Wayne Marston


Wayne L. Marston was the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament representing the Hamilton, Ontario riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek from 2006 to 2015.

Electoral history

Marston was first elected as MP in the 2006 federal election, defeating incumbent Liberal MP Tony Valeri by a 466-vote margin. He was subsequently reelected in 2008 and 2011. He lost his seat in the 2015 election to the Liberal candidate, and former Mayor of Hamilton, Bob Bratina.
Prior to his election to the Canadian House of Commons, Marston served as President of the Hamilton and District Labour Council for 11 years. He co-chaired the organizing committee of the Hamilton Action Days, February 23–24, 1996 in which 100,000 marched on the Ontario Progressive Conservative convention in Hamilton, February 24, 1996. Marston was also a School Board Trustee for Ward 5 of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board from 2000 until his resignation, after his federal election victory, on January 24, 2006.
Marston had previously run for the NDP in the former federal riding of Hamilton East in the 1993 and 1997 Canadian federal elections. He was defeated both times by Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps. He was also the NDP candidate in the 1996 Hamilton East byelection, triggered by Copps' resignation over her government's failure to repeal the unpopular Goods and Services Tax as promised by her and her party in 1993.
Although Copps ran in and won the 1996 byelection, Marston finished a strong second to her, reducing Copps' margin of victory significantly. Copps' riding was once the strongest Liberal riding in the Hamilton area but after the byelection, Hamilton East emerged as the weakest Liberal riding in the Hamilton area. Copps also lost personal standing within the Liberal Party after the byelection, and she was eventually defeated by fellow Liberal MP Tony Valeri in a pitched battle for the Liberal nomination in the new Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding when it was created out of her former Hamilton East riding and Valeri's former Stoney Creek riding in 2004.