Chris Stockwell
Chris Stockwell (born March 1957) was a Member of the Ontario legislature. His riding was Etobicoke Centre. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus, and served in the provincial cabinets of Ontario Premiers Mike Harris as Minister of Labour and was Ernie Eves' Minister of the Environment and Energy. Prior to entering provincial politics he had been a member of Toronto city council.
Stockwell was particularly well-known for his oratory skills, and was arguably the best speaker on the Government benches. He is largely credited with shepharding through the Ontario legislature a bill that would increase the maximum work-week to 60 hours.
Stockwell was a candidate in the 2002 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership election, placing last with 4% of the vote.
In July 2003 he resigned from his cabinet post of Minister of Environment and Energy, following allegations concerning misuse of expenses. An inquiry under Justice Osborne found that expenses he had claimed during a business trip to Europe breached the Members Integrity Act. It was alleged that Stockwell charged $10,000 to Ontario Power Generation as part of the trip. His riding association paid for his family to accompany him, using tax-deductible political donations. He had previously claimed $3000 in bar bills for him and his staff as expenses.
On July 25, 2003 Stockwell announced that he would not run in the 2003 Ontario election.