Pietro Attilio Calendino is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

provincial and municipal

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

currently serving as a city councillor for

Burnaby City Council The Burnaby City Council is the governing body for the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The council consists of the mayor and eight elected city councillors representing the city as a whole. Municipal elections also select seven school ...

. Calendino was born in

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

but emigrated to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 1959. He received an Honours B.A. and a M.A. (Languages) from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. He received a teaching certificate from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

and has taught in secondary schools in Burnaby and Delta. He helped found the BC Heritage Languages Association. He has served as president of the BC Association of Teachers of Modern Languages, director of the Burnaby Multicultural Society and vice-president of the National Congress of Italian Canadians. Calendino was elected as a Burnaby school trustee in 1987, and re-elected in 1990 and 1993. While on the school board he established language classes in Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Punjabi. He also established a zero tolerance policy towards violence and bullying in schools which was later adopted province-wide. He served as school board chair in 1993 and 1994. In the 1996 B.C. general election he was elected to the Provincial Legislature as a

New Democratic Party of British Columbia The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in British Columbia, political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of ...

candidate in the

Burnaby North Burnaby North is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. History MLAs Election results , - , - , - , NDP , Pietro Calendino , align="right", 5,99 ...

riding. In July 1999, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture. He was best known for establishing funds for the Burnaby School District's Children's Dental Clinic, the Heights Fountain Square project and the Elizabeth Fry Society for women in need. In the 2001 B.C. general election, Calendino ran for re-election in the riding of

but lost to Richard T. Lee, the

BC Liberal BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

candidate. Calendino placed second in a field of four candidate with 5,992 votes (29.45% of total valid votes). In 2002, he was elected to the Burnaby City Council as a member of the Burnaby Citizens' Association. On council he strongly supported the Reduction of Cosmetic Pesticides Policy and opposed Richmond's acquisition of the Olympic Oval and the construction of

Canada Line The Canada Line is a rapid transit line in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that is part of the SkyTrain (Vancouver), SkyTrain system. The line is owned by TransLink (British Columbia), TransLink and InTransitBC and is operated by SN ...

SkyTrain. He also chaired the Simon Fraser Liaison Committee and was involved with the Environment Committee and the Community Policing Committee. In the 2005 B.C. general election Calendino ran as the NDP candidate in the

riding. He narrowly lost to Richard T. Lee, the BC Liberal candidate. Calendino placed second in a field of four candidate with 10,356 votes (45.31%% of total valid votes). Calendino was re-elected to the Burnaby City Council as part of the Burnaby Citizens' Association slate during the 2005 election. He is a director of the GVRD Labour Relations Bureau and a member of the GVRD Parks Committee. He chairs the executive committee of council and the community policing committee. He is also vice chair of the environment committee. He has been subsequently re-elected to City Council in the 2008, 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2022 municipal elections.

Partial electoral results

References

External links

36th Parliament Members
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calendino, Pietro British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs British Columbia school board members Burnaby city councillors Italian emigrants to Canada People from Calabria Living people Simon Fraser University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia