Stephen J. "Steve" Peters (born 19 January 1963) 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 Ca ...

, Canada, who served as 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 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 1999 to 2011. He served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 2007 to 2011 and was a

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the government of

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearl ...

Background

Peters was born in St. Thomas, in the southwestern section of

. Both of his parents were the children of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

immigrants. He was educated at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, and 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 years ...

degree in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

in 1985. Peters subsequently worked as an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

at Victoria Hospital in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, and at

Alma College Alma College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Alma, Michigan. It enrolls approximately 1,400 students and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Alma College is affiliat ...

in St. Thomas. He also worked as a stock clerk at an A&P food store in St. Thomas.

Politics

Peters began his political career at the municipal level, being elected to the St. Thomas city council in 1988. He became the city's mayor in 1991, and was the youngest mayor in the country at the time. Peters was re-elected by significant majorities in 1994 and 1997. Peters ran as a candidate 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 ...

in the 1999 provincial election. He defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative (PC) MPP

Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...

in the riding of

Elgin—Middlesex—London Elgin—Middlesex—London is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from Elgin—Norfolk, Lambton—Middlesex, and London—Middlesex r ...

by 1,171 votes. The election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Peters became the opposition critic for Disability issues on 26 June 1999. In September 2000, he was named opposition critic for Agriculture. For the next three years, most of his interventions in the legislature were focused on agricultural and rural issues. Peters was easily re-elected in the 2003 provincial election, receiving over 57% of the vote. Bruce Smith, again running for the Progressive Conservatives, received just over 30%. The election was won by the Liberals and Peters was named Minister of Agriculture and Food on 23 October 2003. In late September 2004, he announced that the provincial government would provide $30 million to farmers affected by the

BSE BSE may refer to: Medicine * Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, a neurodegenerative disease of cattle * Breast self-examination Stock exchanges * Bahrain Stock Exchange, Bahrain * Baku Stock Exchange, Azerbaijan * B ...

crisis, which had prevented Canadian beef from reaching the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

market. He was named as Ontario's

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

following a

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

on 29 June 2005. Though he was re-elected in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of October 2007, he was dropped from cabinet in a post-election cabinet shuffle. On 28 November 2007, he was elected by his fellow members as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the fourth ballot, defeating Michael A. Brown,

Ted Arnott Theodore Calvin Arnott (born April 8, 1963) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on September 6, 1990, representing the Riding of Wellington. He is a member of the Progressive Conservativ ...

David Zimmer David Zimmer (born April 7, 1944) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was the Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Willowdale from 2003 to 2018. He was a member of cabinet in the government of Kathleen Wynne. He ...

and

Lorenzo Berardinetti Lorenzo Berardinetti (born 21 October 1961) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest. Background Bera ...

. On 9 November 2010, Peters announced that he would not be seeking re-election in the

2011 Ontario general election The 2011 Ontario general election was held on October 6, 2011, to elect members of the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The Ontario Liberal Party was elected to a minority government, with the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Pa ...

. In 2013, he supported Gerrard Kennedy in his bid to become leader of the Liberal Party. The leadership race was won by

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

Cabinet positions

After politics

After leaving the legislature, Peters became executive director of the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors. Peters was elected to St. Thomas City Council in 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Steve 1963 births Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Living people Mayors of St. Thomas, Ontario Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians Ontario municipal councillors