Stephen Woodworth (politician)

Stephen Woodworth
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Kitchener Centre
In office October 14, 2008 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Karen Redman
Succeeded by	Raj Saini
Personal details
Born	(1954-01-05) January 5, 1954 Kitchener, Ontario
Political party	Conservative (2008-present), Liberal (1988)
Profession	Lawyer

Stephen Woodworth (born January 5, 1954) is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Kitchener Centre in the House of Commons of Canada for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 40th and 41st parliaments (2008-2015).

Life and career

Woodworth, a lifelong resident of Kitchener, Ontario, attended Wilfrid Laurier University, received a law degree from the University of Western Ontario, was called to the bar in April 1979, and joined a Waterloo, Ontario legal practice which later became McGibbon & Woodworth. In 1993 Woodworth opened an office as a sole practitioner in Kitchener where he practised law until 2008. While at Western, Woodworth met and married fellow law student Sharon Woodworth. They have three children.

Politics and elected office

Woodworth first ran for public office in the 1988 federal election, representing the Liberal Party in the riding of Waterloo, finishing second to veteran Progressive Conservative MP Walter McLean.

In 1994, Woodworth was elected to the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing Kitchener, and served in that capacity until 2003. During his tenure, Woodworth fought to prevent sex education from being taught in local Catholic high schools.

In the Canadian federal election of 2008, Woodworth crossed over to the Conservative Party of Canada and was elected as an MP for Kitchener Centre by a margin of 339 votes. He was re-elected in 2011.

As an MP, Woodworth served as a member of several parliamentary committees, including the committees for Environment and Sustainable Development, Justice and Human Rights, Public Accounts, and Fisheries and Oceans.

Abortion debate

In 2012, Woodworth introduced Motion 312, a private member's motion attempting to re-open the debate around Canadian abortion law. The bill proposed to create a special committee to redefine Canada's legal definition of human being. The motion was defeated 203-91. In 2013, Woodworth followed up with a second private member's motion, Motion 476, again attempting to challenge Canada's abortion laws. However, Woodworth failed to receive the unanimous consent of Parliament required to reopen the debate after his previous motion was defeated.

Other roles in Parliament

While in Parliament, Woodworth also chaired the Canada-Cyprus Parliamentary Friendship Group, was Secretary to the Canada-Poland Parliamentary Friendship Group, and was an active member on the Parliamentary Falun Gong Friendship Group, the Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group, the NATO Parliamentary Association, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, serving as a Canadian delegate to several international assemblies for the latter two groups.

After Parliament

In the 2015 Canadian federal election, Woodworth was defeated by Liberal candidate Raj Saini, losing by a margin of nearly 10,000 votes.

In 2016, Woodworth founded the Democracy Defence Initiative.

Electoral record

2015 Canadian federal election: Kitchener Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Raj Saini	25,504	48.8	+16.51	–
	Conservative	Stephen Woodworth	15,872	30.4	-9.96	–
	New Democratic	Susan Cadell	8,680	16.6	-5.33	–
	Green	Nicholas Wendler	1,597	3.1	-1.48	–
	Libertarian	Slavko Miladinovic	515	1.0	–	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Julian Ichim	112	0.2	+0.02	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			52,280	100.0		$209,331.18
Total rejected ballots			292	–	–
Turnout			52,572	68.45	+5.32
Eligible voters			76,797
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.24
Source: Elections Canada

2011 Canadian federal election: Kitchener Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Stephen Woodworth	21,119	42.39	+5.70	–
	Liberal	Karen Redman	15,592	31.30	-4.64	–
	New Democratic	Peter Thurley	10,742	21.56	+3.48	$38,822.94
	Green	Byron Williston	1,972	3.95	+1.06	–
	Independent	Alan Rimmer	199	0.39	-0.08	–
	Communist	Martin Suter	93	0.19	-0.09	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Mark Corbiere	92	0.18	–	none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit			49,809	100.00	$87,274.51
Total rejected ballots			209	0.42	+0.01
Turnout			50,018	63.13	+6.10
Eligible voters			79,232	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election: Kitchener Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Stephen Woodworth	16,480	36.69	+4.56	$75,291
	Liberal	Karen Redman	16,141	35.94	-7.32	$74,745
	New Democratic	Oz Cole-Arnal	8,152	18.08	-0.35	$26,622
	Green	John Bithell	3,818	8.51	+2.89	$2,612
	Independent	Amanda Lamka	215	0.47	–
	Communist	Martin Suter	127	0.28	-0.26	$373
Total valid votes/Expense limit			44,933	100.00	$84,756
Total rejected ballots			183	0.41	-0.05
Turnout			45,091	57.03	-7.67
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+5.94

1988 Canadian federal election: Waterloo
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Walter McLean	26,949	45.11	–11.24
	Liberal	Stephen Woodworth	21,715	36.35	+11.78
	New Democratic	Scott Piatkowski	10,418	17.44	–0.71
	Libertarian	Rita Huschka-Sprague	663	1.11	+0.18
Total valid votes			59,745	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		–11.51

External links

• Stephen Woodworth
• Stephen Woodworth – Parliament of Canada biography