Cressy has worked on various social-justice issues, which traces back to high school when he spent a year in South Africa. Upon returning to high school in Toronto, he got involved in the anti-Iraq war movement and has since worked on anti-poverty campaigns in South Africa, literacy programs with First Nations communities in Northern Ontario, and worked with The Stop Community Food Centre. Cressy also supports LGBTQ issues at home and abroad, volunteering for an LGBTQ organization while studying abroad in Accra and supporting the NDP’s call for a visa ban against legislators who passed anti-gay laws in Russia.
Following his defeat federally, Cressy ran and was elected in the 2014 municipal election in Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina, succeeding Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, who was appointed interim councillor following Vaughan's resignation to run for MP. As councillor, Cressy has sat on the Toronto Board of Health, the board of directors for Toronto Community Housing, the Parks and Environment Committee and the sub-committee on Climate Change and Adaptation. He was reelected in the 2018 municipal election, by one of the widest victory margins of any councillor in the city with 55.06% of the vote.
Personal life
Cressy is the son of former Toronto city councillors Gordon Cressy and Joanne Campbell. His birth in 1984 made Campbell the first woman in Toronto City Council history to give birth to a child while serving as a councillor. He studied public affairs and policy management at Carleton University. Prior to his entry into electoral politics, he worked for the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Polaris Institute, and was campaign manager for Mike Layton's successful campaign for a city council seat in the 2010 municipal election and NDP MP Olivia Chow's reelection campaign in the 2011 federal election. He was also initially involved in Chow's mayoral campaign in 2014, but withdrew when he decided to run in the Trinity—Spadina by-election.
Election results
Candidate
Votes
%
Joe Cressy
12,466
41.96
Terri Chu
3,693
12.43
Sarah Thomson
2,808
9.45
Mike Yen
1,431
4.81
Philip Morrison
1,407
4.73
Anshul Kapoor
1,063
3.57
Charles MacDonald
972
3.27
Albert Koehl
853
2.87
Tonny Louie
740
2.49
Daryl Christoff
705
2.37
Mike Andreae
590
1.98
Sam Goldstein
519
1.74
Nick Wright
395
1.33
Stephanie Carty-Kegel
376
1.26
Sam Novak
376
1.26
Garaham Hollings
307
1.03
Stella Kargiannakis
286
0.96
Leanne Hicks
212
0.71
Susan Tsai
194
0.65
Michael Monaghan
128
0.43
Kat Shermack
102
0.34
Akeem Fasasi
86
0.28
Total
29,709
100
Unofficial results as of October 27, 2014 10:05 PM
