Mario Racco
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Mario G. Racco (born in 1955) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the Greater Toronto Area riding of Thornhill for the Liberal Party.
Racco has degrees in Business Administration from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (1977) and York University. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree from York University in 1992. Racco has practiced as a Chartered Accountant, for the firms of Thorne Riddell and Dunwoody Chartered Accountants.
Racco was elected to the city council of Vaughan, Ontario in 1982, and retained this position until his election to the Ontario legislature. He ran for the federal Liberal nomination in Markham—Whitchurch—Stouffville in 1993, but lost to Jag Bhaduria under controversial circumstances.
In the 2003 provincial election, Racco defeated Susan Kadis for the Liberal nomination in Thornhill and ran against Tina Molinari, an incumbent from the Progressive Conservatives. Denominational education was a leading issue in this campaign, with Molinari supporting tax credits for non-Catholic religious education and Racco opposing it; some prominent members of Thornhill's Orthodox Jewish community supported Molinari because of this issue. Racco eventually won by 796 votes, a narrower margin of victory than most Liberal candidates achieved in neighbouring ridings.
Racco is a leading supporter of allowing municipalities to use red light camera technology for safety purposes. In 2004, he was the driving force behind the construction of a new statue of Pierre Trudeau in Vaughan.
He is married to Sandra Yeung Racco, a city councillor for the city of Vaughan. They have two children: Alexander and Katrina.
| Preceded by: Tina Molinari |
Member of Provincial Parliament from Thornhill (2003-Present) |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
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