Sarah Thomson (publisher)
Encyclopedia
Sarah Thomson, also known as Sarah Whatmough-Thomson, (born 1968) is publisher and CEO of the Women's Post
Women's Post
The Women's Post is a Canadian English-language magazine, targeted at professional business women, based in Toronto and distributed nationally. The magazine is published every other month, has a circulation of 61,000 and claims a readership of 300,000...

magazine. She was a Toronto mayoral candidate in the 2010 municipal election
Toronto mayoral election, 2010
The 2010 Toronto mayoral election was held on October 25, 2010 to elect a mayor of the City of Toronto, Canada. The mayor's seat was open for the first time since the 2003 Toronto election due to the announcement by incumbent mayor David Miller that he will not seek a third term in office...

. Thomson was the Liberal
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 candidate in the riding of Trinity—Spadina
Trinity—Spadina (provincial electoral district)
Trinity—Spadina is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999....

 in the 2011 provincial election
Ontario general election, 2011
The 40th Ontario general election was held on October 6, 2011 to elect members of the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The Ontario Liberal Party will form a minority government, with the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario serving as the Official Opposition and the Ontario New...

.

Childhood

Thomson was born Sarah Whatmough in Toronto. She began working at a gas station at age 16 and progressed through the ranks to become manager, franchise dealer, and eventually leaser of various service locations. After this, she formed a company to benefit under-performing gas stations and was one of the first to introduce retail stores to service stations. The company grossed over $30 million a year for various stations.

Career

After forming the company, she returned to McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...

, studying philosophy and English. Thomson became involved in restoring old homes, she created a small bookstore in her home and went through a long and drawn out rezoning process that drew her into politics. Thomson ran the following year for the Hamilton Council, she lost by just over a thousand votes.

Publishing

After running a community newspaper in Hamilton, the Examiner, she sold it and established the Women's Post in 2003.
The Women's Post prints every other month and has a weekly website www.womenspost.ca with a community of over 50,000 unique visitors.

Mayoral run

Thomson registered as a candidate for election as Mayor of Toronto on January 4, 2010. She was endorsed by Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...

. An April 2010 poll by the Toronto Star stated that Thomson had the support of 7% of respondents, but by June a poll showed her support had risen to 17%, putting her in third place.
Thomson was supported by former mayoral canadidate John Tory
John Tory
John Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...

's two sons. George Tory was appointed her campaign manger while John Tory, Jr., was a key campaign strategist.

Among Thomson's ideas for the city was a call for tolls placed on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to cover the cost of subway expansion in Toronto. Thomson also expressed the need for restructuring Toronto Community Housing Corporation to enable non-profit organizations already providing key care to obtain the funding they needed.

In early June Thomson climbed to 3rd place in the race http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/823103--ford-catches-up-to-smitherman-but-voters-still-want-tory-poll beating out candidate Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantelone but her lack of funding eventually saw Thomson withdraw from the campaign on September 28 because of a lack of funds and she threw her support to George Smitherman
George Smitherman
George Smitherman is a Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayoralty of Toronto in the 2010 municipal election...

 in a failed effort to prevent frontrunner Rob Ford
Rob Ford
Robert Bruce "Rob" Ford is the 64th and current Mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to city council in the 2000 Toronto municipal election, and was re-elected to his council seat in 2003 and again in 2006...

 from becoming mayor.

Provincial politics

On March 9, 2011, Thomson announced that she was planning to run as a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 in the riding of Trinity—Spadina
Trinity—Spadina (provincial electoral district)
Trinity—Spadina is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999....

 in the provincial election taking place in October. Thomson was officially nominated as the party's candidate at a nomination meeting on March 27.

In the 2011 Provincial election Thomson came 2nd with 18,731 votes, shy of the front runner by only 1139 votes. http://www.wemakevotingeasy.ca/en/general-election-district-results.aspx?d=09

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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