Charles Caccia

The Honourable Charles Caccia PC
Minister of the Environment
In office August 12, 1983 – September 16, 1984
Prime Minister	Pierre Elliott Trudeau John Turner
Preceded by	John Roberts
Succeeded by	Suzanne Blais-Grenier
Minister of Labour
In office September 22, 1981 – August 12, 1983
Prime Minister	Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Preceded by	Gerald Regan
Succeeded by	André Ouellet
Member of Parliament for Davenport
In office June 25, 1968 – June 28, 2004
Preceded by	Walter L. Gordon
Succeeded by	Mario Silva
Personal details
Born	(1930-04-28)April 28, 1930 Milan, Italy
Died	May 3, 2008(2008-05-03) (aged 78) Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Mildred (div), Iva
Profession	Professor

Charles L. Caccia, PC (April 28, 1930 – May 3, 2008) was a Canadian politician. Caccia was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada. He represented the Toronto riding of Davenport between 1968 and 2004.

Background

Caccia was born in 1930 in Milan, Italy. He became a professor of forestry at the University of Toronto, and was a co-founder of COSTI in Toronto. Caccia's first wife, Mildred, was a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in a provincial election in the 1970s. They had two children, Nicolette and John, and were divorced. Caccia was survived by second wife Iva.

Politics

Caccia was best known for his strong pro-environment views on the left of the Liberal party. He served at various times during the ministries of Pierre Trudeau and John Turner as Minister of Labour, Minister of the Environment, Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Manpower and Immigration. He most recently was the Chair of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, and of the subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Caccia was one of only three cabinet members to endorse Jean Chrétien in the 1984 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, along with David Collenette and Roméo LeBlanc.[1] He was the Liberals' Environment critic from 1984 to 1989, and spent most of the rest of his career on the backbench.

One of the most left-leaning Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) of the time, he was known for his stances on environmental issues and his staunch opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was one of the few Liberal MPs to back Sheila Copps in the Liberal Party's 2003 leadership election. His left-leaning politics and support of Copps ended his political career when the more right-leaning Paul Martin became Liberal leader and prime minister in 2004. Martin backed former Toronto city councillor Mario Silva for the Liberal Party nomination in Davenport. With Martin's support, Silva signed up enough new members until it was obvious he would defeat Caccia for the nomination. Caccia pulled out of the race, and after some talk, chose to retire from politics rather than run as an independent or Green in the 2004 election.

In 1964, he was labelled as a communist by East York Mayor True Davidson for suggesting that Toronto city run day cares accept children from mothers in two parent working families. At the time, they only accepted children from single working mothers.[2]

Electoral record

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	17,014	66.7	+0.9
	New Democratic	Jordan Berger	3,457	13.6	-4.9
	Alliance	Anthony Montenegrino	2,021	7.9
	Progressive Conservative	Eduardo Marcos	1,526	6.0	-4.1
	Green	Mark O'Brien	642	2.5	+0.4
	Marijuana	Elmer Gale	480	1.9
	Canadian Action	Ann Emmett	288	1.1
	Natural Law	Stephen Porter	73	0.3
Total valid votes			25,501	100.0

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	17,195	65.9	-8.0
	New Democratic	Chris Masterson	4,807	18.4	+9.4
	Progressive Conservative	Adele Pereira	2,628	10.1	+5.5
	Green	Richard Procter	551	2.1	+1.2
	Canadian Action	Ann Emmett	293	1.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Francesco Chilelli	250	1.0	+0.7
	Independent	Miguel Figueroa	194	0.7
	Independent	John Munoro	190	0.7
Total valid votes			26,108	100.0

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	20,100	73.9	+15.0
	New Democratic	John Doherty	2,455	9.0	-9.8
	Reform	Michael Jakubcak	2,107	7.7
	Progressive Conservative	Margaret Samuel	1,251	4.6	-14.0
	National	Sherelanne Purcell	448	1.6
	Natural Law	Bruce Hislop	283	1.0
	Green	Sat K. Singh Khalsa	255	0.9
	Libertarian	Nunzio Venuto	200	0.7	-1.0
	Marxist–Leninist	Barbara Seed	64	0.2
	Abolitionist	Susan Lylliane Pennington	33	0.1
Total valid votes			27,196	100.0

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	16,436	58.9	+5.2
	New Democratic	Anna Menozzi	5,243	18.8	-3.7
	Progressive Conservative	Alex Franco	5,179	18.6	-2.6
	Libertarian	April Henderson	480	1.7	+0.7
	Rhinoceros	Barry Heidt	214	0.8
	Communist	George P. Hewison	196	0.7	0.0
	Independent	Heather Robertson	150	0.5
Total valid votes			27,898	100.0

v t e 1984 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	13,248	53.7	-8.8
	New Democratic	Manfred Netzel	5,548	22.5	+0.3
	Progressive Conservative	Giovanni Rocca	5,217	21.1	+7.5
	Green	Elgin Blair	256	1.0
	Libertarian	John Scott Hayes	252	1.0	0.0
	Communist	Gordon Massie	165	0.7	+0.2
Total valid votes			24,686	100.0

v t e 1980 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	14,545	62.4	+6.5
	New Democratic	Ed Brown	5,170	22.2	-2.2
	Progressive Conservative	Italo Luci	3,167	13.6	-4.3
	Libertarian	Richard Brooke	230	1.0	+0.3
	Communist	Gail J. Phillips	117	0.5	0.0
	Marxist–Leninist	Richard Daly	72	0.3	0.0
Total valid votes			23,301	100.0
lop.parl.ca

v t e 1979 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	12,760	55.9	-3.7
	New Democratic	Ed Brown	5,579	24.4	+7.6
	Progressive Conservative	Lilliana Edwards	4,090	17.9	-4.1
	Libertarian	George J. Dance	156	0.7
	Communist	Gail J. Phillips	117	0.5	-0.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Richard Daly	80	0.4	-0.1
	Independent	Steve Penner	48	0.2
Total valid votes			22,830	100.0

v t e 1974 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	12,294	59.6	+15.9
	Progressive Conservative	Brownie Darubin	4,542	22.0	-8.0
	New Democratic	Mairi McElhill	3,476	16.8	-7.8
	Communist	Mike Phillips	123	0.6	-0.3
	Independent	John Ross Taylor	102	0.5
	Marxist–Leninist	Richard Daly	95	0.5	-0.3
Total valid votes			20,632	100.0

v t e 1972 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	9,366	43.7	-6.7
	Progressive Conservative	John A. Gillespie	6,442	30.1	+8.0
	New Democratic	Angelo Principe	5,272	24.6	-2.9
	Independent	William Kashtan	190	0.9
	Independent	Richard Daly	160	0.7
Total valid votes			21,430	100.0

v t e 1968 Canadian federal election: Davenport, Toronto
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Caccia	10,736	50.4	-7.9
	New Democratic	Otto Bresan	5,865	27.5	+10.3
	Progressive Conservative	Ken Dear	4,688	22.0	-1.0
Total valid votes			21,289	100.0

References

1. Jeffrey, Brooke. (2010). Divided loyalties : the Liberal Party of Canada, 1984-2008. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-4426-6018-2. OCLC 762397337.
2. Smith, Cameron (November 22, 2003). "A long career tilting at windmills". Toronto Star. p. B5.

External links

• COSTI. A History in Progress by Adriana Suppa
• Charles Caccia – Parliament of Canada biography