Vincent George Kerrio (February 5, 1924 – October 30, 2009) was a businessperson and

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 ...

in Ontario,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He served in 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 ...

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 ...

from 1975 to 1990, 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

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 ...

. He was the first

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 ...

to serve as a cabinet minister in Ontario.

Background

Kerrio's grandfather, also named Vincent, emigrated from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to Canada at the start of the twentieth century. Kerrio was born in Niagara Falls and educated at Niagara Falls Collegiate Vocational Institute (NFCVI). Kerrio began working in the family business, then Kerrio Welding Works, in the 1930s. The company became Kerrio and Germano Construction and later Kerrio Construction, and the younger Kerrio its president. He was also the president of the Niagara Falls

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

Club. Kerrio and his wife Rose had two sons, Vincent Anthony and Michael. Vincent Anthony succeeded his father in the family business and became a member of

Niagara Falls City Council The Niagara Falls City Council is the governing body of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus eight elected councillors representing the city as a whole. The last election was held in 2022, and the next ...

Politics

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative John Clement by 172 votes in the

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

riding. He was re-elected by greater margins in the elections of

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. The Ontario Liberal Party, which had been out of office since 1943, formed a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

after the 1985 provincial election. Kerrio, easily returned in Niagara Falls, was appointed

Minister of Natural Resources The minister of natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resources portfolio ...

and

Minister of Energy An energy minister is a position in many governments responsible for energy production and regulation, developing governmental energy policy, scientific research, and natural resources conservation. In some countries, environmental responsibilities ...

on June 26, 1985. He was retained in the former portfolio after the 1987 provincial election. In 1988, Kerrio prohibited mineral exploration and mining activities in Ontario provincial parks. He banned large-scale water exports from Ontario in 1989. He also oversaw the reintroduction of the

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

to Ontario. In 1988, Kerrio approved the expansion of the Red Squirrel logging road, directly through

Anishnabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

territory in

Temagami, Ontario Temagami, formerly spelled as Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations commu ...

, Canada. This prompted a series of roadblocks by the

Teme-Augama Anishnabai The Teme-Augama Anishnabai (from the Anishinaabe ''Dimii'aagamaa Anishinaabe'', "the deep water people") is the Indigenous Anishinaabe community of the Temagami First Nation. The Teme-Augama Anishnabai have trapped and hunted animals in the Temag ...

and by environmentalists in 1988-1989. Kerrio was a prominent supporter of the "Beck 3" plan to build a third

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

generating station on the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

. Kerrio left cabinet on August 2, 1989, and did not run for re-election in 1990.

Cabinet positions

Later life

Kerrio remained a leading figure in Niagara Falls's Italian community. In addition to Kerrio Construction, his family came to run Car-Mar Manufacturing and Niagara Hospitality Inns. He died on October 30, 2009 at Greater Niagara General Hospital where he had been hospitalized with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

for six months. Kerrio's spouse, Rose, died from natural causes on February 7, 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerrio, Vincent 1924 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Canadian businesspeople Canadian people of Italian descent Deaths from leukemia Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs People from Niagara Falls, Ontario