Jill Andrew

This article is about the Canadian politician. For the American musician, see Jill Andrews.

Jill Andrew MPP
Critic, Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity, Culture, Heritage
Incumbent
Assumed office July 13, 2022
Leader	Marit Stiles
Critic, Culture and Women's Issues
In office August 23, 2018 – June 2, 2022
Leader	Andrea Horwath
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Toronto—St. Paul's
Incumbent
Assumed office June 7, 2018
Preceded by	Eric Hoskins
Personal details
Political party	New Democratic
Domestic partner	Aisha Fairclough
Occupation	Educator

Jill Andrew MPP is a Canadian politician who has represented Toronto—St. Paul's in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since June 7, 2018 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP).

Education

Andrew attended Humber College, where she earned a child and youth worker diploma. She also holds a Bachelor of Education (BEd) from York University amongst her other undergraduate degrees, a master’s degree from the University of Toronto in women and gender studies, a PhD from the York University Faculty of Education.

Political career

Andrew ran as the NDP candidate in Toronto—St. Paul's in the 2018 provincial election and was elected as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP). She is the critic for culture and women's issues. She is part of the Ontario NDP Black caucus, along with fellow MPPs Laura Mae Lindo, Faisal Hassan, Rima Berns-McGown and Kevin Yarde. She is the first Black and Queer person to be elected to the Ontario Legislature.

Andrew has served as official opposition critic on a number of portfolios, including women's issues, culture and heritage. Andrew has passed several pieces of legislation, including Bill 61 which proclaims the week beginning February 1 in each year as Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Bill 61 received Royal Assent in December 2020.

As of August 11, 2024, Andrew serves as the Official Opposition critic for Women's Social and Economic Opportunity as well as for Culture and Heritage.

Controversies

Allegations of Anti-Semitism

In the lead up to the 2022 Ontario general election, an article by columnist Brian Lilley for the Toronto Sun, outlined the allegations of two former Jewish members of the Ontario NDP Party who have since left the party over its "ongoing tolerance of anti-Semitism inside the NDP". According to the allegations in the article, the individuals "had been working with party executives on a complaint of harassment and anti-Semitism against Toronto St. Paul MPP Jill Andrew for two years when party president Janelle Brady said they’d have to wait until after the election to deal with the matter".

Following a March 2020 meeting of the NDP’s provincial council regarding a bill presented in the Ontario legislature calling for the government to adopt the working definition of anti-Semitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Andrew was active in pushing a motion at the meetings which called for the party to "instruct MPPs to vote against the bill and reject the definition of anti-Semitism". After one of the now former Jewish members of the party spoke up at the meeting against the motion and called for the NDP to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, Andrew is alleged to have approached him and verbally harassed and "threatened [him] with consequences should [he] speak on the issue again”. According to the former member of the party, "Andrew twice more berated [him] in public at council, including shouting that [he] was a ‘cancer’ that needed to be excised from the party”.

Personal life

Andrew identifies as queer. Andrew and her partner Aisha Fairclough, a television producer and diversity consultant, are members of the community consortium that own Glad Day Bookshop, an LGBT bookstore in Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village. Andrew cofounded the group Body Confidence Canada.

Electoral record

2022 Ontario general election: Toronto—St. Paul's
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jill Andrew	15,292	36.26	+0.30	$121,230
	Liberal	Nathan Stall	14,200	33.67	+0.27	$89,943
	Progressive Conservative	Blake Libfeld	9,445	22.39	−3.90	$89,223
	Green	Ian Lipton	2,302	5.46	+2.23	$11,507
	New Blue	Yehuda Goldberg	473	1.12		$503
	Ontario Party	Christian Ivanov Mihaylov	242	0.57		$0
	Populist	Zoë Alexandra	138	0.33		$0
	Moderate	Margarita Sharapova	87	0.21	−0.07	$1,543
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,179	100.0		$123,794
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			328
Turnout			42,507	48.07
Eligible voters			88,350
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+0.01
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21.

2018 Ontario general election: Toronto—St. Paul's
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Jill Andrew	18,843	35.96	+25.75
	Liberal	Jess Spindler	17,498	33.39	-26.26
	Progressive Conservative	Andrew Kirsch	13,780	26.30	+2.41
	Green	Teresa Pun	1,690	3.23	-1.85
	Libertarian	Jekiah U. Dunavant	448	0.85	-0.03
	Moderate	Marina Doshchitsina	143	0.27	+0.27
Total valid votes			52,402	98.97
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			547	1.03
Turnout			52,949	63.63
Eligible voters			83,206
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+26.00
Source: Elections Ontario

External links

• Official website
• Parliamentary history