Ken Boshcoff

His Worship Ken Boshcoff
6th Mayor of Thunder Bay
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 2022
Preceded by	Bill Mauro
In office 1997–2003
Preceded by	David Hamilton
Succeeded by	Lynn Peterson
Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River
In office June 28, 2004 – October 14, 2008
Preceded by	Stan Dromisky
Succeeded by	John Rafferty
Personal details
Born	(1949-06-20) June 20, 1949 Fort William, Ontario, Canada
Party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Liberal
Profession	Insurance executive marketing manager

Kenneth Boshcoff (born June 20, 1949) is a Canadian politician who has currently served as the mayor of Thunder Bay since October 2022. He previously served as mayor from 1997 to 2003. Boshcoff also served as a member of Parliament for Thunder Bay—Rainy River from 2004 to 2008.

Early life

Boshcoff was born in Fort William and was raised in Westfort by parents of Ukrainian/Polish and Bulgarian descent. He attended Crawford, St. Ann, St. Patrick, and Westgate schools. Boshcoff then studied at Lakehead University as an undergraduate, where he received degrees in Economics and Political Science in 1972. In 1975, he graduated from York University with a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies.

As a teenager, he began an office-cleaning company and then worked a series of part-time jobs until completing his degrees.

Mr. Boshcoff obtained work in the Provincial and National Parks systems to pay for his tuition and developed his environmental skills in Quetico, Pukaskwa, Gros Morne, Terra Nova, and the St. Lawrence Islands.

He later worked for the Federal Government as the District Planner for Indian and Northern Affairs. After that he joined the family insurance business, moving to the Thunder Bay Port Authority as their Director of Marketing. Later, with his brother, he formed a new company "Boshcoff & Associates" until becoming Mayor.

Political Career

First stint at city hall

Boshcoff was first elected as an alderman of Thunder Bay in 1979 and served (as councillor in later terms) until 1997.

He was elected mayor in the 1997 and the 2000 municipal elections.

He started his political career as a conservative partisan. In the 1984 federal election that the Progressive Conservative Party led by Brian Mulroney won a landslide victory, Boschoff carried the Progressive Conservative banner in Thunder Bay—Atikokan, coming in second with 34% of the votes. He contested the seat again in 1988 and fell to third place. He attended the January 1985 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership convention as a supporter of runner-up Larry Grossman.

Two terms as MP

After six years as mayor, Boshcoff in 2004 contested the federal seat, by then redistributed as Thunder Bay—Rainy River, as the candidate for the Paul Martin led Liberals. The 2004 contest was the first of four contests Boshcoff faced off NDP candidate and later MP John Rafferty. Boshcoff retained the seat for the Liberals, beating Rafferty by a five-point margin. He was re-elected in 2006 by a reduced margin of less than two points as the Liberals government was ousted by the Conservative.

In the subsequent federal Liberal leadership contest, Boshcoff was one of four MPs who supported Ken Dryden's bid, and moved with Dryden to Bob Rae upon Dryden's elimination at the conclusion of second ballot.

In 2008, Boshcoff finally succumbed to Rafferty's third challenge, losing to him by an eight-point margin. Boshcoff sought a comeback in 2011, but came in a distant behind a niece of long-time MP Joe Comuzzi who stood for the Conservative party. Following his defeat, Boshcoff returned to the business world as a business and government relations consultant and corporate governance advisor.

Second city hall tenure

Between his federal defeats in 2008 and 2011, Boshcoff staged a successful bid to return to Thurder Bay City Council in 2010, joining his erstwhile rival from federal bid in the 1980s, former NDP MP Iain Angus in securing one of the five at-large seats.

In 2014, he challenged incumbent mayor Keith Hobbs in the 2014 municipal election, losing to Hobbs by a six-and-a-half-point margin.

Third city hall tenure

In 2022, four decades after he was first elected an alderman, Boshcoff sought the mayoralty again when incumbent mayor and former provincial minister Bill Mauro opted to stand down after one term. He edged out political newcomer Gary Mark in a competitive contest with a four-point margin.

Electoral record

Municipal

2022 Thunder Bay Mayoral Election
Candidate	Vote	%
Ken Boshcoff	13,538	38.22%
Gary Mack	12,145	34.29%
Peng You	6,377	18.00%
Clinton Harris	2,728	7.70%
Robert Szczepanski	633	1.79%
Total	35,421	100.00

2014 Thunder Bay Mayoral Election
Candidate	Vote	%
Keith Hobbs	14,463	38.96%
Ken Boshcoff	12,051	32.46%
Shane Judge	9,531	25.67%
Colin Burridge	412	1.11%
Douglas David Mackay	362	0.98%
Henry Wojak	304	0.82%
Total	37,123	100.00

2010 Thunder Bay Councillor At Large Election
Candidate	Vote	%
Ken Boshcoff - Elected	22,516	14.62%
Larry Hebert - Elected	18,477	11.99%
Iain Angus - Elected	15,744	10.24%
Rebecca Johnson - Elected	14,201	9.22%
Aldo Ruberto - Elected	13,396	8.70%
Lawrence Timko	12,650	8.21%
Norm Staal	11,088	7.20%
Gerald Graham	7,744	5.02%
Beatrice Metzler	7,603	4.93%
Dick Waddington	6,113	3.97%
Darren Roberts	4,660	3.02%
Cindy Crowe	3,706	2.40%
Sharon Ostberg	3,631	2.35%
House Richard Moorey	3,238	2.10%
Norman Sponchia	3,082	2.00%
Tyler Woods	2,967	1.92%
Sydney Pettit	1,256	0.81%
Iqbal Khan	1,225	0.79%
Marvin Robert McMenemy	650	0.42%
Total	153,977	100.00

Federal

2011 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Rainy River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	John Rafferty	18,085	48.7%
	Conservative	Maureen Comuzzi-Stehmann	10,097	27.2%
	Liberal	Ken Boshcoff	8,067	21.7%
	Green	Ed Shields	909	2.4%
Total valid votes			37,158	100.0
Total rejected ballots			130	0.3%
Turnout			37,288	60.1%
Eligible voters			62,018

2008 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Rainy River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	John Rafferty	14,478	40.3%
	Liberal	Ken Boshcoff	11,589	32.3%
	Conservative	Richard Neumann	8,466	23.6%
	Green	Russ Aegard	1,377	3.8%
Total valid votes			35,910	100.0
Total rejected ballots			105	0.3%
Turnout			36,015	57.05%
Eligible voters			63,128

2006 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Rainy River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Ken Boshcoff	13,520	35.1%
	New Democratic	John Rafferty	12,862	33.4%
	Conservative	David Leskowski	10,485	27.2%
	Green	Russ Aegard	1,193	3.1%
	Marijuana	Doug MacKay	424	1.1%
Total valid votes			38,484	100.0
Total rejected ballots			134	0.4%
Turnout			36,618	57.96%
Eligible voters			63,180

2004 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Rainy River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Ken Boshcoff	14,290	39.4%
	New Democratic	John Rafferty	10,781	29.7%
	Conservative	David Leskowski	9,559	26.3%
	Green	Russ Aegard	856	2.4%
	Marijuana	Doug Thompson	547	1.5%
	Christian Heritage	Johannes Scheibler	267	0.7%
Total valid votes			36,300	100.0
Total rejected ballots			162	0.4%
Turnout			36,462	57.22%
Eligible voters			63,718

1988 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Atikokan
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Iain Angus	13,132	35.9%
	Liberal	Stan Dromisky	11,968	32.7%
	Progressive Conservative	Ken Boshcoff	11,454	31.3%
	Communist	Paul Pugh	75	0.2%
Total valid votes			36,629	100.0

1984 Canadian federal election: Thunder Bay—Atikokan
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Iain Angus	14,715	41.5%
	Progressive Conservative	Ken Boshcoff	12,040	34.0%
	Liberal	Dale Willoughby	8,704	24.5%
Total valid votes			35,459	100.0

External links

• Ken Boshcoff – Parliament of Canada biography
• How'd They Vote?: Ken Boshcoff's voting history and quotes