Brian Charlton

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Brian Albert Charlton (born May 22, 1947 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1995, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.

Charlton worked as a property assessor before entering political life. His father, John Charlton, was a candidate of the Ontario NDP in the 1963 provincial election.

Charlton first ran for the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1975, but lost to Progressive Conservative John Smith by 1,667 votes in Hamilton Mountain. He ran again in the 1977 provincial election, and defeated Smith by 373 votes. He was re-elected over Progressive Conservative Duncan Beattie in the 1981 provincial election by 197 votes, despite the fact that the NDP lost several seats elsewhere in the province. He was re-elected by a greater margin in the 1985 provincial election, and defeated Liberal Jane Milanetti by 1,632 votes in the 1987 election. Charlton supported Bob Rae for the provincial NDP leadership in 1982.

The NDP won an unexpected majority government in the 1990 provincial election, and Charlton was re-elected by a landslide. Most unexpected that he would be appointed as Minister of Energy under NDP Premier Bob Rae. Instead, Charlton was the only incumbent New Democratic MPP to be left out of Rae's first cabinet. He had made the mistake of openly speculating about possible policy decisions in the Energy department before the official cabinet announcement was made. This was regarded as a serious violation of protocol, and Charlton was temporarily relegated to the backbenches as parliamentary assistant to the Energy Minister.

Charlton was belatedly appointed to cabinet on March 18, 1991, as Minister of Financial Institutions. He held this position until February 3, 1993, and was also named interim Minister of Energy on February 14, 1992, finally being appointed to the full portfolio on September 23 of the same year. Following a cabinet shuffle on February 3, 1993, he was named Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet.

As minister of Financial Institutions from 1991 to 1993, Charlton was also the minister responsible for overseeing automobile insurance policy. Like Peter Kormos, the former minister, Charlton initially supported introducing public insurance -- an issue which the NDP had campaigned on in the previous election. He was convinced otherwise by government bureaucrats, however, and it was under his watch that the policy was formally abandoned.

As Energy Minister, Charlton opposed suggestions that Ontario Hydro could be privatized. In 1994, some suggested Charlton as a possible replacement for Bob Rae as NDP leader.

As Chair of the Management Board, Charlton acknowledged in 1993 that the Rae government's employment equity policies could have the effect of barring white male applicants from some civil service jobs for a number of years (some sources claim he said "fifteen years", though this figure was actually used as a high-end extreme). Charlton justified this policy as an attempt at redressing past discrimination, although many opponents of employment equity (and even some supporters[1]) considered his comments misguided.

The NDP were defeated in the provincial election of 1995, and Charlton finished third in Hamilton Mountain, coming behind Liberal Marie Bountrogianni and the winner, Progressive Conservative Trevor Pettit. He has not sought a return to office since this time, though his wife Chris Charlton has campaigned for federal, provincial and municipal office numerous times since 1997, being elected in 2006 as NDP Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain. In 1998, he worked as a staff member in the office of Howard Hampton, who replaced Rae as provincial NDP leader in 1996.

Charlton is currently a member of Green Venture, and has chaired employment adjustment committees for the Hamilton Steelworkers Area Council and the Canadian Auto Workers. In 2002-2003, both Brian and Chris Charlton supported Bill Blaikie for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party.