Joe Cressy

Joseph "Joe" Cressy (born July 10, 1984) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to Toronto City Council in the 2014 city council election to succeed interim councillor Ceta Ramkhalawansingh in Ward 20. The ward was previously represented by Adam Vaughan, who defeated him in a 2014 by-election to the House of Commons of Canada for Trinity—Spadina.

Contents

• Joe cressy a new champion for downtown toronto
• NDP candidate Joe Cressy on the federal byelection in Trinity Spadina
• Election results
• References

He is the son of former Toronto city councillors Gordon Cressy and Joanne Campbell. His birth in 1984 made Campbell the first woman in Toronto City Council history to give birth to a child while serving as a councillor.

Cressy has worked on various social-justice issues, which traces back to high school when he spent a year in South Africa. Upon returning to high school in Toronto, he got involved in the anti-Iraq war movement and has since worked on anti-poverty campaigns in South Africa, literacy programs with First Nations communities in Northern Ontario, and worked with The Stop Community Food Centre.

Cressy also supports LGBTQ issues at home and abroad, volunteering for an LGBTQ organization while studying abroad in Accra and supporting the NDP’s call for a visa ban against legislators who passed anti-gay laws in Russia.

Cressy studied public affairs and policy management at Carleton University. Prior to his entry into electoral politics, he worked for the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Polaris Institute, and was campaign manager for Mike Layton's successful campaign for a city council seat in the 2010 municipal election and Olivia Chow's reelection campaign in the 2011 federal election. He was also initially involved in Chow's mayoral campaign in 2014, but withdrew when he decided to run in the Trinity—Spadina by-election.

In addition to being councillor for Ward 20 and Toronto's Youth Equity Advocate, he currently sits on the Toronto Board of Health, the board of directors for Toronto Community Housing, the council's Parks and Environment Committee and the sub-committee on Climate Change and Adaptation.