View source for David Rotenberg

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1930–2022)}}
{{for|the author|David Rotenberg (author)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name              = David Rotenberg
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| office            = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|Ontario MPP]]
| term_start        = 1977
| term_end          = 1985
| predecessor       = [[Vernon Singer]]
| successor         = [[Monte Kwinter]]
| constituency      = [[Wilson Heights (electoral district)|Wilson Heights]]
| party             = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]]
| cabinet           = Minister without portfolio (1985, February–May)
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1930|07|24}}
| birth_place       = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2022|01|13|1930|07|24}}
| death_place       = 
| residence         = Toronto
| occupation        = Insurance agent
| partner           = 
}}

'''David Rotenberg''' (July 24, 1930 – January 13, 2022) was a Canadian politician in [[Ontario]]. He served in the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] from 1977 to 1985 as a member of the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative Party]], and was briefly a [[cabinet minister]] in the government of [[Frank Miller (Canadian politician)|Frank Miller]].

==Background==
David Rotenberg was born in [[Toronto]] on July 24, 1930. He was educated at the [[University of Toronto]]. Rotenberg worked as an insurance agent, and served on [[Toronto City Council]] and [[Metro Toronto Council]]. He was first elected in the [[1960 Toronto municipal election]] and re-elected in [[1962 Toronto municipal election|1962]], [[1964 Toronto municipal election|1964]], [[1966 Toronto municipal election|1966]], and [[1969 Toronto municipal election|1969]].

In [[1972 Toronto municipal election|the 1972 election]], he ran for [[Mayor of Toronto|mayor]], and lost to [[David Crombie]] in a close, three-way race. Rotenberg was later appointed as a commissioner on the [[Toronto Transit Commission]], and served from 1975 to 1977.

==Politics==
Rotenberg ran in the [[1975 Ontario general election|1975 provincial election]], and finished second against [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] [[Vern Singer]] in [[Wilson Heights (electoral district)|Wilson Heights]].<ref name="1975 results">{{cite news |title=Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 19, 1975 |page=C12}}</ref>

Rotenberg was elected to the Ontario legislature in the [[1977 Ontario general election|1977 provincial election]], defeating [[Ontario New Democratic Party|New Democratic Party]] candidate [[Howard Moscoe]] by 2,993 votes (Singer had previously announced his retirement).<ref name="1977 results">{{cite news |title=Ontario provincial election results riding by riding |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=June 10, 1977 |page=D9}}</ref>  He served as a [[backbench]] supporter of [[Bill Davis|William Davis]]'s government, and defeated Liberal [[Elinor Caplan]] to be re-elected in [[1981 Ontario general election|1981]].<ref name="1981 Toronto Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press |title=Election results for Metro Toronto |newspaper=The Windsor Star |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0NtYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QlIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6285%2C1391429 |date=March 20, 1981 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=22 |accessdate=2014-04-01}}</ref>

Rotenberg supported [[Dennis Timbrell]] to succeed Davis as party leader and premier in 1985, and endorsed [[Larry Grossman (politician)|Larry Grossman]] after Timbrell's elimination on the second ballot.<ref name=speirs>{{cite book |first=Rosemary |last=Speirs |title=Out of the Blue |location=Toronto |publisher=MacMillan of Canada |date=1986 |pages=106–7, 146}}</ref>  Rotenberg appears in a pictorial section between pages 106 and 107, standing between Grossman and Timbrell as the latter accepts a Grossman button. The caption beneath the picture identifies Rotenberg as a Timbrell supporter.
{{ref|Timbrell}}  Grossman lost to Frank Miller on the final count. After the leadership convention, Miller appointed Rotenberg to cabinet as a [[minister without portfolio]] responsible for Urban Affairs.<ref name="1985FebMillerCab">{{cite news |title=The Ontario Cabinet |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=February 9, 1985 |page=4}}</ref>

Near the end of his tenure as premier, Bill Davis announced that he would extend full funding to the province's Catholic school system.  [[Anglican]] Archbishop [[Lewis Garnsworthy]], a vocal opponent of the plan, responded by charging that Davis had changed Ontario's education system "by decree", in the same way that [[Adolf Hitler]] had changed the education system in [[Nazi Germany]]. Rotenberg later said that Garnsworthy's comments created a climate of religious intolerance in the province, and took support away from the Progressive Conservative Party.  "I think he would probably get the [[Ian Paisley]] award of the year, because his speech made it respectable to be anti-[[Catholic]]," Rotenberg was quoted as saying.<ref name=speirs/> Although the opposition Liberals and New Democratic Party also supported full funding for Catholic schools, the governing Conservatives were more seriously affected because some of their religious supporters abstained from voting, depriving them of significant support. Garnsworthy's speech was credited with prolonging the controversy during the 1985 campaign.

Rotenberg was unseated in [[1985 Ontario general election|1985 campaign]], losing to Liberal candidate [[Monte Kwinter]] by 2,188 votes.<ref name="1985 results">{{cite news |title=Results of vote in Ontario election |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 3, 1985 |page=13}}</ref>  The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a minority government and it was brought down by a Liberal-NDP accord shortly after the election.

A decade later, Rotenberg attempted a return to politics and campaigned for the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997 federal election]] as a candidate of the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservatives]] in the riding of [[Eglinton—Lawrence (federal electoral district)|Eglinton—Lawrence]]. He lost to incumbent [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Joe Volpe]].<ref name="1997results">{{cite news |title=Final Results Riding by Riding |newspaper=Calgary Herald |date=June 4, 1997 |page=A5}}</ref>  The [[Canadian Alliance]] tried to recruit Rotenberg as a candidate in [[Willowdale (federal electoral district)|Willowdale]] for the [[2000 Canadian federal election|2000 federal election]], but he was disqualified because he had not been a party member for long enough.<ref>{{cite news |first=Phinjo |last=Gombu |title=Jewish voters threatening to switch to Alliance |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=November 1, 2000}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
Rotenberg was named as an honorary officer in the [[Canadian Jewish Congress]]. He died on January 13, 2022, at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite web |title=David Rotenberg |url=https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/david-rotenberg |website=Legislative Assembly of Ontario |access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref>

==Electoral record==

===Provincial===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''[[1975 Ontario general election]]'''
!
! scope="col" width="175" |Party
! scope="col" width="150" |Candidate
! Votes<ref name="1975 Election Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press|title=Results from the 29 ridings in Metro |newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star |date=1975-09-19|location=Toronto|page=A18}}</ref>
! Vote %
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|row-name}}
| [[Vern Singer]]
|align=right| 11,480
|align=right| 40.2
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|PC|row-name}}
| David Rotenberg
|align=right| 9,262
|align=right| 32.4
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|NDP|row-name}}
| [[Howard Moscoe]]
|align=right| 7,476
|align=right| 26.1
|-|
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Independent|row-name}}
| George Dance
|align=right| 372
|align=right| 1.3
|-| 
|
|
|Total
|align=right|28,590
|
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''[[1977 Ontario general election]]'''
!
! scope="col" width="175" |Party
! scope="col" width="150" |Candidate
! Votes<ref name="1977 Election Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press|title=How they voted in Metro area |newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star |date=1977-06-10|location=Toronto|page=A10}}</ref>
! Vote %
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Progressive Conservative|row-name}}
| David Rotenberg
|align=right| 13,792
|align=right| 49.1
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|row-name}}
| Murray Markin
|align=right| 7,057
|align=right| 25.1
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|NDP|row-name}}
| Howard Moscoe
|align=right| 7,055
|align=right| 25.1
{{CANelec|ON|Libertarian| Webster Webb| 180| 0.6}}
|-| 
|
|
|Total
|align=right|28,084
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''[[1981 Ontario general election]]'''
!
! scope="col" width="175" |Party
! scope="col" width="150" |Candidate
! Votes<ref name="1981 Election Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press|title=Election results for Metro Toronto ridings|newspaper=The Windsor Star |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0NtYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QlIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6285%2C1391429 |date=1981-03-20|location=Windsor, Ontario|page=22|accessdate=2012-05-10}}</ref>
! Vote %
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Progressive Conservative|row-name}}
| '''David Rotenberg'''
|align=right| 11,579
|align=right| 48.4
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|row-name}}
| [[Elinor Caplan]]
|align=right| 8,760
|align=right| 36.6
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|NDP|row-name}}
| Greg Iaonnou
|align=right| 3,580
|align=right| 15.0
|-|
|
|
|Total
|align=right|23,919
|
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''[[1985 Ontario general election]]'''
!
! scope="col" width="175" |Party
! scope="col" width="150" |Candidate
! Votes<ref name="1985 Election Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press|title=The night the Tories tumbled; riding by riding results|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Gzc0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=hvUIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1464%2C1195068 |date=1985-05-03|location=Toronto|page=43|accessdate=2012-05-10}}</ref>
! Vote %
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Liberal|row-name}}
| [[Monte Kwinter]]
|align=right| 12,425
|align=right| 40.9
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|Progressive Conservative|row-name}}
| David Rotenberg
|align=right| 10,068
|align=right| 33.2
|-
{{Canadian party colour|ON|NDP|row-name}}
| Howard Moscoe
|align=right| 7,858
|align=right| 25.9
|-|
|
|
|Total
|align=right|30,351
|
|}

===Federal===
{{1997 Canadian federal election/Eglinton—Lawrence}}

==References==
{{Archival records|title=David Rotenberg fonds|location=|inventory_number=Fonds 1304|description_URL=http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=89396|dates=|access_conditions=}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=david-rotenberg}}

{{Miller Ministry}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotenberg, David}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs]]
[[Category:Toronto city councillors]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Ontario]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1997 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian municipal councillors]]
[[Category:Canadian Jewish Congress members]]