Raymond Cho (politician)

Raymond Sung Joon Cho (조성준; born November 18, 1936) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Ontario minister of seniors and accessibility since June 29, 2018. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, Cho has sat as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) since 2016. He currently represents Scarborough North, and is the Legislative Assembly's oldest sitting MPP. Cho's over 30-year long political career began in 1991 when he was first elected to the Metro Toronto Council. Following amalgamation in 1998, Cho ran for Toronto City Council, where he re-elected eight times until resigning in 2016 following a successful run for Scarborough—Rouge River in a provincial by-election. Prior to entering politics, Cho worked as a social worker. Cho immigrated to Canada from South Korea in 1967. He worked as a janitor, waiter and miner, before attending the University of Toronto. Already holding an undergraduate degree from Korea, he completed a Master of Social Work, Master of Education, and a Doctorate of Counseling Psychology. Cho then worker as a social worker for the Catholic Children's Aid Society, the Toronto Board of Education, and the Scarborough Board of Education. Cho is married to Soon Ok, and has three adult sons: Raymond Jr., Ronald, and William. In 2018, while campaigning in Scarborough, Cho suffered a stroke. He was taken to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and treated in intensive care. Cho continued to suffer balance issues after his stay in hospital. Cho was a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River for election to the House of Commons in the 1988 federal election. He was initially identified as a New Democrat when he joined Metro Council, however, he soon became an ally and supporter of then-Metropolitan Toronto Chairman Alan Tonks and dropped his NDP affiliation. He subsequently took out membership in the Liberal Party though, like most non-NDP municipal politicians in Ontario he did not run on a party label in municipal elections.