Joe Preston (politician)

His Worship Joe Preston
Mayor of St. Thomas
Incumbent
Assumed office December 1, 2018
Preceded by	Heather Jackson
Member of Parliament for Elgin—Middlesex—London
In office June 28, 2004 – August 4, 2015
Preceded by	Gar Knutson
Succeeded by	Karen Vecchio
Chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure & House Affairs
In office March 6, 2007 – August 2, 2015
Minister	Peter Van Loan Jay Hill John Baird Peter Van Loan
Preceded by	Gary Goodyear
Succeeded by	Larry Bagnell
Personal details
Born	(1956-06-14) June 14, 1956 Chatham, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Independent (since 2018)
Other political affiliations	Conservative (2004–2015)
Spouse	Stephanie Preston
Residence(s)	St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Profession	Politician restaurateur

Joseph Preston (born June 14, 1955) is a Canadian politician who currently serves as the mayor of St. Thomas. He was previously a member of Parliament, representing Elgin—Middlesex—London riding from 2004 to 2015 as a member of a Conservative Party of Canada.

He defeated Liberal incumbent Gar Knutson in the 2004 federal election. He was re-elected in the 2006, 2008 and 2011 federal elections. He did not run again in 2015 and retired from parliament.

On July 10, 2018, Preston announced that he was running for mayor of St. Thomas in the 2018 Ontario municipal election, which he won.

Prior to being an member of Parliament, he was an entrepreneur in St. Thomas, and was active in local politics.

Electoral record

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joe Preston	29,147	57.55	+9.17	–
	New Democratic	Fred Sinclair	12,439	24.56	+5.32	–
	Liberal	Graham Warwick	6,812	13.45	-10.07	–
	Green	John Fisher	1,529	3.02	-3.80	–
	Christian Heritage	Carl Hiemstra	582	1.15	-0.15	–
	Canadian Action	Will Arlow	140	0.28	+0.08	–
Total valid votes			50,649	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			170	0.33	-0.07
Turnout			50,819	62.90	+3.24
Eligible voters			80,796	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Joe Preston	22,970	48.38	+2.8	$77,732
	Liberal	Suzanne van Bommel	11,169	23.52	-2.8	$79,198
	New Democratic	Ryan Dolby	9,135	19.24	0.0	$12,502
	Green	Noel Burgon	3,241	6.82	+1.2
	Christian Heritage	Carl Hiemstra	619	1.30	-0.7	$9,598
	Independent	Michael van Holst	243	0.51	–	$1,875
	Canadian Action	Will Arlow	96	0.20	0.0
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,473	100.0	$85,544
Total rejected ballots			190	0.40
Turnout			47,663	59.66

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joe Preston	23,416	45.6	+1.8
	Liberal	Crispin Colvin	13,507	26.3	-7.9
	New Democratic	Tim McCallum	9,873	19.2	+4.6
	Green	Jonathan Martyn	2,878	5.6	+1.2
	Christian Heritage	Ken DeVries	1,049	2.0	-0.7
	Progressive Canadian	Phill Borm	504	1.0
	Canadian Action	Will Arlow	105	0.2	-0.1
Total valid votes			51,332	100.0

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joe Preston	20,333	43.8	-8.7
	Liberal	Gar Knutson	15,860	34.2	-6.2
	New Democratic	Tim McCallum	6,763	14.6	+9.4
	Green	Julie-Ann Stodolny	2,033	4.4	+3.4
	Christian Heritage	Ken DeVries	1,246	2.7	+1.8
	Canadian Action	Will Arlow	146	0.3
Total valid votes			46,381	100.0

External links

• Joe Preston – Parliament of Canada biography