Maria Rizzo is a politician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was a member of the Toronto Public School Board from 1982 to 1985, and was a North York city councillor from 1991 to 1997. She is currently a member of the Toronto Catholic School Board. Rizzo was a member of the New Democratic Party.
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Rizzo was an activist in Toronto's Italian community during the 1980s.[1] She was elected in 1982 as a Catholic trustee on the Toronto Public School Board, winning in North York's third division.
Rizzo was a frequent ally of North York councillor Howard Moscoe during this period,[2] and campaigned for North York's fourth council ward in the 1985 municipal election with support from Moscoe. She lost to Frank Di Giorgio. She later considered running for the Downsview NDP nomination for the 1987 provincial election, but ultimately declined.[3] In 1987, she was listed as Ontario regional director for the Canadian Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis.[4]
She campaigned for North York's fourth ward a second time in the 1988 municipal election, backed by Howard Moscoe's local organization as well as the Toronto Star newspaper. A newspaper report from the election lists her as thirty-four years old.[5] She was again defeated by Di Giorgio. She later worked for Anthony Perruzza's campaign in the 1990 provincial election.[6]
Rizzo was elected to the North York council on her third attempt, taking the city's fifth ward in the 1991 municipal election despite a concerted effort by Mayor Mel Lastman in support of her opponent.[7] She was the only New Democrat elected to the new council, and was often critical of Lastman's relationship with local real-estate developers. In 1992, she was the only councillor to vote against a decision to write off $4.2 million debt from the firm Penta Stolp.[8] Rizzo served on the North York Board of Health, and North York's public art committee.[9]
Rizzo supported market-value assessment for North York properties, arguing that this would result in significant tax reductions for many in her ward.[10] She criticized the provincial government of Bob Rae for rejecting a compromise tax plan in 1992.[11] The following year, she strongly opposed Lastman's decision to freeze capital projects and consultant studies in the middle of a serious recession.[12]
Somewhat surprisingly, Mayor Lastman endorsed Rizzo's bid for re-election to council in the 1994 municipal election.[13] She was returned without difficulty, and spoke favourably of Lastman in a 1995 interview.[14] She nevertheless criticized the mayor's proposal to privatize the city's garbage collection service, describing it as "union-busting".[15]
Rizzo supported various efforts to reduce the number of strip clubs in North York, describing them as "garbage" and "a blight on society".[16] In 1996, she brought forward a successful motion to make North York's bars and restaurants over smoke-free by 1999.[17] In 1997, she was responsible for having a North York park named after the explorer Giovanni Caboto, whose name is often anglicized as John Cabot.[18]
Rizzo opposed the Mike Harris provincial government's decision to amalgamate North York and other municipalities into the City of Toronto in 1997.[19] She expressed concern that suburban councillors were often less progressive that inner-city councillors, and suggested that social spending could be at risk under the new arrangement.[20]
The Harris administration carried out its plans to amalgamate Toronto, and Rizzo campaigned for the new city's seventh council ward in the 1997 municipal election. Again supported by Mel Lastman, she finished third in the two-member seat.[21] She worked for councillors Howard Moscoe and John Filion after the election.[22]
When Judy Sgro resigned from council in 2000, Rizzo sought an appointment as her interim replacement. The appointment went instead to Paul Valenti, after a crucial endorsement from councillor George Mammoliti. Rizzo charged that Mammoliti had promised to support her, and changed his mind following pressure from Mel Lastman. Mammoliti acknowledged that he had initially promised to support Rizzo, but said that he changed his mind of his own accord and without pressure from outside sources.[23]
Rizzo returned to political life in the 2003 municipal election, winning a seat on the Toronto Catholic School Board. She criticized a child enrollment campaign organized by the board in 2005, describing it as a waste of money at a time when many schools were in need of physical repairs.[24] She later opposed the board's proposal to hire Warren Kinsella's Navigator Ltd. firm to do consultancy work with the provincial government, describing the $100,000 expenditure as a waste of money.[25]
In 2006, Rizzo endorsed a motion which requires the Catholic school board to guarantee that its uniforms are not made in sweatshops.[26] She has criticized the provincial government's requests for reduced board expenditures, and during the summer of 2006 described former provincial education minister Sandra Pupatello as having "more money than brains".[27]
Rizzo also works as executive assistant to councillors Howard Moscoe and John Filion.[28] She was easily re-elected to the Catholic School Board in the 2006 municipal election.