Gino Matrundola (born July 21, 1940) is a former politician in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. He was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1990. He represented the riding of Willowdale.

Background

Matrundola was born in Cassino, Italy and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, after a brief stay in Scotland. He was educated at the Italian Polytechnical School in Rome, Italy, and

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

in Toronto. He was licensed as a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent in North York,

in 1964, and eventually founded his own realty company. He became an active member of both the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser since August 2022. The party espouses the principles of li ...

and the Liberal Party of Canada.

Politics

Matrundola won the Ontario Liberal Party nomination in the riding of Armourdale for the 1985 Ontario election, but lost the election to Progressive Conservative incumbent

Bruce McCaffrey Bruce Robert McCaffrey (September 23, 1938 – August 9, 2002) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1987 as a Progressive Conservative, and was a cabinet minister in the governme ...

by 212 votes. The election resulted in

David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Backgr ...

's Liberals forming a minority government. When the province returned to the polls in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, the Liberals won a majority government. Matrundola was elected in the newly created riding of Willowdale, which incorporated much of Armourdale, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate

Charles Harnick Charles Alan Harnick, (born October 14, 1950) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1999, and served as a senior cabinet minister in the gover ...

. Matrundola served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of the

government. He was appointed Deputy Government Whip in 1989. Peterson called an early election in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

which resulted in the Liberals being upset by the New Democratic Party. In Willowdale, Matrundola lost to Harnick by 834 votes, marking one of the few gains by

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

's Tories in this election. Matrundola attempted a political comeback but was defeated for the provincial Liberal nomination for the 1995 provincial election by Les Scheininger.

Later life

Matrundola returned to running his real estate firm full-time and remains an active Liberal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matrundola, Gino 1940 births Living people Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian real estate agents People from Cassino People from North York Politicians from Toronto Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Italian emigrants to Canada