Mario Silva - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mario Silva, is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

politician and a former Canadian Member of Parliament. Silva is a former a Toronto City Council

Toronto City Council

The Toronto City Council is the governing body of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors....

lor (1994–2003) and acting mayor."Acting Mayor" is a non-elected position. For example, the Vancouver City Clerk's office sets out the duties and powers of their Acting Mayor. Other cities will no doubt have somewhat different rules and guidelines. He moved to federal politics, being elected for the Liberal Party of Canada

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

in the 2004 election

Canadian federal election, 2004

The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

in the Toronto riding of Davenport

Davenport (electoral district)

Davenport is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. Its population in 2001 was 111,705.-Geography:...

. He served as the Official Opposition Critic for Foreign Affairs (Americas) after having served as Critic for the Treasury Board and Liberal Critic for Labour Issues. In 2007, the President of the French Republic

President of the French Republic

The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....

bestowed him the title of Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur).

Silva holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, a "Certificat de Langue Francaise" from Paris-Sorbonne University, and a Master's degree in International Human Rights Law from University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

in the United Kingdom. Silva is currently a Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

student in the Faculty of Law at the National University of Ireland

National University of Ireland

The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...

, Galway, and is writing a thesis entitled "Restoration of Failed States: Addressing Competency Gaps." Many constituents criticized Silva for pursuing graduate degrees while being paid to represent them in Parliament.

Local politics

Born in the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, he was first elected to city council in 1994 after defeating veteran councillor Tony O'Donohue

Tony O'Donohue

Anthony "Tony" O'Donohue is a former municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario.-Early life:Born in The Burren, County Clare, Ireland , O'Donohue graduated as a civil engineer from University College, Galway in 1954...

by 15 votes.
Silva received a high grade from the Toronto Environmental Alliance for his support of environmental initiatives, and has strong support from the Labour Movement. Silva is of Portuguese background and is popular in the local Portuguese community.

Federal politics

Silva's move to federal politics was not without controversy, however, as it saw him claim the Liberal nomination in Davenport instead of popular Liberal incumbent Charles Caccia

Charles Caccia

Charles L. Caccia, PC was a Canadian politician.Caccia was a Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the Toronto riding of Davenport between 1968 and 2004.Caccia was born in 1930 in Milan, Italy...

. An ally of new Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

, Silva was seen by the party as a preferable candidate to Caccia, the longest-serving Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP). Caccia had supported Sheila Copps

Sheila Copps

Sheila Maureen Copps, PC is a former Canadian politician who also served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from November 4, 1993 to April 30, 1996 and June 19, 1996 to June 11, 1997....

against Martin in the 2003 Liberal Party leadership election.

Silva signed up enough new members to likely defeat Caccia in a nomination battle; Caccia instead chose not to file to be the party's candidate, and after mulling running in the election against Silva as a Green

Green Party of Canada

The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

candidate or as an Independent, announced his retirement from politics. Despite some ill-will in the riding towards the ousting of Caccia, Silva still won the traditionally Liberal seat by a convincing margin.
As a Member of Parliament Silva served on several committees including the Environment Committee and the Canadian Heritage Committee. In addition he has championed several human rights and environmental issues including being the first MP to back the Canadian Boreal Initiative, and an outspoken critic for the defence of undocumented workers.

Silva chaired the inquiry panel of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism

Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism

Formed in March 2009, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism is a group of Canadian parliamentarians organized for the stated purpose of confronting and combating antisemitism in Canada...

(CPCCA), a multi-partisan group of MPs which has been conducting investigations into antisemitism in Canada. He is vice-chair of the CPCCA's steering committee, which organized an international conference on antisemitism in Ottawa in 2010.

Silva was the first Portuguese-Canadian Member of Parliament and only the second MP of Portuguese descent (the first being John Rodriguez

John Rodriguez

John R. Rodriguez is a Canadian politician. He served as the mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario from 2006 to 2010, and previously represented the electoral district of Nickel Belt in the Canadian House of Commons from 1972 to 1980 and from 1984 to 1993 as a member of the New Democratic...

, a former New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

MP for Nickel Belt

Nickel Belt

Nickel Belt is one of two federal electoral districts serving the Greater City of Sudbury.Nickel Belt has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953.It consists of:...

, who is of Guyanese Portuguese descent).

Shortly after the election, Silva came out

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

as gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

in a Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...

profile.

Silva retained the seat in the 2006 election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

and was the only GTA Liberal MP to increase his voter margin but was defeated in the 2011 election, losing his seat to Andrew Cash

Andrew Cash

Andrew Cash is a Canadian singer-songwriter and a Member of Parliament for the Toronto-area Davenport electoral district. He grew up in Toronto, where he befriended future MP, Charlie Angus, and along with Angus founded the Toronto punk band L'Étranger. In the late 1990s, he also became a...

Federal election results

Source: Elections Canada
Source: Elections Canada

|-

|Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

New Democratic Party

|Gord Perks

Gord Perks

Gord Perks is a Canadian environmentalist, political activist, writer and is the city councillor for the Toronto municipal electoral district of Parkdale—High Park, Ward 14.-Environmentalist:...

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

Green Party of Canada

|Mark O'Brien

Green Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election

The Green Party of Canada ran a full slate of 308 candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. Some of these candidates have separate biography pages; relevant information about other candidates may be found here....

Communist Party of Canada

The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

|Miguel Figueroa

Miguel Figueroa

Miguel Figueroa has been the leader of the Communist Party of Canada since 1992.- Early political career :Figueroa was born in Montreal, and has been a member of the CPC since 1977. He has held many positions within the CPC, including party organizer in Vancouver from 1978 to 1985, and leader of...

Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)

The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...

Liberal Party of Canada

New Democratic Party

Conservative Party of Canada

Green Party of Canada

|Mark O'Brien

Green Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election

The Green Party of Canada ran a full slate of 308 candidates in the 2004 federal election. Some of these candidates have separate biography pages; relevant information about other candidates may be found here....

Marijuana Party of Canada

The Marijuana Party is a Canadian federal political party. Its agenda consists of ending prohibition of cannabis. With the exception of this one issue, the party does not have "official policy" in any other area...

Communist Party of Canada

Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)

The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...

External links

Political office

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