Maurizio Bevilacqua

Hon. Maurizio Bevilacqua
File:Mauriziobevilacqua.jpg
Member of Parliament for Vaughan
Incumbent
Assumed office 1988 election
Preceded by	Tony Roman
Personal details
Born	June 1, 1960 Sulmona, Italy
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Elena Bevilacqua
Residence	Gloucester
Profession	Consultant

Maurizio Bevilacqua, PC , MP , BA (born June 1, 1960 in Sulmona, Italy) is a Canadian politician. He was one of eleven candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada but dropped out of the race on August 14, 2006. He has been described in the media as a "right-of-centre, business friendly Liberal".^[1]

Bevilacqua is a Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represents the district of Vaughan in Toronto and has also represented York North (1988-1997) and Vaughan—King—Aurora (1997-2004). He is a former secretary of state (Science, Research and Development) and (International Financial Institutions). He is also a former parliamentary secretary to the minister of Labour (Human Resources Development) and to the Minister of Employment and Immigration (Human Resources Development). He is formerly a consultant.

He first got involved in party politics by working as a staffer for Sergio Marchi,^[2] and would later participate in student politics at York University.

Initially elected in the 1988 election, he defeated the Progressive Conservative candidate by only 77 votes. The results in the riding were disputed and were declared void and invalid by the courts, which resulted in by-election.^[3]

Bevilacqua surprised many when he defeated parachute candidate Maria Minna for the Liberal nomination in the 1990 by-election of York North. He won the by-election by over 7,000 votes, despite a strong effort by the New Democratic Party (NDP).

He was the longtime chair of the Commons finance committee. While a fiscal conservative, Bevilacqua has supported same-sex marriage. ^[4].

Bevilacqua was the first Liberal to declare his support for Paul Martin's failed 1990 bid for the leadership of the party.

On April 19 2006, he declared his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party, joining Martha Hall Findlay, Michael Ignatieff, and Stéphane Dion as official entrants into the leadership race. His supporters included Members of Parliament Gerry Byrne and Roy Cullen, former Cabinet minister Roy MacLaren and former party pollster Michael Marzolini. He also attracted the support of former Chrétien organizers Tennio Evangelista, Jeff Angel and Jeff Smith. ^[5] His campaign for the Liberal Party leadership was not successful and he dropped out of the race on August 14, 2006 to support fellow Liberal Party leadership candidate Bob Rae.^[6]{{ref|yorkregion20060814}).

Bevilacque has close ties to some municipal politicians from the City of Vaughan. He endorsed Vaughan, Ontario Mayor Michael Di Biase in his unsuccessful bid for re-election in the Vaughan municipal election, 2006. [7]

As a youth, he attended Emery Collegiate and received a Bachelor of Arts from York University. He and his wife Elena have two children, Jean-Paul and Victoria.

Bevilacqua holds the record for the largest personal margin of victory in a Canadian federal election, winning his seat by 51,088 votes in 1993.

References

1. ^ 'The losers: Martin's earliest backer kept out', Globe and Mail, December 12, 2003
2. ^ 'Bevilacqua expected to join Liberal race', Toronto Star, April 18, 2006
3. ^ Bevilacqua considers leadership bid
4. ^ History of Federal Ridings since 1867
5. ^ 'Bevilacqua pulls out of Liberal leadership race', CBC, August 14, 2006
6. ^ 'Bevilacqua shelves leadership bid', York Region Newspaper Group, August 14, 2006

External links

• Official site
• How'd They Vote?: Maurizio Bevilacqua's voting history and quotes

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