View source for Mel Swart

{{short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Mel Swart
| image         = 
| caption       =
| office1       = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|Ontario MPP]]
| term_start1   = 1977
| term_end1     = 1988
| predecessor1  = Constituency created
| successor1    = [[Peter Kormos]]
| constituency1 = [[Welland—Thorold]]
| term_start2   = 1975
| term_end2     = 1977
| predecessor2  = [[Ellis Morningstar]]
| successor2    = Constituency abolished
| constituency2 = [[Welland (provincial electoral district)|Welland]]
| party         = [[Ontario New Democratic Party|New Democratic]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1919|6|25}}
| birth_place   = [[London, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2007|2|27|1919|6|25}}
| death_place   = [[Thorold, Ontario]], Canada
| occupation    = 
}}
'''Melvin Leroy Swart''' (June 25, 1919 &ndash; February 27, 2007) was a [[Canadian]] politician in [[Ontario]]. He served in the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] as a [[New Democratic Party of Ontario|New Democratic]] MPP from 1975 to 1988.

==Background==
Swart was born in [[London, Ontario]]. he went to school at [[Smithville, Ontario|Smithville]] Secondary School, and worked as a foreman. He served as an alderman in [[Thorold]] from 1948 to 1950, and was deputy [[Reeve (Canada)|reeve]] from 1951 to 1954 and reeve from 1955 to 1965. He became a warden for [[Welland County, Ontario|Welland County]] in 1961, and was president of the Association of Ontario Mayors and Reeves in 1961–62. He later served temporarily as its part-time executive director around 1970.

==Politics==
Swart campaigned for the [[House of Commons of Canada]] five times, but was never successful. He was defeated in [[Welland (electoral district)|Welland]] as a candidate of the [[Cooperative Commonwealth Federation]] in a 1950 by-election, and in the general elections of [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953]], [[1957 Canadian federal election|1957]] and [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958]].

He ran again for the federal [[New Democratic Party of Canada|New Democratic Party]] in the [[1962 Canadian federal election|1962 election]], and was again defeated. On all five occasions, he finished third against his [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] and [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] opponents.

His provincial career was initially no more successful. He challenged [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] incumbent [[Ellis Morningstar]] for the Welland provincial constituency in the [[1967 Ontario general election|1967 election]], but lost by 260 votes.<ref name="1967 Election Results">{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=Tories win, but... |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=October 18, 1967 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=B2 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TDM_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=VVEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3673%2C2835192 |accessdate=2014-03-30}}</ref>  He ran again in the [[1971 Ontario general election|1971 election]], and lost by a greater margin.<ref name="1971 results">{{cite news |title=Riding-by-riding returns in provincial election |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=October 23, 1971 |page=10}}</ref>

He had left the municipal council to concentrate on provincial politics, and stayed out of council until 1972, when he ran for Regional Councillor of [[Niagara Regional Municipality|Niagara Region]] and was elected, elected again in 1974. He served a two-year term as president of the New Democratic Party of Ontario beginning in 1974.

Morningstar retired at the [[1975 Ontario general election|1975 election]], and Swart was able to defeat his successor, [[Allan Pietz]], by 1,115 votes.<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>  He defeated Pietz again for the newly created riding of [[Welland—Thorold]] in the [[1977 Ontario general election|1977 election]],<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> and won by much greater margins in the elections of [[1981 Ontario general election|1981]],<ref name="1981 Election Results">{{cite news|author=Canadian Press |title=Winds of change, sea of security |newspaper=The Windsor Star |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0NtYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QlIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1444%2C1388326 |date=1981-03-20 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=22 |accessdate=2014-04-01}}</ref> [[1985 Ontario general election|1985]]<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> and [[1987 Ontario general election|1987]].<ref name="1987 results">{{cite news |title=Results from individual ridings |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=September 11, 1987 |page=F2}}</ref> He retired in 1988, and was replaced in the legislature by [[Peter Kormos]], also of the NDP.

Two years after his retirement, the NDP won a [[majority government]] under [[Bob Rae]]. Despite having nominated Rae at the 1982 Ontario NDP [[leadership convention]], Swart became highly critical of Rae's leadership in government, and blamed the Premier for falling NDP membership and financial contributions in the early 1990s.

Swart had been the leading advocate of [[public auto insurance]] in Ontario in the 1980s  and was especially critical of the Rae government's decision to go back on its promise to introduce the program. In 1994, Swart publicly called on Rae to resign as NDP leader.

==Legacy==
The '''Mel Swart Lake Gibson Conservation Area''' is in [[Thorold, Ontario]]. Swart was considered a political mentor to [[Peter Kormos]] who inherited both his predecessor's seat in the legislature and his strong advocacy of public auto insurance.

== Electoral record ==
{{1962 Canadian federal election/Welland}}
{{1958 Canadian federal election/Welland}}
{{1957 Canadian federal election/Welland}}
{{1953 Canadian federal election/Welland}}
{{CANelec/top|CA|16 October 1950|by=yes|percent=yes|change=yes|Niagara Centre|Welland}}
{{CANelec/note|On Mr. Mitchell's death, 1 August 1950|}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|[[William Hector McMillan]]|19,553|48.7|+1.4}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|Sam Hughes|13,031|32.4|+6.0}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|Melvin L. Swart|5,972|14.9|-8.0}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|[[Mel Doig|Melbourne A. Doig]]|1,616|4.0|+0.6}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|40,172|100.0}}
{{end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}<!-- dead link, keep for now as comment * [http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1172704217797&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815 Swart 'absolutely 'dedicated' MPP] -->

==External links==
*{{Ontario MPP biography|id=melvin-leroy-swart}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swart, Mel}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Ontario municipal councillors]]
[[Category:Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs]]
[[Category:Mayors of Thorold]]
[[Category:Politicians from London, Ontario]]
[[Category:Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Ontario]]