John Nunziata
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John Nunziata ( , ; born January 4, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. He first served as an Alderman in the Borough of York from 1978 to 1982. He served three terms as a Liberal MP in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...
from York South-Weston and in 1997 was elected as an Independent MP. As of March, 2013, he was a partner in the lobbying firm The Parliamentary Group.


Background

Nunziata was born on January 4, 1955, in Revelstoke, British Columbia. He is the fifth of seven children of Italian immigrant parents. In April 1963, his family moved from British Columbia to
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario where he attended grade school at Regal Road Public School and Rockcliffe Senior Public School. He attended high school at Runnymede Collegiate Institute in Toronto where he was elected President of the Student Council in 1973. He was awarded the W.E.H Cross Trophy for his leadership while at Runnymede. In 2002, he was inducted into the Runnymede Collegiate Hall of Fame. Nunziata graduated from
York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
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in 1977 and went on to earn his Bachelor of Laws degree from
Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...
in 1980. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1982. Upon graduation, he established the law firm of Nunziata, Anand & Levy. Nunziata's sister, Frances Nunziata, was the last mayor of the city of York, Ontario before it was merged into the "
megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as urban a ...
" of Toronto, and is now a Toronto city councillor for Ward 11 York South-Weston.


Awards

Nunziata has been the recipient of the Borough of York Civic Merit Award (1974), the George Syme and Harwood Ratepayer's "Citizen of the Year Award" (1980) and the Canada 125 Medal (1992).


Politics


Provincial

He was a member of the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
while in high school from 1969 to 1974. He campaigned as a Liberal for a 1982 provincial
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 ...
in York South, but lost to new NDP leader
Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
.


Federal

Nunziata was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1984 general election as a Liberal despite a national Progressive Conservative landslide. Nunziata thrived as a member of the opposition
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, a group of Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) including
Don Boudria Don Boudria (born August 30, 1949) is a former Canadian politician and current senior associate at Sandstone Group, an Ottawa-based executive advisory firm. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2006 as a member of the Libera ...
, Brian Tobin, and Sheila Copps. Nunziata's ideological position in the Liberal Party was not clearly defined at this stage. He stressed "family values" and was opposed to
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
, but his views on other issues were not always socially conservative. During the national debate on
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
in 1986, he was one of the strongest parliamentary opponents of any restoration of the death penalty. He was re-elected without difficulty in the 1988 election. While in Parliament Nunziata served as Opposition Critic for the Solicitor General from 1984 to 1992. He served as the critic for Employment from January 1992 to November 1992. He was chairman of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group and headed a Caucus Task Force on Pearson International Airport. Nunziata introduced several Private Members Bills including those to repeal the Faint Hope Clause of the ''
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'' of Canada and to modify the '' Young Offenders Act''. When John Turner resigned as Liberal leader, Nunziata ran to succeed him in the 1990 Liberal leadership convention. He placed last in a field of five candidates. In the buildup to the 1993 federal election, Nunziata criticised Liberal leader
Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...
for appointing Art Eggleton over a local candidate in York Centre. On April 21, 1996, Nunziata was expelled from the Liberal
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after he voted against the government's
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in protest over the government breaking a promise to rescind the Goods and Services Tax. Despite the difficulties of winning a seat as an independent, Nunziata ran and won re-election in the 1997 general election. He defeated Toronto councillor Judy Sgro by 4,431 votes to retain his riding, and so became the only independent member elected to the new parliament. In the 2000 election, he was defeated by Liberal Alan Tonks.


Municipal

Nunziata started his political career in 1978 when he was elected an
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
in the former borough of
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
at age 23 and while still attending law school. In 1979, Nunziata was the only alderman to vote against the closing of the Beech Hall Seniors' Apartments. He learned that the residents had not been informed that they were to be evicted, and leaked the story to the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
''. He was responsible for getting the residents to organise and fight for their rights. Eventually, the residents, with the help of the Co-op Housing Foundation of Canada, managed to convert the rental apartments into Toronto's first housing co-op. He ran for
Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...
in the 2003 municipal election, pledging support for the police, and to bring the homeless off the streets and into institutional care facilities. He finished 4th behind winner David Miller with about 5% of the vote. Since 2003, Nunziata has become a partner with the Parliamentary Group and he has responsibility for Queens Park government relations. In 2013, Nunziata was one of several candidates for appointment to Ward 3 to replace Doug Holyday, who resigned to become an MPP. Nunziata lost out to Peter Leon. On September 12, 2014, the last day to register as a candidate, Nunziata registered to run for
Toronto city council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...
in Ward 12 (York-South Weston) against incumbent Frank Di Giorgio, community leader Lekan Olawoye and former city staffer Nick Dominelli in the October 27 municipal election. Nunziata said he wanted to win the ward to help build consensus on council "so we can actually make a difference". However, lost to Di Giorgio by a margin of 238 votes or about 1.44% of the popular vote in the ward.


Electoral record


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunziata, John 1955 births Canadian people of Italian descent Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections Ontario municipal councillors People from Revelstoke, British Columbia Politicians affected by a party expulsion process 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada