Bhutila_Karpoche
Bhutila Karpoche
Canadian politician
Bhutila Tenzin Karpoche[2] MPP (/buːˈtɪlə ˌkɑːrpəˈtʃeɪ/ boo-TILL-ə KAR-pə-CHAY;[3] Tibetan: བུ་ཁྲིད་ལ་དཀར་པོ་ཆེས།, born 1983 or 1984) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Parkdale—High Park since June 7, 2018. A member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), she is the party's early childhood development critic, child care critic, and GTA issues critic. Born in Nepal, Karpoche is the first person of Tibetan descent ever elected to public office in North America.
Bhutila Karpoche | |
|---|---|
Karpoche in 2022 | |
| Official Opposition Critic for GTA Issues | |
| Assumed office July 13, 2022 | |
| Leader | Peter Tabuns |
| Official Opposition Critic for Early Childhood Development and Child Care | |
| Assumed office February 2, 2021 | |
| Leader | Peter Tabuns Andrea Horwath |
| Deputy Opposition Whip | |
| In office August 23, 2018 – August 30, 2019 | |
| Leader | Andrea Horwath |
| Succeeded by | Doly Begum |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Parkdale—High Park | |
| Assumed office June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Cheri DiNovo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1983 or 1984 (age 39–40)[1] Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Political party | Ontario New Democratic |
| Residence | Toronto |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia University of Toronto |
| Occupation |
|
| Website | www |
Karpoche was born in Nepal and moved to the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale when she was 18 with her family.[1][4]
She holds a master's of public health in epidemiology from the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and is currently a PhD candidate in public health policy at Toronto Metropolitan University.[5]
Prior to her election, Karpoche worked for Cheri DiNovo, her predecessor as MPP for Parkdale—High Park, first in DiNovo's constituency office and more recently as her executive assistant at Queen's Park.[6] She also served on the board of directors of the Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario, and on the steering committee of the International Tibet Network.[7]
Member of Provincial Parliament
On September 14, 2017, the Parkdale—High Park NDP riding association nominated Karpoche as the party's candidate in the 2018 general election.[8] She won the election on June 7, 2018, and her party won the second most seats, becoming the Official Opposition.
Following her election, NDP leader Andrea Horwath appointed Karpoche as deputy opposition whip and mental health and addictions critic. In a shadow cabinet shuffle on August 30, 2019, the deputy opposition whip was passed to Doly Begum.
In 2019, she was voted Toronto's Best Local Politician by Toronto Star readers.[9] She was voted Best MPP by Now Magazine readers in 2019, 2020 and 2021.[10][11][12]
Karpoche was re-elected in the 2022 election with 53.97% of the popular vote.[13]
Following the selection of Interim Leader Peter Tabuns, Karpoche retained her critic portfolio of early childhood development and children, and was assigned the additional portfolio of GTA issues.[14] On July 15, 2022, it was announced that the Ontario NDP would be nominating Karpoche as a Deputy Speaker in the 43rd parliament.[15]
| 2022 Ontario general election: Parkdale—High Park | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Bhutila Karpoche | 23,024 | 53.97 | −5.44 | $114,469 | |||
| Liberal | Karim Bardeesy | 9,547 | 22.38 | +5.38 | $118,634 | |||
| Progressive Conservative | Monika Frejlich | 6,270 | 14.70 | −3.31 | $12,433 | |||
| Green | Patrick Macklem | 2,587 | 6.06 | +1.40 | $2,663 | |||
| New Blue | Danielle Height | 537 | 1.26 | $0 | ||||
| Ontario Party | Craig Peskett | 349 | 0.82 | $0 | ||||
| Communist | Gunes Agduk | 221 | 0.52 | +0.27 | $0 | |||
| People's Political Party | Oliver Roberts | 129 | 0.30 | $0 | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 42,664 | 99.47 | +0.33 | $120,799 | ||||
| Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots | 228 | 0.53 | −0.33 | |||||
| Turnout | 42,892 | 50.25 | −12.18 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 86,295 | |||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | −5.41 | ||||||
Source(s)
"Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21. | ||||||||
| 2018 Ontario general election: Parkdale—High Park | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| New Democratic | Bhutila Karpoche | 32,407 | 59.41 | +13.21 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Adam Pham | 9,821 | 18.00 | +6.26 | ||||
| Liberal | Nadia Guerrera | 9,271 | 17.00 | -20.42 | ||||
| Green | Halyna Zalucky | 2,544 | 4.66 | +1.33 | ||||
| Libertarian | Matthias Nunno | 371 | 0.68 | +0.25 | ||||
| Communist | Jay Watts | 135 | 0.25 | |||||
| Turnout | 54,549 | 65.02 | +8.12 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 83,879 | |||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +3.42 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[16] | ||||||||
- Kennedy, Brendan (June 7, 2018). "NDP's Bhutila Karpoche wins Parkdale-High Park, becoming first Tibetan ever elected to public office in North America". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- @ONPARLeducation (July 13, 2022). "Within the halls of the Legislature are walls that contain the names of every Member of Provincial Parliament elected to Ontario's Legislature since 1867. The names for the 42nd Parliament were recently added. For the first time a Member's name was inscribed in Oji-Cree syllabics" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Live Conversation on Mutual Aid". Facebook. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- Paling, Emma (December 27, 2018). "Bhutila Karpoche, Ontario's 1st Tibetan MPP, Wants Ontario To Be A Place Where Immigrants Thrive". Huffington Post Canada. Archived from the original on December 27, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- "About Bhutila". Bhutila Karpoche. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
- "First Tibetan, Bhutila Karpoche Wins Election in Canada". Tibetan Journal. June 8, 2018.
- "Canada Tibet Committee | Library | WTN". www.tibet.ca. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
- "Readers' Choice". www.thestar.com. Retrieved May 22, 2020.[permanent dead link]
- "Readers' Choice". NOW Magazine. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
- "Readers' Choice 2021: Toronto's best activists, politicians and public spaces". NOW Magazine. 2021-11-11. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
- Ontario, Elections (2022-06-07). "Election Results". www.elections.on.ca. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
- "Interim Official Opposition Leader Peter Tabuns names NDP deputy leaders, critics". Ontario NDP. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
- "NDP puts forward history-making appointments for deputy speakers". Ontario NDP. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
- "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 9. Retrieved 20 January 2019.