John Nunziata

John Nunziata (born January 4, 1955) is a Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2000, initially as a Liberal and later as an independent member.

Nunziata was born in Revelstoke, British Columbia, and was educated at York University and Osgoode Hall Law School. He worked as a lawyer before entering public life.

The early years

Nunziata started his career as a supporter of the New Democratic Party on a suburban Toronto city council, but left the party in 1982 after losing its nomination for a provincial by-election in York South. He lost the nomination to Bob Rae, who had been chosen as leader of the Ontario NDP a few months earlier and needed a seat in the legislature. Nunziata argued that, as a resident of the area, the nomination should have been his. He won the nomination to represent the Ontario Liberal Party in the by-election, but lost to Rae a second time when the votes were counted.

Nunziata joined the Liberal Party of Canada and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1984 general election despite a national Progressive Conservative landslide. Nunziata thrived as a member of the opposition Rat Pack, a group of Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) including Don Boudria, Brian Tobin, and Sheila Copps, who made it their business to bring misery to the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Nunziata's ideological position in the Liberal Party was not clearly defined at this stage. He was opposed to abortion, but his views on other issues were not always socially conservative. During the national debate on capital punishment 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.

Federal Liberal leadership bid

When John Turner resigned as Liberal leader, Nunziata ran to succeed him in the 1990 Liberal leadership convention. He was unable to develop a strong support base, and placed last in a field of five candidates. Nunziata alleged that Liberals for Life, an anti-abortion group working within the Liberal Party, had offered to support his candidacy in exchange for money. (A pro-life group in the Liberal Party did endorse the candidacy of Tom Wappel.)

Marginalization in the Liberal Party

In the buildup to the 1993 federal election, Nunziata criticized Liberal leader Jean Chrétien for appointing Art Eggleton over a local candidate in York Centre. He was forced to apologize his comments, and was excluded from cabinet when the Liberals won a majority government in the election. He was the only member of the "Rat Pack" who was never included in cabinet.

Nunziata became increasingly outspoken in both his socially-conservative views and his criticisms of the Liberal government. On April 21, 1996, he was expelled from the Liberal caucus after he voted against the government's budget in protest over the government breaking a promise to rescind the Goods and Services Tax.

Nunziata as an independent

Despite the difficulties of winning a seat as an independent, Nunziata ran and won re-election in the 1997 general election without the support of any party. 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. Nunziata's campaign signs in this election featured the same shade of red as that used by the Liberal Party, and many voters likely considered him an independent Liberal.

Shift to the right

After the 1997 election, Nunziata's policy views shifted dramatically to the right on a number of subjects. He reversed his previous opposition to capital punishment, campaigned for Progressive Conservative candidate Annamarie Castrilli in the 1999 provincial election and drew closer to the right-wing Canadian Alliance party on a variety of issues. There were suggestions throughout 2000 that he might join the Canadian Alliance, but this did not happen.[1]

Nunziata was also suspected of planning a challenge to Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman in the 2000 municipal election, but Nunziata nixed the rumours when it was found that he could not hold onto his seat in Parliament while campaining for Mayor.

Seen as being too conservative for Toronto, he was defeated in the 2000 election by Liberal candidate Alan Tonks.

Toronto mayoralty race

Nunziata ran to be Mayor of Toronto in the Toronto's 2003 municipal election as a right wing "law and order" candidate. He pledged support for the police, and to sweep the homeless off the streets. Late in the campaign, he claimed that the campaign of rival candidate John Tory had offered him $150,000 and the Deputy Mayor's position if he were to drop out of the race. Nunziata refused to release specifics, however, and a police investigation found no wrongdoing. Nunziata was accused of at best smearing his opponent with unsubstantiated claim, and at worst mischief. He received only 5% of the vote.

Attempt to re-enter federal politics

Nunziata tried to re-enter federal politics by running for the Conservative Party of Canada in York South—Weston, but failed to secure that party's nomination for the 2004 election.

Family

Nunziata's sister, Frances Nunziata, was the last mayor of the city of York, Ontario before it was merged into the megacity of Toronto, and is now a Toronto city councillor.