Peter Fonseca MP
Member of Parliament forMississauga East—Cooksville
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 October 2015
Preceded by	Wladyslaw Lizon
Member of theOntario Provincial Parliament forMississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East (2003-2007)
In office 2 October 2003 – 26 March 2011
Preceded by	Carl DeFaria
Succeeded by	Dipika Damerla
Personal details
Born	(1966-10-05)5 October 1966 (age 58) Lisbon,Portugal
Political party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Ontario Liberal
Spouse	Christine Fonseca ​ (m. 2003)​
Residence(s)	Mississauga,Ontario
Alma mater	University of Oregon, University of Windsor
Occupation	Management consultant
Website	peterfonseca.ca

For other people with a similar name, seePedro da Fonseca (disambiguation)

Peter FonsecaMP (born 5 October 1966) is aPortuguese-born Canadianpolitician and formerathlete. He is aLiberal member of theHouse of Commons of Canada, representing theriding ofMississauga East—Cooksville since hiselection in 2015.

Prior to entering federal politics, Fonseca was a provincialLiberal member of theLegislative Assembly of Ontario representingMississauga East (2003-2007) andMississauga East—Cooksville (2007- 2011). He was a cabinet minister in the government ofDalton McGuinty.

Fonseca was re-elected in his safe Liberal riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville with roughly 53% of the vote in the 2019 federal election and again with 50% of the vote in the 2021 federal election.

In the 44th parliament which was formed after the 2021 federal election (where the governing Liberals were re-elected with an increased minority), Fonseca was selected as the chair of the powerful Finance Committee.

Fonseca was born inLisbon,Portugal and immigrated toToronto with his family in 1968. He was raised inLittle Portugal. He graduated fromSt. Michael's College School and attended theUniversity of Oregon, gaining aBachelor of Arts on an athletic scholarship. He also holds aBachelor of Education degree from theUniversity of Windsor.^[1] He worked as a senior performance management consultant for the Coach Corporation and has run an importing and distributing company in Portugal.^[2]

He married his wife Christine "Chris" Fonseca in 2003.^[1] Christine was elected toMississauga City Council as Councillor for Ward 3 in the2010 Mississauga municipal election^[3] and re-elected in2014 Mississauga municipal election,2018 Mississauga municipal election, and2022 Mississauga municipal election.^[4]

Fonseca holdsDual-citizenship with Portugal.^[5]

Hefinished 5th in the 10,000 metres at the1994 Commonwealth Games. He alsorepresented Canada at the1996 Olympic Games inAtlanta,Georgia in theMen's Marathon. He was the top finisher for the Canadians, placing 21st overall in a 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) race with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 28 seconds.^[6] He also placed second in the 1994Toronto Marathon and the 1994Houston Marathon, and third in the 1992New York City Marathon and the 1990Los Angeles Marathon.^[7]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Canada
1994	Houston Marathon	Houston, United States	2nd	Marathon	2:13:53
1994	Toronto Marathon	Toronto, Canada	2nd	Marathon	2:17:16
1994	Commonwealth Games	Victoria, Canada	5th	10,000 m	29:14.85
1995	Houston Marathon	Houston, United States	1st	Marathon	2:11:52
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	21st	Marathon	2:17:28
1997	Toronto Marathon	Toronto, Canada	1st	Marathon	2:28:26

Fonseca was elected to the Ontario legislature in theprovincial election of 2003, defeating incumbentProgressive ConservativeCarl DeFaria by about 3,000 votes in Mississauga East.^[8] On 23 October 2003, he was namedparliamentary assistant toGeorge Smitherman, theMinister of Health and Long-Term Care. In July 2005, he became theparliamentary assistant to Jim Watson, the Minister of Health Promotion.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2007, Fonseca was named tocabinet asMinister of Tourism and Recreation.^[9] In a cabinet shuffle on 18 September 2008, Fonseca was appointed as the province'sMinister of Labour.^[10]

On 16 December 2010, Fonseca resigned from the Ontario cabinet to run for the federal Liberals in the riding ofMississauga East—Cooksville.^[11] He was defeated byConservative candidateWladyslaw Lizon in the2011 federal election by 676 votes.^[12][13]

Fonseca ran for the Liberals again in the2015 federal election and defeated Lizon by a wide margin as part of the Liberal sweep of Mississauga ridings. Fonseca was re-elected in the 2019 and 2021 elections.^[14]

Fonseca's constituency office was on fire, on 22 February 2022. Peel Regional Police is investigating the matter as arson.^{[15][16][17][18]}

• Official website
• Peter Fonseca – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca
• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history
• Peter Fonseca atARRS

• 1966 births
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Track and field athletes from Mississauga
• Canadian male long-distance runners
• Canadian male marathon runners
• Canadian sportsperson-politicians
• Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada
• Liberal Party of Canada MPs
• Living people
• Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
• Naturalized citizens of Canada
• Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
• Olympic track and field athletes for Canada
• Oregon Ducks men's track and field athletes
• Politicians from Mississauga
• Portuguese emigrants to Canada
• Athletes from Lisbon
• University of Windsor alumni
• 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada
• 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• 20th-century Canadian sportsmen

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