Neil Lumsden

• Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 2014

The Honourable Neil Lumsden MPP
Lumsden in 2024
Minister of Sport
Incumbent
Assumed office June 24, 2022

Neil James Lumsden ^[1] MPP (born December 19, 1952) is a Canadian politician and retired professional football player. Lumsden was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2022 provincial election. He serves as Minister of Sport.

Lumsden played his entire professional career in the Canadian Football League (CFL), mostly as a fullback and also as a running back for the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Edmonton Eskimos from 1976 to 1985.

Early life

Lumsden played high school football at Northern Secondary School and graduated from Crescent School in Toronto.^{[ citation needed ]}

Football career

Some of his career highlights include the Vanier Cup with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in 1975, being the eastern conference nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie in 1976, losing out to John Sciarra of the BC Lions, and winning three Grey Cup Championships with Edmonton Eskimos from 1980 to 1982, and again being a Grey Cup winner in 1999 as General Manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In the 1981 Grey Cup game Lumsden with 8 receptions for 91 yards plus a carry for 2 yards was selected as the Outstanding Canadian being awarded with the Dick Suderman Trophy.^{[ citation needed ]}

In ten seasons, Lumsden played in 141 regular season games and carried the ball 767 times for 3,755 yards and 36 touchdowns. He also had 180 receptions for 1,729 yards and 15 more touchdowns. He was called several times during his career to fill in as a placekicker and punter.^{[ citation needed ]}

Post-CFL career

Lumsden worked briefly in cycling when he was appointed COO of the Hamilton, Ontario, UCI Road World Championships in 2003. This was only the fourth time the road cycling world championships had taken place outside Europe.^{[ citation needed ]}

Lumsden now heads Drive Marketing, ^[2] a sports marketing firm and a division of OK&D Marketing Group ^[3] of Burlington, Ontario.

Lumsden acted as Honorary Chairman of the 2008 Desjardins Vanier Cup in Hamilton, Ontario.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2014, Lumsden was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. ^[4]

Political career

In 2022, he was nominated to run as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in the provincial electoral riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. ^{[5] [6]} He was then elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2022 provincial election. ^[7] He was appointed Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport in June 2022. ^[8] In June 2024, he became Minister of Sport. ^[9]

Personal life

His son Jesse Lumsden was also a CFL football player who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos, and Calgary Stampeders before retiring in 2011. He is now a member of the Canadian Olympic Bobsled Team.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2015, he and his daughter, Kristin Lumsden, a makeup artist/skincare specialist living and working in Toronto, competed in the third season of The Amazing Race Canada . In the first six legs, they placed 10th, 6th, 1st, 6th, 7th, and 6th. In the seventh leg, they placed last in 7th place and were eliminated from the show.^{[ citation needed ]}

Electoral history

v t e 2022 Ontario general election : Hamilton East—Stoney Creek
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	Neil Lumsden	12,166	34.60	+5.78	$47,580
	New Democratic	Zaigham Butt	9,614	27.34	−23.82	$82,230
	Liberal	Jason Farr	7,411	21.07	+8.99	$73,616
	Independent	Paul Miller	2,411	6.86		$8,083
	Green	Cassie Wylie	1,740	4.95	+0.67	$381
	Ontario Party	Domenic Diluca	1,052	2.99		$4,627
	New Blue	Jeffery Raulino	693	1.97		$11,785
	Electoral Reform	Cameron Rajewski	79	0.22		$0
Total valid votes/Expense limit			35,166	98.74	+0.08	$121,750
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			449	1.26	–0.08
Turnout			35,615	40.95	–12.11
Eligible voters			86,774
	Progressive Conservative gain from Independent		Swing		+14.80
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.

References

1. "Neil James Lumsden". January 5, 2024.
2. "Drive Marketing". Archived from the original on October 8, 2007.
3. "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on November 9, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
4. Robb, Peter (September 20, 2014). "Neil Lumsden and Moe Racine set to enter football Hall". Ottawa Citizen . Ottawa, Ontario. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
5. "Neil Lumsden Nominated as Ontario PC Candidate for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek – PC Party of Ontario". January 27, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
6. "Neil Lumsden to run for the Ontario PCs in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek - Hamilton | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
7. "PC Neil Lumsden wins in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek". The Toronto Star. June 2, 2022. ISSN   0319-0781 . Retrieved June 3, 2022.
8. "Rookie Hamilton MPP and former CFL star Neil Lumsden named to Doug Ford's cabinet". The Hamilton Spectator . June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
9. Jones, Allison; Casey, Liam (June 6, 2024). "Ontario Premier Doug Ford shuffles cabinet". CBC News . Toronto, Ontario. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on June 7, 2024. Retrieved June 7, 2024.