Lee Fairclough

Lee Fairclough MPP (born June 2, 1973) is a Canadian politician who was elected as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in the 2025 Ontario general election.^[1] She represents the electoral district of Etobicoke—Lakeshore as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Lee Fairclough MPP
Fairclough in 2025
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Etobicoke—Lakeshore
Incumbent
Assumed office February 27, 2025
Preceded by	Christine Hogarth
Personal details
Born	(1973-06-02) June 2, 1973 (age 52)
Political party	Ontario Liberal

Early Life and education

Fairclough's parents, Valerie and Neville Fairclough, immigrated to Canada from England in 1967. First settling in Etobicoke then Southampton, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron during Fairclough's pre-teen years to return to Scarborough, Ontario, during her teens attending Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute.

Valerie Fairclough taught high school art and English while Neville Fairclough worked as an engineer on nuclear projects for Ontario Hydro.

Fairclough has lived in Etobicoke—Lakeshore since 2001 where she and her husband raise two children.^[2]

Fairclough has a Master's degree in Health Sciences (MHSc) from the University of Toronto, an undergraduate degree in biology and mathematics (BSc) from McMaster University, and is a certified Medical Radiation Therapy Technologist (MRTT) trained at the University of Waterloo. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.^[3]

Fairclough was a competitive swimmer for many years including as a Varsity Swimmer for McMaster. After university, Fairclough was a member of the Canada women's national rugby union team from 1995 to 1998.^[4]

Career

She began her medical career as a medical radiation therapist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, subsequently moving to several roles within Princess Margaret and the University Health Network. She moved to Health Quality Ontario in 2014 as VP, Quality Improvement, and in 2018 also served as interim Executive Lead to establish the newly announced Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence.^[5]

She was appointed President of St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener in 2019.^[6] She stepped down from that job in 2022 to run in Etobicoke—Lakeshore in the 2022 Ontario general election,^[7] in which she was defeated by Christine Hogarth despite being endorsed by the Not One Seat movement which sought to unify the progressive vote.^[8]

She subsequently served as Senior Vice-President of Clinical Care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health until the 2025 election, when she defeated Hogarth. During the 2025 campaign she was endorsed by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO).^[9]

She has served on the Ontario legislature's Standing Committee on Public Accounts since 29 April 2025 and as Second Vice-Chair of that committee since 5 May 2025.^[10]

Awards

Fairclough was presented with the University of Toronto Arbor Award in 2019, a recognition "given to individuals who are exemplary in their dedication and service to the community."^[11]

In 2022 Fairclough was awarded the YWCA Cambridge Women of Distinction Awards' "The Courage of COVID" for her role at St Mary's Hospital managing the COVID pandemic in her region.^[12]

Electoral record

2025 Ontario general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lee Fairclough	25,195	48.5	+12.8
	Progressive Conservative	Christine Hogarth	21,050	40.5	+3.0
	New Democratic	Rozhen Asrani	3,640	7.0	–10.9
	Green	Sean McClocklin	1,218	2.4	–2.5
	New Blue	Tony Siskos	452	0.9	–2.5
	Moderate	Larisa Berson	204	0.4	N/A
	None of the Above	Vitas Naudziunas	165	0.3	–0.1
Total valid votes/expense limit
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			365
Turnout				46.7	+1.4
Eligible voters			111,858
	Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+4.9
Source: Elections Ontario[13]

v t e 2022 Ontario general election: Etobicoke—Lakeshore
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Christine Hogarth	17,978	37.48	−0.87	$75,837
	Liberal	Lee Fairclough	17,136	35.73	+11.48	$88,272
	New Democratic	Farheen Alim	8,595	17.92	−14.97	$68,196
	Green	Thomas Yanuziello	2,278	4.75	+1.13	$1,471
	New Blue	Mary Markovic	1,612	3.36		$4,739
	Independent	Bill Denning	186	0.39		$460
	None of the Above	Vitas Naudziunas	181	0.38		$0
Total valid votes/expense limit			47,966	99.47	+0.40	$149,099
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			255	0.53	−0.40
Turnout			48,221	45.28	−13.33
Eligible voters			105,778
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		−6.17
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023.