John Oostrom
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John Martin Oostrom MP |
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| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Willowdale |
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In office 1984–1988 |
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| Preceded by | Jim Peterson |
| Succeeded by | Jim Peterson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 2, 1930 Werkhoven, Netherlands |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Profession | Businessman |
John Martin Oostrom (born September 2, 1930) is a former business executive and Canadian parliamentarian. He was the first Dutch-born Canadian elected to the Canadian House of Commons
Oostrom was the eldest of thirteen children and immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands with his entire family in 1952. They settled on a farm near Kemptville, Ontario. Oostrom moved to Toronto in 1955 to study at the University of Toronto, and graduated in 1959 with a BA. He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration degree and entered the business world as a financial analyst. By the late 1970s, he had become an executive with the electronics firm, Phillips Canada.
He was a member of Paul Hellyer's short-lived Action Canada Party in 1971, and followed Hellyer into the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada when Action Canada dissolved prior to the 1972 federal election. In that election, Oostrom was the Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate in the working-class Toronto riding of York South. He placed third behind New Democratic Party leader David Lewis and the Liberal candidate.
In the 1979 federal election, Oostrom ran again in what had become York South—Weston. This time he came in second, only 3,500 votes behind Liberal incumbent Ursula Appolloni. A third attempt by Oostrom in the 1980 election was less successful. He came third with only half as many votes as the Liberal victor.
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