Charles Sousa

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The Honourable
Charles Sousa
MPP
175px
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Mississauga South
Assumed office
October 10, 2007
Preceded by Tim Peterson
Personal details
Born (1958-09-27) September 27, 1958 (age 66)
Toronto, Ontario
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Zenaida Sousa
Children 3
Residence Clarkson, Mississauga, Ontario
Alma mater Wilfrid Laurier University (B.B.A.)
The University of Western Ontario (M.B.A.)
Occupation Businessperson

Charles Sousa (born September 27, 1958) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in 2007. He represents the riding of Mississauga South. He has served in Cabinet in the governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

Background

Sousa grew up in Mississauga. He graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1982 with a degree in Business Administration. In 1991, he completed a fellowship at the Institute of Canadian Bankers. He then earned an Executive MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in 1994. He worked at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Financial Group for more than 20 years achieving the roles of Director of Business Development and Senior Manager of Marketing. Prior to working with RBC, he owned and operated a factoring company that offered financial services to small businesses.

Sousa has been a member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a director with the United States Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Toronto Board of Trade. In 2003, he was appointed to represent Canada as a director to the International Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business & Professionals and member of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Toronto (EUCOCIT). He was also an ambassador for the Credit Valley Hospital Foundation and an honorary chair of the Rainbow Ball Foundation.

In 2003, Sousa received a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his service to the community. In 2009, he was inducted as a Commander (Comendador) to the Order of Merit (Portugal), and in 2012 he received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. He lives in Clarkson with his wife Zenaida and their three children.

Politics

Sousa ran against sitting Mississauga South MP Paul Szabo for the federal Liberal nomination in 2004, but was defeated in a tightly fought but amicable campaign.[1] He ran for the federal Liberal nomination in Mississauga—Erindale in 2006 but was defeated as well.[2] He served as one of 29 co-chairs for future PC leader John Tory's campaign for mayor of Toronto in the 2003 election, being part of the leadership of the group "Grits for Tory."[3]

Sousa won the riding in the 2007 provincial election, defeating incumbent Tim Peterson. Formerly a Liberal, Peterson had crossed the floor in March 2007 to join the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party). Analysts had expected the vote to be extremely close, but Sousa ultimately won the riding with 46.8 per cent of the popular vote, a margin of just over 5,000 votes more than Peterson.[4] He was re-elected in 2011 and 2014.[5][6]

He was appointed as a Parliamentary assistant to three different ministries before Dalton McGuinty promoted him to cabinet in 2010 as Minister of Labour.[7] In October 2011, he was moved to the position of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.[8] He was also made minister responsible for the Pan/Parapan American Games.[9]

In 2008, Sousa introduced a private member's bill to track and report industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) waste.[10] He also introduced a private member's resolution to improve Financial literacy education amongst youth.[11] He also facilitated passage of the Payday Loans Act to protect Ontario consumers against predatory lending.[12]

In 2011, he introduced and passed Bill 160 – the Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act to create a Chief Prevention Officer and a new prevention council within Ontario's Ministry of Labour.[13] He also introduced and received unanimous support for Bill 181, the Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act (2011), addressing protection for Ontario firefighters and duty of fair representation.[14]

In November 2012, he resigned from his cabinet positions in order to contest the 2013 Liberal leadership convention to choose McGuinty's successor.[15] Sousa came in fifth place with 9.8% of the vote on the second ballot after which he withdrew to endorse Kathleen Wynne who went on to win the leadership of the party and the title of Premier of Ontario.[16]

In February 2013, when Wynne officially took over as Premier, she named Sousa as her Minister of Finance.[17] In May 2013, Sousa also assumed the role of Management Board Chair when Harinder Takhar suffered a minor heart attack.[18]

Cabinet positions

Provincial Government of Kathleen Wynne
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor Office Successor
Harinder Takhar Management Board Chair
2013–2014		 Deb Matthews
Dwight Duncan Minister of Finance
2013–present		 Incumbent
Provincial Government of Dalton McGuinty
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor Office Successor
Eric Hoskins Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
2011–2012
Also Responsible for the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games		 Michael Chan
Peter Fonseca Minister of Labour
2010–2011		 Linda Jeffrey

Electoral record

Ontario general election, 2011
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Sousa 20,375 50.7% +3.9%
Progressive Conservative Geoff Janoscik 14,499 36.1% +1.7%
New Democratic Anju Sikka 4,044 10.1% +1%
Green Cory Mogk 860 2.1% -6.7%
Ontario general election, 2007
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Charles Sousa 19,195 46.8% +3.0%
Progressive Conservative Tim Peterson 14,114 34.4% -8.8%
New Democratic Ken Cole 3,745 9.1% -0.7%
Green David Johnston 3,627 8.8% +6.4%
Family Coalition Samantha Toteda 345 0.8% -0.6%

References

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External links


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