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Anthony Charles Sousa (born September 27, 1958) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament from Mississauga-Lakeshore since December 12, 2022. He previously served as the Minister of Finance for Ontario from 2013 to 2018. A member of the
Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...
, Sousa was elected to represent Missisuaga South in the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...
in 2007. He joined the provincial cabinet as the minister of labour in 2010 and became Ontario's minister of citizenship and immigration in 2011. In 2022, Sousa ran as the federal Liberal candidate in the Mississauga-Lakeshore by-election which was held on December 12, 2022. Sousa won the election, defeating 39 other candidates. In September 2023, Sousa was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Public Services and Procurement The minister of government transformation, public services and procurement () is the minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's "common service organization" (Pub ...
.


Early life, career and education

Sousa is the son of Portuguese immigrants. He grew up in
Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...
and graduated from
Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...
in 1982 with a degree in Business Administration. In 1991, he completed a fellowship at the Institute of Canadian Bankers. He then earned an Executive
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
in 1994. He worked at
Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...
(RBC) Financial Group for more than 20 years, primarily as Director Commercial Banking and Director Marketing at RBC Dominion Securities. Prior to working with RBC, he owned and operated a factoring company that offered asset base financing to small businesses. Sousa has been a member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a director with the United States Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Toronto Board of Trade. In 2003, he was appointed to represent Canada as a director to the
International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. ICC represents over 45 million businesses in over 170 countries who have interest ...
. He is a past president of the Federation of Portuguese Canadian Business and Professionals Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business & Professionals and member of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Toronto (EUCOCIT). He was also an ambassador for the Credit Valley Hospital Foundation and an honorary chair of the Rainbow Ball Foundation. In 2003, Sousa received a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his service to the community. In 2009, he was inducted as a Commander (Comendador) to the
Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...
, and in 2012 he received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2015, Sousa was also ranked as nobleman to the Confraria Port Wines. He lives in Clarkson with his wife Zenaida and their three children.


Early involvement in politics

Sousa served as one of 29 co-chairs for John Tory's campaign for mayor of Toronto in the 2003 election, being part of the leadership of the group "Grits for Tory". Toronto municipal elections are officially non-partisan, however, Tory was a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. Sousa ran against sitting Mississauga South member of Parliament (MP) Paul Szabo for the federal Liberal nomination in 2004, but was defeated in a tightly fought but amicable campaign. This would mark the start of a long-running rivalry between Sousa and Szabo for influence in that riding. In 2014 Sousa backed Sven Spengemann for the federal Liberal nomination against Szabo's preferred candidate, Julie Desjardins with Spengemann winning by only 19 votes as Szabo and Desjardins felt that the nomination was stolen. In the 2018 provincial election, Szabo backed PC party candidate Rudy Cuzzetto. Sousa ran for the federal Liberal nomination in Mississauga—Erindale in 2006 but was defeated as well.


Provincial politics


Entering provincial politics

Sousa won the riding of Mississauga South in the 2007 provincial election, defeating incumbent Tim Peterson. Formerly a Liberal, Peterson had
crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...
in March 2007 to join the
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC; ), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party, or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada. During its uninterr ...
(PC Party). Analysts had expected the vote to be extremely close, but Sousa ultimately won the riding with 46.8 per cent of the popular vote, a margin of just over 5,000 votes more than Peterson. He was re-elected in
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
and
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
. He was appointed as a parliamentary assistant to three different ministries before Dalton McGuinty promoted him to cabinet in 2010 as Minister of Labour. In October 2011, he was moved to the position of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He was also made minister responsible for the PanAm/ParapanAm Games. In 2008, Sousa introduced a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
to track and report industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) waste. He also introduced a private member's resolution to improve financial literacy education amongst youth. He also facilitated passage of the Payday Loans Act to protect Ontario consumers against predatory lending. In 2011, he introduced and passed Bill 160 – the Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act to create a Chief Prevention Officer and a new prevention council within Ontario's Ministry of Labour. He also introduced and received unanimous support for Bill 181, the Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act (2011), addressing protection for Ontario firefighters and duty of fair representation. In November 2012, he resigned from his cabinet positions in order to contest the 2013 Liberal leadership convention to choose McGuinty's successor. Sousa came in fifth place with 9.8% of the vote on the second ballot after which he withdrew to endorse
Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), member of provinci ...
who went on to win the leadership of the party and the title of Premier of Ontario. In February 2013, when Wynne officially took over as Premier, she named Sousa as her Minister of Finance. In May 2013, Sousa also assumed the role of Management Board Chair when Harinder Takhar suffered a minor heart attack. Sousa was defeated in the 2018 provincial election in the renamed riding of Mississauga—Lakeshore by businessman Rudy Cuzzetto. Following his defeat, he considered running in the 2018 election for Peel Region chair, though he ultimately sat the race out in order to avoid splitting the vote with Bob Delaney, the former Liberal MPP for Mississauga—Streetsville. Following Wynne's 2018 resignation, Sousa was seen as a possible candidate in the subsequent leadership election, though he declined to run.


Minister of Finance

As Minister of Finance, Sousa developed five deficit budgets and one balanced budget, including: A Prosperous & Fair Ontario (2013); Building Opportunity, Securing Our Future (2014); Building Ontario Up (2015); Jobs for Today and Tomorrow (2016); A Stronger, Healthier Ontario (2017); 2018 Ontario Budget: A Plan for Care and Opportunity; and corresponding Fall Economic Statements. In 2014 and in 2017, Sousa also tabled a Long Term Report on the Ontario Economy. He led Ontario's biggest shakeup to beverage alcohol retailing since Prohibition ended in 1927 by introducing beer and cider to grocery stores, and later wine. Sousa spearheaded Ontario's leadership on increasing personal contributions and benefits to the Canadian Pension Plan, which ultimately led to a national agreement in principle to enhance the Canada Pension Plan. The Government of Ontario previously intended on introducing a provincial pension plan if the CPP was not expanded. He has also led the establishment of the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulator. Under Sousa's mandate, the Trillium Trust was put in place to support the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario's history: $160 billion over 12 years, supporting 110,000 jobs across the province every year. In February 2016, Sousa claimed the government intends to balance the $137 billion budget in 2017–2018 following nine consecutive deficits for the province. Most recently, the 2016 Budget announced an improved deficit target of 4.3 billion in 2016–2017, a return to balance in 2017–2018 and continued balance in 2018–2019. Since Sousa became Finance Minister in 2013 the provincial net debt has risen from $252.1 billion to $305.2 billion. In November 2016, Sousa released the 2017 Fall Economic Statement, which continued to project a balanced budget in 2017–2018, and projects a balance in 2018–2019 and 2019–2020. The statement also marked the eighth consecutive year that the government had beaten its deficit targets. The statement also announced a list of new initiatives, including the launch of previously announced initiatives like OHIP+, increased minimum wage, and supports for seniors. The statement announced new small business tax cuts, as well as cost-lowering initiatives and supports for business who hire young people. In June 2016, Sousa, through negotiations with the federal Ministry of Finance and other provinces, signed a deal to replace the planned ORPP with an enhanced CPP, The Ontario government, along with other provinces, had been pushing for an enhanced CPP since 2013, quoting studies showing that middle-class Canadians were not saving enough for retirement. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not want to discuss the idea. That lack of co-operation from Ottawa prompted Wynne to promise the ORPP, but she emphasized Ontario would abandon that plan if a deal to enhance the CPP could be reached. In November 2016, Sousa announced plans to create a new regulator in the province to consolidate and strengthen oversight of credit unions, mortgage brokers, provincial pension plans and provincially registered insurers. The creation of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) was a key recommendation of an expert panel on financial regulation convened by the Ontario government. In April 2017, Sousa released the 2017 Ontario Budget. As his government promised when elected in 2014, the budget was the Ontario's first balanced budget since the 2008 global recession. The budget announced new government initiatives like free prescription medications for everyone 24 and under (dubbed OHIP+), free tuition for 210,000+ post-secondary students, a 25% cut to energy bills via the Fair Hydro Plan, housing affordability measures through the Fair Housing Plan, the Ontario Seniors' Public Transit Tax Credit, and increased investment for healthcare and education. Included in the budget, but announced previously, were initiatives like a plan to study basic income with pilot projects in 3 cities, and a pledge to open 100,000 new child-care spaces with a quarter of those spots set to open in 2017. On March 28, 2018, Sousa released the 2018 Ontario Budget: A Plan for Care and Opportunity. In the document, the Minister announced a new drug and dental coverage for Ontarians without employer health plans, free preschool child care for children aged two-and-a-half until junior kindergarten, billions in both hospital capital funding, and hundreds of millions in operational funding. Also included in the 2018 budget was new mental health funding, new home-care funding for seniors, and new funding for developmentally disabled adults, among other initiatives. As Minister of Finance, Sousa had following agencies under his direction: Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario, Financial Services Commission of Ontario, Financial Services Tribunal, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation, Ontario Financing Authority, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and the Ontario Securities Commission.


Federal politics

On November 5, 2022, it was announced that Sousa would run as the federal Liberal candidate in the Mississauga—Lakeshore
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
scheduled for December 12, 2022. The riding had been vacated earlier in the year following the resignation of Liberal MP Sven Spengemann in order to accept a position with the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Sousa comfortably won the election, defeating Conservative candidate Ron Chhinzer.


Electoral record


Federal elections


Provincial elections


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Charles 1958 births Canadian people of Portuguese descent Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Politicians from Mississauga Politicians from Toronto University of Western Ontario alumni Wilfrid Laurier University alumni Ministers of finance of Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario