Peter Fonseca

Peter Fonseca MP
Member of Parliament for Mississauga East—Cooksville
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Wladyslaw Lizon
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Mississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East (2003-2007)
In office October 2, 2003 – March 26, 2011
Preceded by	Carl DeFaria
Succeeded by	Dipika Damerla
Personal details
Born	(1966-10-05) October 5, 1966 (age 54) Lisbon, Portugal
Political party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Ontario Liberal
Spouse(s)	Christine Fonseca ​ (m. 2003)​
Residence	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)

Peter Fonseca MP (born October 5, 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.

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.

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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] In a cabinet shuffle on September 18, 2008, Fonseca was appointed as the province's Minister of Labour.^[9]

Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Jim Bradley	Minister of Tourism and Recreation 2008–2010	Monique Smith
Brad Duguid	Minister of Labour 2007–2008	Charles Sousa

Federal[]

On December 16, 2010, Fonseca resigned from the Ontario cabinet to run for the federal Liberals in the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville.^[10] He was defeated by Conservative candidate Wladyslaw Lizon in the 2011 federal election by 676 votes.^[11][12]

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.^[13]

Electoral record[]

Federal[]

hide v 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[14][15]

hide v t 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
show Source(s) "Mississaugs East--Cooksville". Election Results. Elections Canada. Retrieved 22 October 2015. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

hide v t 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
show Source(s) Elections Canada (2011). "Official Voting Results: Forty-first General Election". Retrieved 28 September 2015.

Provincial[]

hide v t 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
show Source(s) Elections Ontario (2007). "General Election Poll by Poll Results, 048 Mississauga East—Cooksville" (PDF). Retrieved 24 August 2015.
	Liberal pickup new district.

hide v t 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
show Source(s) Elections Ontario (2003). "General Election of October 2, 2003 Poll By Poll Results 47 Mississauga East". Retrieved 24 August 2015.

References[]

External links[]

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