Mario Silva

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Mario Silva, MP (born June 11, 1966) is a Canadian politician. Silva is a former a Toronto City Councillor (1994-2003) and acting mayor <ref name=actmay> "Acting Mayor" is a non-elected position. For example, the Vancouver City Clerk's office [1] sets out the duties and powers of their Acting Mayor. Other cities will no doubt have somewhat different rules and guidelines.</ref> He moved to federal politics, being elected for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2004 election in the riding of Davenport.

Born in the Azores, Portugal, he was first elected to city council in 1994. Though considered by some to be one of the "more right-leaning members of city council, aligned with mayor Mel Lastman", Silva received a high grade from the Toronto Environmental Alliance for his support of environmental initiatives, and has strong support from the Labour Movement. Of Portuguese background, Silva is popular locally for his help with immigration matters, community involvement, and record on international human rights.

Silva's move to federal politics was not without controversy, however, as it saw him claim the Liberal nomination in Davenport instead of popular Liberal incumbent Charles Caccia. An ally of new Prime Minister Paul Martin, Silva was seen by the party as a preferable candidate to Caccia, the longest serving Member of Parliament (MP). Caccia had supported Sheila Copps against Martin in the 2003 Liberal Party leadership convention.

Silva signed up enough new members to likely defeat Caccia in a nomination battle; Caccia instead chose not to file to be the party's candidate, and after mulling running in the election against Silva as a Green candidate or as an Independent, announced his retirement from politics. Despite some ill-will in the riding towards the ousting of Caccia, Silva still won the traditionally Liberal seat by a convincing margin.

Silva is first Portuguese-Canadian Member of Parliament and only the second MP of Portuguese descent (the first being John Rodriguez, a former New Democratic Party MP for Nickel Belt, who is of Guyanese Portuguese descent).

Shortly after the election, Silva came out as gay in a Toronto Star profile.

Silva retained the seat in the 2006 election.

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