| Costas Menegakis | |
| Riding: | Richmond Hill |
| Parliament: | Canadian |
| Term Start: | May 30, 2011 |
| Term End: | August 4, 2015 |
| Predecessor: | Bryon Wilfert |
| Birth Date: | 12 January 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Montreal, Quebec[1] |
| Successor: | Majid Jowhari |
| Profession: | Politician |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Residence: | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
| Spouse: | Gail |
Costas Menegakis (born in Montreal, Quebec) is a businessman, an entrepreneur and a former Canadian politician, who represented the federal electoral district of Richmond Hill from 2011 to 2015.[2]
Menegakis is of Greek descent born to parents who immigrated to Canada in the 1950s. He was educated in Montreal, Quebec and is a graduate of Concordia University's Faculty of Commerce. He moved to Markham, Ontario in 1985 and currently resides in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Menegakis founded Tilwood Inc., a product fulfillment & logistics company in Richmond Hill in 1988. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Tilwood Inc. currently operating in Brampton, Ontario.
Menegakis has served in a volunteer capacity for the following non-profit organizations over the past 30 years that offer services to families and particularly to youth, seniors and persons with special needs. He has served on the Board of Directors of Accessible Media Inc., the Metropolitan Toronto Police Chief's Community Advisory Council, the Empire Club of Canada, the Greek Community of Toronto,[3] the Hellenic Home for the Aged and the World Council for Hellenes Abroad. Menegakis is a member of the Richmond Hill Board of Trade, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 375, the Rotary Club of York and the Oak Ridges Lions Club.
Menegakis was awarded Her Majesty's Queen Elizabeth II Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medals and is a recipient of Rotary International's Paul Harris Fellow recognition.
Menegakis speaks three languages: English, French and Greek.[4] [5]
In 2011 Costas Menegakis was elected to Canada's 41st Parliament as the Member of Parliament for Richmond Hill and in 2013, Menegakis was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.[6] During his time in office, Menegakis was a member on the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committees for Citizenship and Immigration, Procedures and House Affairs, Government Operations and Estimates and Official Languages.[7]
In the 2015 federal election, Menegakis contested in the new Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill riding.[8] Menegakis was defeated by Liberal candidate Leona Alleslev by just 1,093 votes.[9]
In February 2018, Menegakis was again elected as the Conservative candidate for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, but later stepped down as the party's nominee when Alleslev crossed the floor to join the Conservative Party. Two weeks later, Menegakis was acclaimed as the Conservative candidate in his former riding of Richmond Hill.[10]
Menagakis was nominated as the Conservative Candidate in Richmond Hill and was defeated in a rematch of the 2019 federal election by the incumbent MP, Majid Jowhari 47.7% to 38.8%.
In February 2024, Menegakis announced that he was seeking the Conservative Party nomination, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill for the upcoming federal election. He required a waiver from the party due to nomination rules which forbid candidates with two election losses from running again.
Initially, he was expected to compete against former National Post columnist Sabrina Maddeaux, Aurora town councillor Rachel Gilliland, former Richmond Hill city councillor Carmine Perrelli, and small business owner Yun Liu.[11] However, on May 9, Maddeaux announced that she was suspending her campaign due to concerns that the party was not taking her allegations of an anonymous email smear campaign against her seriously.[12] The Conservative Party stated that Maddeaux was the only candidate who had access to the Conservative membership list at the time of the alleged smear campaign.[13] Gilliland, whose nomination application was rejected by the party, raised concerns about the nomination process by stating that she had less support among the existing Conservative membership.[14]
Menegakis later defeated Perrelli to become the Conservative nominee.[15]