Brad Duguid

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Brad Duguid is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Scarborough Centre for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Before seeking elected office himself, Duguid worked in government services at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, serving as executive assistant to both Member of Provincial Parliament Frank Faubert and Members of Parliament (MPs) Catherine Callbeck and Derek Lee.

In 1994, he was elected as a city councillor for the suburban Toronto municipality of Scarborough. In the elections of 1997 and 2000, he was elected as a councillor in the amalgamated "megacity" of Toronto. During his time in municipal government, Duguid was known for his work on community safety issues and affordable housing. He drafted a crime-prevention strategy for Toronto in 1999, and was a founder of the "Scarborough Community Safety Council", the "Scarborough Community Safety Audit Program" and the "Business Crime Prevention Seminar Program". He was also known as a supporter of then-Mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman. In the 2003 election, Duguid supported John Tory over David Miller for Mayor of Toronto, ironically Tory would later become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.

On May 1, 2003, Duguid was appointed by Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty as the party's candidate for Scarborough Centre in the upcoming provincial election. This upset many in the local party association, as Ontario general election, 1999 candidate Costas Manios was widely expected to win the nomination again. Manios decided to run against Duguid as an Independent (essentially campaigning as an "Independent Liberal"), and many believed he would deny Duguid victory by splitting the Liberal vote. Instead, the provincial trend overrode local factors -- Duguid defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative Marilyn Mushinski by over 10,000 votes, while Manios finished fourth, behind Michael Laxer of the Ontario New Democratic Party.

On October 23, 2003, Duguid was appointed Parliamentary Assistant on urban issues to John Gerretsen, the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. As such, he has often clashed with Mayor David Miller over allegations by the mayor that the province has reneged on funding promises to the city. Among current backbench Liberal MPPs, he is considered a leading candidate for a future promotion to the provincial cabinet.