Pat Hoy

Pat Hoy (born September 21, 1950 in Chatham, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Chatham-Kent—Essex for the Ontario Liberal Party from 1995 to 2011.

The son of John Hoy and Dolores de Witte, Hoy was a farmer in the Merlin area. He served as President of the Kent Federation of Agriculture from 1984 to 1985, and was a member of the Crop Insurance Commission of Ontario from 1987 to 1995 (serving as its Vice-Chair in 1992 and 1993). He is also a founder of the Kent County Agricultural Hall of Fame, and has been a director of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. In 1972, he married Debbie Murphy.

Hoy was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election for the riding of Essex-Kent, defeating Progressive Conservative George Kennedy by about 2000 votes (incumbent New Democrat Pat Hayes was a close third). The Progressive Conservatives won the election, and Hoy served as his party's agriculture critic for the next four years. He endorsed Dwight Duncan's bid to lead the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.

Because of redistribution, Hoy was forced to face another incumbent, Progressive Conservative Jack Carroll, in new riding of CKE in the 1999 provincial election. Hoy scored a convincing victory, winning by 8001 votes. The Tories again won the election, and Hoy continued to serve as his party's agriculture critic until 2000, when he was transferred to transportation.

Hoy was easily re-elected in the provincial election of 2003, which the Liberals won. He became Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs in December of that year. Hoy was selected as the new Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 26, 2006.

Since 2003, he has chaired the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, and the Southwest Caucus. He is vice-chair of Rural Caucus and member of Justice, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs Policy Committee. He was chair of the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee from 2003–2007.

Hoy was elected for a fourth term in the provincial election of 2007.

Hoy is known to hold some socially conservative views, including being pro-life on abortion. Hoy is also known to be an avid fan of The Beatles.