View source for Alvin Curling

{{Short description|Jamaican-born Canadian politician|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| honorific_suffix =
 [[Executive Council of Ontario|ECO]]
| name              = Alvin Curling
| image             = 
| imagesize         = 
| caption           = 
| office1           = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|Ontario MPP]]
| constituency1     = [[Scarborough—Rouge River (provincial electoral district)|Scarborough—Rouge River]]
| term_start1       = 1999
| term_end1         = 2005
| predecessor1      = ''Riding established''
| successor1        = [[Bas Balkissoon]]
| constituency2     = [[Scarborough North (provincial electoral district)|Scarborough North]]
| term_start2       = 1985
| term_end2         = 1999
| predecessor2      = [[Thomas Leonard Wells]]
| successor2        = ''Riding dissolved''
| office3           = 38th [[Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]
| term_start3       = November 19, 2003
| term_end3         = August 19, 2005
| predecessor3      = [[Gary Carr (politician)|Gary Carr]]
| successor3        = [[Michael A. Brown (Canadian politician)|Michael A. Brown]]
| office4           = Canada's ambassador to the [[Dominican Republic]]
| term_start4       = 2005
| term_end4         = 2006
| predecessor4      = [[Adam Blackwell]]
| successor4        = [[Patricia Fortier]]
| party             = [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1939|11|15}}
| birth_place       = [[Kingston, Jamaica]]
| residence         = [[Scarborough, Toronto|Scarborough]], Toronto
| occupation        = Educator, diplomat
}}

'''Alvin Curling''' (born November 15, 1939) is a Jamaican-born Canadian politician. He was Canada's envoy to the [[Dominican Republic]] from 2005 to 2006. A former politician in Ontario, Canada, he was Speaker of the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] until he resigned on August 19, 2005 to accept his diplomatic appointment. He had been a [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|MPP]] for twenty years, from 1985 to 2005.

==Background==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=March 2023}}
Curling was educated at [[Seneca College]] and at [[York University]] in Toronto. He began working as an educator in 1972, and served as President of the World Literacy of Canada organization from 1981 to 1984, as well as working in the Jamaican Canadian Association.

==Politics==

===In government===
He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the [[1985 Ontario general election|provincial election of 1985]] as a [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] in the suburban Toronto riding of [[Scarborough North (provincial electoral district)|Scarborough North]]. Curling defeated [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] candidate Carole Noble by about 8,000 votes.<ref name="1985MayMillerCab">{{cite news |title=The new Cabinet |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 18, 1985 |page=11}}</ref> His personal total of 30,504 votes was a provincial record at the time. He was the second person-of-colour elected to the Ontario legislature after Leonard Braithwaite, and was the sole visible minority member during his first term. 

The Liberals formed a [[minority government]] after this election, and Curling was appointed [[Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Ontario)|Minister of Housing]] on June 26, 1985.<ref name="1985PetCab">{{cite news |title=Liberals pledge reform as they take over in Ontario |newspaper=The Gazette |location=Montreal, Que |date=June 27, 1985 |page=B1}}</ref> He was the first Black Canadian to hold a cabinet-level position in Ontario. During his time as minister of Housing, he expanded the parameters of Ontario's rent control program, and announced a $500&nbsp;million initiative for new urban housing. Curling was easily re-elected in the [[1987 Ontario general election|provincial election of 1987]],<ref name="1987 results">{{cite news |title=Results from individual ridings |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=September 11, 1987 |page=F2}}</ref> and was appointed [[Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (Ontario)|Minister of Skills Development]] on September 29, 1987.<ref name="1987PetCab">{{cite news |title=Wrye gets new cabinet job |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=September 29, 1987 |page=A1}}</ref> He served in this capacity until August 2, 1989, when he was dropped from cabinet.<ref name="1989PetCab">{{cite news |title=Veterans bear load as 8 ministers cut in Peterson shuffle |last=Allen |first=Gene |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=August 3, 1989 |page=A1}}</ref>

====Cabinet positions====
{{s-start}}
{{Canadian cabinet member navigational box header |ministry=David_Peterson}}
{{ministry box cabinet posts
| post2preceded = [[Greg Sorbara]]
| post2         = [[Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (Ontario)|Minister of Skills Development]]
| post2years    = 1987–1989
| post2note     = 
| post2followed = [[Sean Conway (Canadian politician)|Sean Conway]]

| post1preceded = [[Dennis Timbrell]]<br /><ref group="note">Ministry split in 1985 between Municipal Affairs Minister [[Bernard Grandmaitre]] and Curling.</ref>
| post1         = [[Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Ontario)|Minister of Housing]]
| post1years    = 1985–1987
| post1note     = 
| post1followed = [[Chaviva Hošek]]
}}
{{s-end}}

===In opposition===
The Liberals were defeated by the [[Ontario New Democratic Party|NDP]] in the [[1990 Ontario general election|1990 election]], although Curling managed to retain his riding by about 4,000 votes.<ref name="1990 results">{{cite news |title=Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 7, 1990 |page=A12}}</ref> He was also re-elected without much difficulty in the face of Progressive Conservative [[majority government]]s of [[1995 Ontario general election|1995]]<ref name="1995 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=scarborough+north&flag=E&layout=G |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=June 8, 1995 |access-date=March 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414035234/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1995_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=36&rec=0&district=scarborough+north&flag=E&layout=G |archive-date=April 14, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[1999 Ontario general election|1999]] in the redistributed riding of [[Scarborough—Rouge River (provincial electoral district)|Scarborough—Rouge River]].<ref name="1999 results">{{cite web |url=http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1999_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=37&rec=0&district=Scarborough-Rouge+River&flag=E&layout=G |title=Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate |publisher=Elections Ontario |date=June 3, 1999 |access-date=March 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414054751/http://results.elections.on.ca/results/1999_results/valid_votes.jsp?e_code=37&rec=0&district=Scarborough-Rouge+River&flag=E&layout=G |archive-date=April 14, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1996 to 1999, he served as Deputy [[House Leader]] for the Liberals.

In December 1995, he gained notoriety for his 18-hour [[filibuster]]-like protest against the [[Mike Harris]] government's Omnibus Bill 26.<ref>Ibbitson, John. (1997). Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution. Pages 143-144. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada Inc. ISBN 0-13-673864-8</ref> When Curling was ordered expelled from the legislature for refusing to vote, he was ordered by the speaker to leave the chamber. He refused to leave his seat, and a knot of fellow Liberal and NDP opposition members formed a cordon around him to prevent his physical removal. The standoff lasted throughout the night and into the next morning when the house was adjourned. Reports stated that when legislature staff saw [[Frances Lankin]], NDP MPP and a former prison guard, among the cordon, they backed off. Curling claimed his protest was meant to highlight a lack of public consultation in the Harris government's bill. The incident led to a discussion amongst the party house leaders and an agreement was reached to review the bill clause by clause.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legislative Reports: Ontario |publisher=Canadian Parliamentary Review |volume=19 |number=1 |year=1996 |url=http://www.revparl.ca/english/issue.asp?param=156&art=1064#10 |access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref>

Curling supported [[Joseph Cordiano]] for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership in 1996 (''Ottawa Citizen'', November 21, 1996).

===Speaker of the Legislature===
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=March 2023}}
The Liberals returned to power following the [[2003 Ontario general election|provincial election of 2003]], and Curling was elected Speaker of the Legislature without opposition on November 19, 2003.

Curling soon faced criticism over as charges of partisanship and how objectively he was performing his duties as Speaker. Opposition MPPs, including New Democrat [[Peter Kormos]] and Conservative [[John Baird (Canadian politician)|John Baird]], noted that Curling favoured his Liberal colleagues, sanctioning Conservative and NDP members for behaviour he would more often let slide from Liberals. Curling had also been criticized for attending Liberal Party fundraiser while Speaker, as previous Speakers had avoided attending such events which was seen as compromising the impartiality of the office. In late March 2005, Kormos announced plans to introduce a resolution calling on Curling to resign from the post, and it was rumoured Conservatives were considering a similar call.

==After politics==
Curling resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly on August 19, 2005, to accept a diplomatic posting as Canada's ambassador to the [[Dominican Republic]]. He was recalled from this position in 2006 following the defeat of the federal Liberal government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/hplPeople-en.asp?lan=1 |title=Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts |access-date=December 20, 2009 |archive-date=October 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005081341/http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/hplPeople-en.asp?lan=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Curling held a position as Senior Fellow at the [[Centre for International Governance Innovation]] (CIGI) in [[Waterloo, Ontario]], from June 2007 until May 2010. He also served as Co-Chair of the Premier's Task Force on the Review of the Roots of Youth Violence. In the mid-2000s, Curling was honoured by the government of [[Jamaica]] with the Order of Distinction; he holds the rank of Commander. In 2014, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Ontario]] for having "played an important role in shaping government policy addressing youth violence".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.ontario.ca/mci/en/2014/01/new-appointees-to-the-order-of-ontario.html|title=New Appointees to the Order of Ontario|date=January 23, 2014}}</ref>

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*{{Ontario MPP biography|id=alvin-curling}}

{{Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario}}
{{Peterson Ministry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curling, Alvin}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Canada to the Dominican Republic]]
[[Category:Black Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Jamaican emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Ontario]]
[[Category:Ontario Liberal Party MPPs]]
[[Category:Seneca College alumni]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]
[[Category:York University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kingston, Jamaica]]
[[Category:People from Scarborough, Ontario]]
[[Category:Politicians from Toronto]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]