motion in the legislature rejecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. It passed by a vote of 49-5 with the governing Liberals, and PCs supporting, and NDP opposing. In the past, Martow has served as the PC Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs (2014) and as the Anti-Racism  Secretariat (2016). She then served in the shadow cabinet as the critic for: Children, Youth, and Families; GTA Issues; and Francophone Affairs until 2018. After the Progressive Conservatives formed government following the 2018 provincial election, Martow was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Labour Minister Laurie Scott by Premier Doug Ford. On November 29, 2018, Premier Ford announced that Martow would become the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs, Caroline Mulroney and that Jane McKenna would take over her position as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour. In January 2021, she attracted controversy after breaking a COVID-19 lockdown  to visit her cottage over Christmas. In July that year, she attracted further controversy after suggesting in a virtual town hall that teachers could be replaced with pre-recorded videos to save money on online learning. Failed federal nomination bid. In early 2021, Martow ran unsuccessfully for the federal Conservative nomination in Thornhill, where she was defeated by Melissa Lantsman. As a result of announcing her candidacy for the federal nomination, she was required to relinquish her Parliamentary Assistant role in the provincial legislature and was not permitted to run in the 2022 Ontario general election as a Progressive Conservative  candidate. Election results. Municipal. ! | Candidate ! | Votes