Peter Li Preti (born 1951 or 1952) was a

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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, Canada, who represented one of the two

York West York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

wards from 1985 to 2006.

Background

Li Preti received a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Toronto and went on to complete a Masters of Education in School Psychology and Clinical Counselling. He later achieved a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, and he practised as a psychometrist. Li Preti is founder and president of the Family and Individual Psychoneurological Assessment Centre.

North York city councillor

Li Preti was appointed to fill a vacancy on

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

City Council in 1985 when former alderman

Claudio Polsinelli Claudio Polsinelli (born November 13, 1952) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1985 to 1990. Background Polsinelli was educated at the University of Toronto, Osgoode Hal ...

ran for a seat in the provincial legislature. Representing the troubled

Jane and Finch Jane and Finch is a neighbourhood located in the northwest end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the district of North York. Centred at the intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue West, the area is roughly bounded by Highway 400 to the west, ...

, he campaigned for development in the area, including extending the Spadina subway. He also argued that the media was biased against the region, and attempted to set up a fund that would sue for libel any media outlet that spoke negatively of the area.

Federal politics

Prior to the 1993 federal election, Li Preti had sought the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

nomination in the

York Centre York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss Fos or FOSS may refer to: Companies *Foss A/S, a Danish analytical instrument company * Foss Brewery, a former brewery in Oslo, Norway *Foss ...

riding. However, Liberal leader

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

directly appointed

Art Eggleton Arthur C. Eggleton (born September 29, 1943) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 59th and longest-serving mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991. He was elected to Parliament in 1993, running as a Liberal in York Centre and served as ...

to run in the seat. Besides Li Preti and his supporters, the appointment was criticized by several high profile Toronto Liberals including

Joe Volpe Giuseppe "Joe" Volpe (born September 21, 1947) is a Canadian politician. He represented the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until 2011, when he lost his seat t ...

Dennis Mills Dennis Joseph Mills (born July 19, 1946) is a Canadian businessman and former politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Toronto—Danforth in the east-end of downtown Toronto. From February 2012 until November 2016, Mi ...

, and

John Nunziata John Nunziata ( , ; born January 4, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. He first served as an Alderman in the Borough of York from 1978 to 1982. He served three terms as a Liberal MP in the House of Commons of Canada from York South ...

. Allegations of racism against

Italian-Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

s were also levelled. After battling Chrétien in the media and in the courts, Li Preti eventually chose to run as an independent, branding himself an "independent Liberal" using the Liberal colour red, and promising voters he would ask to join the Liberal caucus in

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

if elected. Li Preti came under some criticism for potentially misleading some voters as to his affiliation with the party. Unlike the

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...

Eggleton, he took an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

position. He emphasized his support for industrial development in many of the CFB Downsview lands in the riding that were being decommissioned. Li Preti came in a distant second polling 3,918 votes to Eggleton's 27, 150.

Toronto city councillor

In 1997 when North York was merged with Toronto and the other parts of Metro to form the new "megacity", he was elected to the new

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

in the 1997 He was also elected in

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and 2003 elections. In the 2006 municipal election he sought re-election against former North York colleague

Anthony Perruzza Anthony Perruzza ( , ; born 1959 or 1960) is a Canadian politician who has served on Toronto City Council since 2006. He currently represents Ward 7 Humber River—Black Creek. Perruzza was a North York councillor from 1988 to 1990, and served in ...

. Several incidents occurred during advanced polling on the weekend of November 4–5, 2006, leading to Li Preti and Perruzza accusing each other of dirty campaigning and the breaking of numerous

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s. Perruzza beat him by 579 votes. The contest was repeated in the 2010 municipal election with Peruzza prevailing by 352 votes. Following his loss, Li Preti was found to have cheated in his 2010 election campaign
A forensic audit ordered by the City of Toronto’s Compliance Audit Committee determined that Li Preti had, contrary to Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act, accepted 46 corporate contributions and overspent his campaign spending limit by $3,065 or 13%

Election results

Unofficial results as of October 26, 2010 03:55 am , - , align="left" ,

, align="right" , 4,738 , align="right" , 45.70 , - , align="left" , (x)Peter Li Preti , align="right" , 4,159 , align="right" , 40.11 , - , align="left" , Hau Dang Tan , align="right" , 734 , align="right" , 7.08 , - , align="left" , Garry Green , align="right" , 371 , align="right" , 3.58 , - , align="left" , Ramnarine Tiwari , align="right" , 193 , align="right" , 1.86 , - , align="left" , Abdulhaq Omar , align="right" , 173 , align="right" , 1.67 , - bgcolor="#EEEEEE" ! align="left" , Total valid votes ! align="right" , 10,368 ! align="right" , 100.00

References

External links

Former City Councillor Peter Li Preti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li Preti, Peter Canadian people of Italian descent Independent candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election Toronto city councillors Living people 1950s births