Peter Fonseca

Peter Fonseca
MPP for Mississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East (2003-2007)
In office October 23, 2003 – March 26, 2011
Preceded by	Carl De Faria
Succeeded by	Dipika Damerla
Minister of Labour
In office September 18, 2008 – December 16, 2010
Preceded by	Brad Duguid
Succeeded by	Charles Sousa
Minister of Tourism and Recreation
In office October 30, 2007 – September 18, 2008
Preceded by	Jim Bradley
Succeeded by	Monique Smith
Personal details
Born	October 5, 1966 (1966-10-05) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Christine Fonseca
Residence	Mississauga, Ontario
Occupation	athlete, management consultant

Peter Fonseca (born October 5, 1966) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville for the Ontario Liberal Party from 2003-2011.

Background

Fonseca was raised in Toronto, and attended the University of Oregon on an athletic scholarship. He also has a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Windsor. He represented Canada at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia as a marathon runner. He was the top finisher for the Canadians, placing 21st overall in a 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) race with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 28 seconds. He also placed second in the 1994 Toronto Marathon and the 1994 Houston Marathon, and third in the 1992 New York Marathon and the 1990 Los Angeles Marathon. He is a recipient of the Fred Bagley Memorial Trophy, given to long distance runners in Canada.

Fonseca was later a senior performance management consultant for the Coach Corporation, and has run a successful importing and distributing company in Portugal. He has also done fundraising work for the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Politics

Fonseca was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 2003, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Carl DeFaria by about 3000 votes in Mississauga East. On October 23, 2003, he was named parliamentary assistant to George Smitherman, the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. In July 2005, he became the parliamentary assistant to Jim Watson, the Minister of Health Promotion.

In October 2007, Fonseca was named to cabinet as Minister of Tourism and Recreation.

In a cabinet shuffle on September 18, 2008, Fonseca was appointed as the province's Minister of Labour.

His wife, Christine Fonseca, was elected to Mississauga City Council in the 2010 municipal elections.

On December 16, 2010, Fonseca resigned from cabinet to run for the federal Liberals in the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville. He was narrowly defeated by Conservative candidate Wladyslaw Lizon in the 2011 federal election.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp	Expenditures
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	18,782	39.9%	+7.4%	–
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	18,121	38.4%	-12%	–
	New Democratic	Waseem Ahmed	8,938	19.0%	+7.4%	–
	Green	Jaymini Bhikha	1,051	2.2%	-3.0%	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Pierre Chénier	238	0.5%	-0.2%	–
Total valid votes			47,130	100%

Ontario general election, 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	22,207	59.0%	N/A
	Progressive Conservative	Zoran Churchin	8,687	23.1%	N/A
	New Democrat	Satish Balasunderam	3,184	8.5%	N/A
	Green	Carla Cassanova	2,355	6.3%	N/A
	Family Coalition	Al Zawadzki	979	2.6%	N/A
	Freedom	Ryan Jamieson	243	0.7%	N/A

Ontario general election, 2003
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	16,686	48.68	+9.69
	Progressive Conservative	Carl DeFaria	13,832	40.35	-11.23
	New Democrat	Michael Hancock	2,479	7.23	-0.01
	Green	Donald Barber	666	1.94
	Family Coalition	Gary Nail	358	1.04
	Independent	Pierre Chénier	256	0.75

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History