meanings of Mike Colle definition of Mike Colle books about Mike Colle references on Mike Colle articles about Mike Colle web search for Mike Colle dreams about Mike Colle
 Mike Colle - Definition 

Michael Colle is (born February 1, 1945 in Foggia, Italy) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Eglinton—Lawrence for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Colle moved to Canada at a young age, and was educated at Carleton University. He worked as a teacher of history and economics for eighteen years, including several terms at St. Michael's College in Toronto. Colle served on the City of York municipal council from 1982 to 1985, and on the Metro Toronto Council as a York representative from 1988 to 1994. He was also chair of the Toronto Transit Commission from 1991 to 1994.

Colle was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent New Democrat Tony Rizzo in the riding of Oakwood by about 1000 votes. (Rizzo had previously helped to defeat his own government's same-sex benefits plan, and received little assistance from the Toronto NDP organization.) In the provincial election of 1999, Colle defeated incumbent Progressive Conservative John Parker by about 8500 votes in the redistributed riding of Elginton—Lawrence. The Progressive Conservatives won both elections, and Colle sat in opposition during this period.

Colle has championed environmental causes during his time in the legislature (including the protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine), and is not generally regarded as a right-wing Liberal. Despite this, he was a co-chair of Mel Lastman's 1997 bid to become Mayor of Toronto. Lastman was also supported by prominent members of the Progressive Conservative Party in Toronto, and was opposed by members of the social democratic New Democratic Party.

The Liberals won the 2003 election, and Colle was re-elected by over 10,000 votes in his own riding. Despite some public speculation, he was not appointed to the cabinet by Premier Dalton McGuinty. On October 23, 2003, he was named Parliamentary Assistant to Greg Sorbara, the Ontario Minister of Finance.



Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy  ::  Terms of Use  :: Contact Us  :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mike Colle".