Steven Del Duca

Del Duca's father is Italian and his mother is Scottish.[2] His paternal grandfather immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1951.[3] Del Duca received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School but has not been called to the bar.[4] He was director of public affairs for the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario, during which he declared support of Israel to be a "progressive" position.[5][6] Previously, he was an aide to Dalton McGuinty when McGuinty was leader of the opposition. He lives with his wife, Utilia Amaral, and their two daughters, in Woodbridge, Ontario.[7]

Del Duca's younger brother, Michael, was killed in a car crash in June 2018.[8]

In 2012 he ran as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Vaughan. A by-election was called to replace Greg Sorbara who retired earlier in the year. He defeated the Progressive Conservative candidate Tony Genco.[9][10] He was re-elected in the 2014 provincial election defeating PC candidate Peter Meffe.[11]

On June 24, 2014, he was appointed to cabinet by Premier Kathleen Wynne as the Minister of Transportation.[12]

In June 2016, the Ministry of Transportation issued a press release about twelve new stations for the GO Transit network, only ten of which had been approved by the Metrolinx board planning the regional transit projects.[13] The board convened in late June to approve the two additional stations, Kirby GO station for the Barrie line, and Lawrence East station as part of the SmartTrack project. Metrolinx reports stated that the Kirby station would have a negative effect on overall ridership on the line.[13]

Del Duca was nominated as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate to be put forward for the riding of Vaughan–Woodbridge.[14][15]

On June 7, 2018, Del Duca ran for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Ontario provincial election for Vaughan–Woodbridge, and lost to PC Candidate Michael Tibollo.[16] Del Duca was amongst a wave of Ontario Liberal Party MPPs who lost their seat during that election, removing the Liberal Party from government and relegating them to the third party in Ontario's legislature. After losing his seat, Del Duca taught a course at York University from January to April, 2019.

On April 3, 2019, Del Duca announced that he would enter the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election. On March 7, 2020, he won the election with 58.8% of the ballot vote, having received 1,258 delegate votes.[17]

Weeks after losing his provincial seat, it was reported that Del Duca would be running to be Chair of York Region in the October 22, 2018, municipal election,[18] but owing to the provincial government's passing of the Better Local Government Act, there was no election for the post.[19]

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)