Rosario Marchese (born January 1, 1952) is a former
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
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 ...
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
New Democratic member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2014, representing the downtown
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 anch ...
riding of
Trinity-Spadina and before that the old riding of
Fort York
Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...
.
Background
Born in
San Nicola da Crissa
San Nicola da Crissa is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about east of Vibo Valentia.
San Nicola da Crissa borders the following municipalities ...
,
Calabria, Marchese arrived in Canada with his family in 1961. He received 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 year ...
degree in English, French and Philosophy from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
in 1978, and later received a
Bachelor of Education
A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order fo ...
degree. He taught
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
French in Toronto and
Mississauga.
He is also fluent in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
. As well, he served as Vice-President of the National Congress of Italian Canadians (Toronto),
Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library (TPL) (french: Bibliothèque publique de Toronto) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other pub ...
Board trustee, and Multilingual Literacy Centre Chair.
Political life
In 1980, he ran for school trustee in Ward 4 but finished third behind incumbents Patrick Case and Peter Davis. In 1982 he ran again this time being elected. He ran as a New Democrat aligned trustee.
He served on the Toronto school board from 1982 to 1990. During this period, he was an advocate of lingual and racial rights, worked to establish international language programs, alternative schools and school childcare, and helped to end the practice of streaming students into narrow learning programs.
In 1985 and again in 1988, Marchese voted with other trustees to raise their salaries 35% and 86% respectively. By the end of 1988 salaries had increased from about $18,000 to $44,000. Trustees who supported the increase argued that the salary was too low to attract good candidates. Sheila Cary-Meagher, said, "You have to stop and think... about the people who want to run for the job and who, if we keep it a rich person's ghetto, can't do it," she said. In both years trustees rejected citizen recommendations for lower increases.
Provincial politics
In 1990, Marchese was elected to the Ontario parliament in the
provincial election of 1990, defeating incumbent
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 ...
Bob Wong by about 1500 votes in the riding of
Fort York
Fort York (french: Fort-York) is an early 19th-century military fortification in the Fort York neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used to house members of the British and Canadian militaries, and to defend the entrance of t ...
.
The NDP won a majority government and Marchese was appointed as the
Minister of Culture and Communications on October 1, 1990. One of his first acts as minister was to announce the withdrawal of provincial funds for a proposed opera house in Toronto. Even though the province gave the land to the city for the opera house it was never built. He presided over a significant increase in funding to the
Ontario Arts Council
The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...
and the provincial film industry, but was dropped from cabinet on July 31, 1991. Critics argued that he was dropped from cabinet because he promoted multiculturalism at the expense of some mainstream arts groups.
As a replacement for his cabinet position, Marchese was appointed as
parliamentary assistant
In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...
to Premier
Bob Rae focusing on constitutional affairs. In this position he was a proponent of adding a 'social charter' to the Canadian constitution. This would have promoted equal opportunities, reduce disparities and maintain equalization payments.
In June 1994, he introduced a
private member's bill to give Toronto the ability to regulate after hours clubs. The party decided to take over the bill and expanded it to encompass the entire province. It was passed on November 24, 1994.
Cabinet positions
In opposition
The NDP were defeated in the
1995 election, although Marchese managed to increase his margin of victory against Wong who ran again for the Liberals. In opposition, he managed to distinguish himself as one of the most spirited debaters in the reduced NDP caucus. In the
1999 provincial election he ran in the new riding of
Trinity—Spadina
Trinity—Spadina was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2015.
It generally encompassed the western portion of Downtown Toronto.
Its federal Member of Parliam ...
and easily won.
He was re-elected in 2003, 2007 and 2011. During his tenure in opposition he served as critic for several portfolios and was NDP caucus chair from 2007 to 2014.
In the
2014 provincial election, he was defeated by
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 ...
candidate
Han Dong by 9,175 votes.
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchese, Rosario
1952 births
Living people
People from the Province of Vibo Valentia
Italian emigrants to Canada
Canadian people of Calabrian descent
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian schoolteachers
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs
Politicians from Toronto
University of Toronto alumni