Vijay Thanigasalam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Associate Minister of Transportation | |
| Assumed office September 22, 2023 | |
| Premier | Doug Ford |
| Preceded by | Todd McCarthy |
| Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure | |
| In office June 29, 2022 – September 22, 2023 | |
| Minister | Kinga Surma |
| Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation | |
| In office June 26, 2019 – June 1, 2022 | |
| Minister | Caroline Mulroney |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Scarborough—Rouge Park | |
| Assumed office June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Riding established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 8, 1989 Jaffna |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario |
| Residence(s) | Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario |
| Alma mater | Ontario Tech University |
Vijay Thanigasalam MPP (born March 8, 1989) is a Canadian politician who is the Associate Minister of Transportation. He has sat as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) since 2018, representing the riding of Scarborough—Rouge Park as a member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. Thanigasalam is the first Tamil Canadian to be appointed a Minister in Ontario.
Born in 1989, Thanigasalam immigrated to Canada at the age of 14. He attended St. Joan of Arc Catholic Academy (then known as Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School) while working multiple part-time jobs. At this time, he began to get involved and volunteer with many community organizations in Scarborough. He went on to study at the University of Toronto Scarborough and completed his Bachelor of Commerce in Finance at the Ontario Tech University. After graduation, Thanigasalam worked as a financial advisor.[1]
In June 2018, Thanigasalam was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Scarborough—Rouge Park.
In 2019, Thanigasalam introduced Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, which proposed a seven-day period ending on May 18th (which marks the Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day) to be recognized as Tamil Genocide Education Week in Ontario. The bill passed and received royal assent on May 12, 2021. The bill recognizes how Tamil-Ontarian families “have been physically or mentally traumatized by the genocide that the Sri Lankan state perpetrated against the Tamils during the civil war which lasted from 1983 to 2009, and especially so in May 2009".[2]
Bill 104 is the first time that claims of the Tamil Genocide were officially recognized by a government in the Tamil diaspora. This was significant for the Tamil community in Canada and across the world.[3]
In 2021, Thanigasalam played a role in securing funding for a Tamil community centre within his riding of Scarborough—Rouge Park, which has the highest concentration of Tamil Canadians in Canada.[4] Thanigasalam was quoted saying, "As someone who grew up in Scarborough, I personally know how important this project is to the community... I am proud to be part of a government that is funding the first ever Tamil Community Centre in Canada".[5]
In 2019, Thanigasalam was named Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation under Caroline Mulroney.
As Parliamentary Assistant, Thanigasalam participated in community consultations and events with other members of the transportation portfolio. In 2020, Thanigasalam travelled to Northern Ontario to meet with officials from municipalities, Indigenous communities, transportation agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses to listen to the transportation challenges and opportunities that were unique to Ontario's rural regions.[6]
Within his riding, Thanigasalam and his government announced the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension of the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth would be built to replace the aging Line 3 Scarborough, fulfilling a campaign promise made by Premier Doug Ford to restore the three-stop extension after the City of Toronto had scrapped the plan in favour of a one-stop solution.[7] The extension is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2029.[8]
His experience in the transportation portfolio as Parliamentary Assistant led to his eventual appointment to cabinet as the Associate Minister of Transportation in 2023.[9]
Thanigasalam was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election and subsequently named Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure.
In 2022, Thanigasalam supported the provincial government’s $1 billion plan to revitalize the Scarborough Health Network’s aging infrastructure. The funding includes a new emergency department at Centenary Hospital and a complete redevelopment of the Birchmount Hospital.[10]
Thanigasalam was also instrumental in announcing the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) at the University of Toronto Scarborough, the first ever medical school in Scarborough. This is the largest expansion of an undergraduate and postgraduate medical school in Toronto since 1843.[11]
In September 2023 Thanigasalam was appointed Associate Minister of Transportation in a cabinet shuffle following the resignation of Monte McNaughton, which saw the previous Associate Minister Todd McCarthy moved to the Public and Business Service Delivery portfolio.[9] He became the first Tamil Canadian to be appointed a Minister in Ontario.
On February 2024, Thanigasalam introduced Ontario’s One Fare Program alongside Premier Doug Ford, which eliminated double-fares between the TTC and participating regional transit agencies in the Greater Toronto Area, including GO Transit.[12] The announcement of the program was immediately very popular across the region and received support from transit advocates and opposition critics.[13] The program will go into effect on February 26, 2024, less than one month after the initial announcement.[12]
| 2022 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Rouge Park | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Vijay Thanigasalam | 15,989 | 45.10 | +6.49 | ||||
| Liberal | Manal Abdullahi | 9,784 | 27.60 | +6.69 | ||||
| New Democratic | Felicia Samuel | 7,742 | 21.84 | -14.48 | ||||
| Green | Priyan De Silva | 850 | 2.39 | -0.02 | ||||
| Ontario Party | Gordon Kerr | 523 | 1.47 | |||||
| New Blue | Christopher Bressi | 285 | 0.80 | |||||
| Freedom Party | Matthew Oliver | 139 | 0.39 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 35,312 | 100 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 135 | 0.38 | ||||||
| Turnout | 35,447 | |||||||
| Eligible voters | ||||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | +6.49 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[14] | ||||||||
| 2018 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Rouge Park | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | Vijay Thanigasalam | 16,224 | 38.61 | |||||
| New Democratic | Felicia Samuel | 15,261 | 36.32 | |||||
| Liberal | Sumi Shan | 8,785 | 20.91 | |||||
| Green | Priyan De Silva | 1,014 | 2.41 | |||||
| Libertarian | Todd Byers | 582 | 1.39 | |||||
| Trillium | Amit Mahendra Pitamber | 149 | 0.35 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 42,015 | 99.12 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 372 | 0.88 | ||||||
| Turnout | 42,387 | |||||||
| Eligible voters | ||||||||
| Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | ||||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[15] | ||||||||
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