Mr. Longworth has been an Oshawa resident since 1972 and with his wife raised three daughters in this community all of whom now reside here.
He is founder and chairman of the Oshawa Votes Team and the chief architect of our campaign strategy which will undoubtedly set the pattern for future reform political groups throughout Ontario.
In the early 1980's, Mr. Longworth was the founder of Ward System Now, the group that successfully brought ward elections to Oshawa following a 21 day OMB hearing in 1984. Mr. Longworth personally presented this case designing the strategy and calling and cross-examining witnesses. He was considered perhaps the chief expert throughout the country in municipal election systems at that time and his work was published nationwide in Municipal Political Magazines. John Sewell, former Mayor of Toronto and Globe and Mail Municipal Affairs Reporter at the time, wrote about him twice in his National Column.
He is a retired school principal with university degrees from both Queen's University and the University of Toronto. At various times he was enrolled in both Doctoral Programs and an MBA program at the University of Toronto but retired from both programs to pursue his interest in politics. He was the Federal Progressive Conservative Candidate for Oshawa's 1990 Federal by-election. He is also a past president of Oshawa Parkwood Rotary Club.
He writes a weekly column called "Eye on City Hall" published every Monday in Oshawa Durham Central Newspaper and hosts the radio program, "Eye on City Hall" from 6-9 pm every Monday on Oshawa Durham The Wave radio both of which you will find at http://www.ocentral.com/
He writes the blog, www.oshawaspeaks.ca in which you will find hundreds of stories he's written critical of city council's adoption of the General Vote which he says is undemocratic, unrepresentative, non-inclusive, non-productive and non-accountable and was introduced by politicians simply to guarantee their continued re-election to city council. They wanted a system that served them rather than the people and the city. They did not envision Mr. Longworth forming a municipal team with a guaranteed platform if people supported the associated VOTES team in the election.
In recent years he has worked in China, England, and Egypt. As a businessman and entrepreneur, he imports and retails solar water heaters for the cottage market.
He has diverse interests ranging from story writing to painting to guitar playing, to cottaging, to using his creativity to devise and sell a broad stable of highly marketable internet domain names. Some who know him call him a modern day "Renaissance Man."
Mr. Longworth is involved in this present campaign to introduce needed reforms to the way things are done by city council to set the stage for a vibrant Oshawa future. He is a strong believer in term limits for City Council politicians and will introduce reforms in this regard. Therefore he will leave the Mayor's chair following his 4 year term to one of his team to continue the transparency and accountability reforms and processes he introduces.