Peter Fonseca

Peter Fonseca MP (born 5 October 1966) is a Portuguese-born Canadian politician and former athlete. He is a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville since his election in 2015.

Peter Fonseca MP
Member of Parliament for Mississauga East—Cooksville
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 October 2015
Preceded by	Wladyslaw Lizon
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Mississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East (2003-2007)
In office 2 October 2003 – 26 March 2011
Preceded by	Carl DeFaria
Succeeded by	Dipika Damerla
Personal details
Born	(1966-10-05) 5 October 1966 (age 58) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Ontario Liberal
Spouse	Christine Fonseca ​ (m. 2003)​
Residence(s)	Mississauga, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Oregon, University of Windsor
Occupation	Management consultant
Website	peterfonseca.ca

For other people with a similar name, see Pedro da Fonseca (disambiguation)

Prior to entering federal politics, Fonseca was a provincial Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing Mississauga East (2003-2007) and Mississauga East—Cooksville (2007- 2011). He was a cabinet minister in the government of Dalton McGuinty.

Fonseca was re-elected in his safe Liberal riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville with roughly 53% of the vote in the 2019 federal election and again with 50% of the vote in the 2021 federal election.

In the 44th parliament which was formed after the 2021 federal election (where the governing Liberals were re-elected with an increased minority), Fonseca was selected as the chair of the powerful Finance Committee.

Background

Fonseca was born in Lisbon, Portugal and immigrated to Toronto with his family in 1968. He was raised in Little Portugal. He graduated from St. Michael's College School and attended the University of Oregon, gaining a Bachelor of Arts on an athletic scholarship. He also holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Windsor.^[1] He worked as a senior performance management consultant for the Coach Corporation and has run an importing and distributing company in Portugal.^[2]

He married his wife Christine "Chris" Fonseca in 2003.^[1] Christine was elected to Mississauga City Council as Councillor for Ward 3 in the 2010 Mississauga municipal election^[3] and re-elected in 2014 Mississauga municipal election, 2018 Mississauga municipal election, and 2022 Mississauga municipal election.^[4]

Fonseca holds Dual-citizenship with Portugal.^[5]

Athletic career

He finished 5th in the 10,000 metres at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. He also represented Canada at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia in the Men's Marathon. 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.^[6] He also placed second in the 1994 Toronto Marathon and the 1994 Houston Marathon, and third in the 1992 New York City Marathon and the 1990 Los Angeles Marathon.^[7]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Canada
1994	Houston Marathon	Houston, United States	2nd	Marathon	2:13:53
1994	Toronto Marathon	Toronto, Canada	2nd	Marathon	2:17:16
1994	Commonwealth Games	Victoria, Canada	5th	10,000 m	29:14.85
1995	Houston Marathon	Houston, United States	1st	Marathon	2:11:52
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	21st	Marathon	2:17:28
1997	Toronto Marathon	Toronto, Canada	1st	Marathon	2:28:26

Politics

Provincial

Fonseca was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 2003, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Carl DeFaria by about 3,000 votes in Mississauga East.^[8] On 23 October 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.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2007, Fonseca was named to cabinet as Minister of Tourism and Recreation.^[9] In a cabinet shuffle on 18 September 2008, Fonseca was appointed as the province's Minister of Labour.^[10]

Federal

On 16 December 2010, Fonseca resigned from the Ontario cabinet to run for the federal Liberals in the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville.^[11] He was defeated by Conservative candidate Wladyslaw Lizon in the 2011 federal election by 676 votes.^[12][13]

Fonseca ran for the Liberals again in the 2015 federal election and defeated Lizon by a wide margin as part of the Liberal sweep of Mississauga ridings. Fonseca was re-elected in the 2019 and 2021 elections.^[14]

Fonseca's constituency office was on fire, on 22 February 2022. Peel Regional Police is investigating the matter as arson.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Electoral record

Federal

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	22,806	50.0	-3.1	$48,174.27
	Conservative	Grace Adamu	14,722	32.3	-1.3	$16,774.32
	New Democratic	Tom Takacs	4,678	10.3	+1.5	1,363.00
	People's	Joseph Westover	2,933	6.4	+5.2	$809.98
	Independent	Gord Elliott	329	0.7	N/A	$0.00
	Marxist–Leninist	Dagmar Sullivan	107	0.2	-0.1	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			45,575	99.2	–	$112,477.70
Total rejected ballots			383	0.8
Turnout			45,958	55.6
Eligible voters			82,603
	Liberal hold		Swing		-0.9
Source: Elections Canada[19]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	27,923	53.1	-1.13	$54,292.81
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	17,664	33.6	-1.75	none listed
	New Democratic	Tom Takacs	4,643	8.8	+0.17	none listed
	Green	Maha Rasheed	1,578	3.0	+1.52	$0.00
	People's	Syed Rizvi	637	1.2		$2,799.42
	Marxist–Leninist	Anna Di Carlo	178	0.3	-0.01	$0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit			52,623	100.0
Total rejected ballots			483
Turnout			53,106	62.1
Eligible voters			85,584
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.31
Source: Elections Canada[20][21]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	28,154	54.23	+18.07	$85,296.75
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	18,353	35.35	-8.20	$109,692.04
	New Democratic	Ali Naqvi	4,481	8.63	-9.03	$34,143.24
	Green	Jaymini Bhikha	766	1.48	-0.69	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Tim Sullivan	163	0.31	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			51,917	100.00		$217,661.14
Total rejected ballots			287	0.55
Turnout			52,204	63.87
Eligible voters			81,736
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.13
Source(s) "Mississaugs East--Cooksville". Election Results. Elections Canada. Retrieved 22 October 2015. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	18,796	39.97	+7.42	$90,142
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	18,120	38.53	-11.63	$71,450
	New Democratic	Waseem Ahmed	8,836	18.79	+7.44	$6,591
	Green	Jaymini Bhikha	1,032	2.19	-3.05	$968
	Marxist–Leninist	Pierre Chénier	241	0.51	-0.16
Total valid votes/expense limit			47,025	100.00		$169,151
Total rejected ballots			289	0.61
Turnout			47,314	56.8
Eligible voters			83,018
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.52
Source(s) Elections Canada (2011). "Official Voting Results: Forty-first General Election". Retrieved 28 September 2015.

Provincial

v t e 2007 Ontario general election: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	22,249	58.93
	Progressive Conservative	Zoran Churchin	8,715	23.08
	New Democratic	Satish Balasunderam	3,192	8.46
	Green	Carla Cassanova	2,361	6.25
	Family Coalition	Al Zawadzki	992	2.63
	Freedom	Ryan Jamieson	243	0.64
Total valid votes			37,752	100.0
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			349	0.92
Turnout			38,101	47.47
Eligible voters			80,247
Source(s) Elections Ontario (2007). "General Election Poll by Poll Results, 048 Mississauga East—Cooksville" (PDF). Retrieved 24 August 2015.
	Liberal pickup new district.

v t e 2003 Ontario general election: Mississauga East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	16,686	48.68	+9.69
	Progressive Conservative	Carl DeFaria	13,832	40.35	-11.23
	New Democratic	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
Total valid votes			34,277	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			252	0.73
Turnout			34,529	51.38
Eligible voters			67,198
	Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+10.46
Source(s) Elections Ontario (2003). "General Election of October 2, 2003 Poll By Poll Results 47 Mississauga East". Retrieved 24 August 2015.

References

1. Chin, Joseph (3 October 2003). "Fonseca rolls over incumbent DeFaria". Mississauga News. p. 6.
2. "Healthy City Stewardship Centre: Biographies". City of Mississauga. 21 September 2006.
3. "Fonseca claims Ward 3". Mississauga News. 26 October 2010.
4. Chin, Joseph (27 October 2014). "Ward 3 Councillor Chris Fonseca Mississauga's champion vote-getter". Mississauga News. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
5. Harris, Kathleen (10 December 2017). "As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada's Parliament embraces many in its ranks | CBC News". CBC News. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023.
6. "The Official Report for the Centennial Olympic Games: The Competition Results, Volume III" (PDF). The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. 1997.
7. "Breland floors Honeyghan to retain his WBA crown". The Vancouver Sun. 5 March 1990. p. C3.
8. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 2 October 2003. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
9. Ferguson, Rob; Benzie, Robert (31 October 2007). "Premier goes for new blood; Expanded 28-member cabinet has eight ministers from Toronto, three from 905 area". Toronto Star. p. A13.
10. "The new-look Ontario cabinet". The Hamilton Spectator. 19 September 2008. p. A9.
11. Benzie, Robert; Delacourt, Susan. "Ontario cabinet minister to seek federal seat". Toronto Star.
12. "Riding results from across Canada". Edmonton Journal. 3 May 2011. p. A6. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
13. Campion-Smith, Bruce (14 December 2014). "Immigrant vote key to winning, Liberals say". Toronto Star. p. A8.
14. Diebel, Linda (19 October 2015). "Peter Fonseca wins Mississauga East—Cooksville". Toronto Star. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
15. Rodrigues, Gabby (23 February 2022). "Police say 'suspicious' fire at Liberal MP office in Mississauga appears to be targeted". Global News Toronto. Toronto ON. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
16. "Police believe fire at MP's office in Mississauga, Ont., was targeted". Niagara Falls Review. St. Catharines ON. The Canadian Press. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
17. Herhalt, Chris (23 February 2022). "Fire at Mississauga Liberal MP Peter Fonseca's office deemed suspicious: police". CP24. Toronto ON: BellMedia. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
18. "Assistance Sought in Arson Investigation". Peel Regional Police. Mississauga ON. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
19. "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
20. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
21. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 3 November 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Peter Fonseca – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca
• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history
• Peter Fonseca at ARRS

Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty