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David R. Peterson

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Person.png David R. Peterson  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(politician)
David Peterson (2005).jpg
BornDavid Robert Peterson
December 28, 1943
Toronto, Ontario
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Western Ontario, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Children3
Siblings • Tim Peterson
• Jim Peterson
SpouseShelley Peterson
PartyLiberal Party of Canada
Single Bilderberger Canadian politician

Employment.png Premier of Ontario

In office
June 26, 1985 - October 1, 1990

Employment.png Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament

In office
September 18, 1975 - September 6, 1990

Employment.png Ontario Liberal Party Leader

In office
February 21, 1982 - September 6, 1990

Employment.png Chancellor

In office
July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2012
EmployerUniversity of Toronto

David Robert Peterson is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who was Premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He attended the 1990 Bilderberg meeting.

Background

Peterson was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Clarence Marwin Peterson (1913–2009) and Laura Marie Scott (1913–2015), and has two siblings, former MPP Tim Peterson and former MP Jim Peterson.[1]

Education

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario in political science and philosophy and his law degree from the University of Toronto.

Early career

He was called to the bar in 1969. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1980 and later was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada in 1992 by Brian Mulroney.[2][3]

At the age of twenty-six, he became president of C.M. Peterson Company Limited, a wholesale electronics firm founded by his father.[4]

Political career

Peterson was elected as the Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for London Centre in the 1975 provincial election.[5] Peterson was re-elected in the provincial elections of 1977 and 1981. He became provincial party leader in February 1982.[6]

With the support of the NDP, he himself finally became the Premier of Ontario on June 26, 1985 and thus the first liberal Premier of the province since 1943. He promised the formation of an open and easily accessible government and underlined this promise by becoming the first Ontario Prime Minister to take the oath of office in a public ceremony.

The elections to the Legislative Assembly in September 1987 brought landslide gains his party, which achieved 95 of the 130 mandates.

However, on July 30, 1990, Peterson made the mistake of calling new elections for "no apparent reason".[7] At first, everything looked like a resounding election victory for the Liberal Party, but the party began to lose more and more in favor of the voters, so that the elections on September 6, 1990 resulted in a historic election victory for the NDP under Bob Rae, who became the first and so far only prime minister of the province by the NDP on October 1, 1990.

Meech Lake Accord

One reason for the party's electoral defeat was certainly that the voters rejected an election two years early, but also the increasing skepticism towards the government and towards Peterson himself, who participated in unsuccessful secret talks to supplement the Constitution of Canada, which became known as the Meech Lake Accord. While initially popular, this attempt at revising Canada's constitution proved extremely divisive in most of English-speaking Canada. Many believed that it gave too many concessions to Quebec, while others believed that it weakened the federal government's authority in relation to the provinces. Peterson's continued support for the accord, in the face of increased opposition, damaged his personal popularity in Ontario.

Later activities

He was Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 2006 until 2012.[8]

In 1999, Peterson was at the centre of controversy due to his membership on the board of YBM Magnex, a firm which was discovered to have links to the Russian mafia. Peterson maintained that he was unaware of illegal activities at the company, and referred to the accusations against him as "guilt by association".[9]

On May 26, 2020, a group of Toronto investors known as NordStar Capital, announced a proposal to acquire TorStar Corporation the parent company of the Toronto Star, for C$52-million.[10][11] Peterson was announced as part of the NordStar team. The bid was later improved to $60 million and was approved by courts and shareholders by early August 2020. Peterson took a senior advisory role at the Toronto Star as vice-chair of the Torstar board of directors[12] and as of 2024 is chair of Torstar, the publisher of the Toronto Star.[13]


 

Event Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/199010 May 199013 May 1990New York
US
Glen Cove
38th Bilderberg meeting, 119 guests
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References

  1. Csillag, Ron (December 19, 2009). "Clarence Peterson, 96, Businessman, Liberal: From Prairie farm boy to Ontario Liberal Patriarch". The Globe and Mail. p. S13.
  2. http://publicpolicy.utoronto.ca/david-peterson/%7Cwebsite=The School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Toronto
  3. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/no-special-treatment-for-black-in-bid-to-return-home-harper-says/article689878/
  4. Stephens, Robert (November 12, 1984). "Detractors bitter over Peterson's firm". The Globe and Mail. p. 8.
  5. Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings". The Globe and Mail. September 19, 1975. p. C12.
  6. Frederick J. Fletcher; Graham White (1984). R.B. Byers (ed.). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs (1982). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 222–224.
  7. https://tvo.org/blog/current-affairs/thirty-years-later-a-look-back-at-the-biggest-ontario-majority-government-ever
  8. https://www.thestar.com/news/article/1215476
  9. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/securities-regulators-levy-1-2-million-in-fines-penalties-in-ybm-magnex-case-1.374819
  10. https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/05/26/torstar-to-be-sold-taken-private-in-52-million-deal.html
  11. https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2020/05/26/so-we-pass-the-torch.html
  12. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-judge-approves-nordstars-60-million-takeover-of-torstar/
  13. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/former-premier-david-peterson-celebrates-80th-birthday/article_c5b94a3c-bf9a-11ee-9ff0-2f5383a9f54c.html