Mario Sergio (politician)

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Mario Sergio (born July 28, 1940 in Calabria, Italy) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, initially representing the North York riding of Yorkview and subsequently York West for the Liberal Party.

Sergie attended technical school in Italy, and worked as a real estate broker after moving to Canada. He started his own general insurance business at age twenty-one, and started a private real estate brokerage firm in 1968. Sergio was first elected to the North York City Council in 1978, and remained in municipal politics until 1995 when he was elected to the Ontario legislature. He also served on the Metro Toronto Council from 1985 to 1988, and was a member of North York's Planning Board Committee for fourteen years.

In the provincial election of 1995, Sergio defeated incumbent New Democrat George Mammoliti in Yorkview by almost 3000 votes to win election to the legislature (it may be noted that Mammoliti had previously helped to defeat his own government's same-sex benefits plan, and was abandoned by many in the NDP). The Progressive Conservatives won the election, and Sergio joined 29 other Liberals in the official opposition.

In the 1999 provincial election, Sergio was re-elected in the new riding of York West by more than 10,000 votes over his nearest opponent, making the riding one of the safest in Ontario for the Liberal Party. He was subsequently appointed deputy whip and critic for small business.

The Liberals won the 2003 election, in which Sergio defeated his closest opponent by over 12,000 votes. He was appointed parliamentary assistant to Jim Watson, the Ontario Minister of Consumer and Business Services on October 23, 2004. On September 27, 2004, became parliamentary assistant to Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen on matters relating to Seniors.