Domagoj Ivan "John" Šola (born April 15, 1944) is a former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

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 Ca ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1987 to 1995. Originally 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 ...

, he was forced to leave his party over controversy arising from his comments about

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

Background

Sola has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

. In 1976-1977, he was the president of the Toronto Metro-Croatia soccer club.

Politics

Sola was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent

Bud Gregory Milton Edward Charles "Bud" Gregory (March 9, 1926 – June 17, 2016) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He served as a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the riding of Mississauga East fro ...

by almost 6,000 votes. The Liberal Party won a landslide

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

under the leadership of

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. Backgro ...

, and Sola 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 Peterson government for the next three years. The Liberals were defeated by the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

in the 1990 provincial election, although Sola retained his seat by more than 3,000 votes against an NDP challenger. In opposition, he was appointed as the Liberal critic for the Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet. Sola's political career ran into controversy in December 1991, shortly after the beginning of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

civil wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He gave an interview with the television program '' the fifth estate'' about tensions between Canada's Serbian and Croatian communities. In the course of the interview, Sola said "I don't think I'd be able to live next door to a Serb". In 1992, Sola was a supporter of

Steve Mahoney Steven W. Mahoney, (born July 18, 1947) is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995, and a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004. In the latter capacity, he served as ...

during the leadership convention of 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 (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

. After Mahoney was eliminated, Sola placed his support behind

Lyn McLeod Lyn McLeod (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 2003. McLeod was a cabinet minister in the Liberal government of David Peterson from 1987 to 1990, and served as leader ...

, the eventual winner. Controversy followed Sola in 1993 when he was taped giving an address to students at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. In his address he criticized Serbian-Canadians for not speaking out against atrocities being committed against Croats and Muslims during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, essentially declaring that by their silence they supported ethnic cleansing. Though Sola issued an apology in the Ontario Legislature, McLeod expelled Sola from the Ontario Liberal Party caucus on April 28, 1993. Sola played only a minor role in the assembly after his expulsion from the Liberal Party, and did not seek re-election in 1995. After his defeat, Sola left provincial politics and was appointed Consul General of the

Republic of Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. His surname has also been referred to as Sladojević-Šola.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sola, John 1944 births Living people Yugoslav emigrants to Canada Laurentian University alumni Ontario Liberal Party MPPs