Tom Froese (born November 29, 1952) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 1999 who represented the riding of St. Catharines—Brock.

Background

Froese was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where his father Jake Froese would later serve as the town's mayor and as a federal Member of Parliament. He worked at Niagara Credit Union from 1971 to 1995, and served in several other local organizations. In 1991, he was named as Niagara-on-the-Lake citizen of the year.

Politics

Froese was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating Liberal Gail Richardson and New Democrat incumbent Christel Haeck by a plurality of about 4,500 votes in the riding of St. Catharines—Brock. He served as a backbench supporter of Mike Harris's government for the next four years. In 1996, the Harris government reduced the number of provincial ridings from 130 to 103. This change meant that a number of sitting MPPs had to compete against one another for re-election in the 1999 campaign. Froese ran against veteran Liberal MPP Jim Bradley in the new riding of St. Catharines, and lost by over 7,000 votes.