Wladyslaw Lizon

Wladyslaw Lizon
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Mississauga East—Cooksville
In office 2011–2015
Preceded by	Albina Guarnieri
Succeeded by	Peter Fonseca
Personal details
Born	June 27, 1954 Nowy Sącz, Poland
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Mississauga, Ontario
Profession	Engineer

Wladyslaw Lizon (born June 27, 1954) is a former Canadian politician. He was a Conservative member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015 who represented the Greater Toronto Area riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville. He was the first Polish-born Member of Parliament.

Background

Lizon graduated from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland with a master’s degree in mining engineering in 1978. He was an engineer in Poland’s Silesia coal mines until 1983. In 1988 he immigrated to Canada, and created Gomark Enterprises, a consulting business that designs and supplies interior stone finishes and imports and services machinery used in the stone industry.^[1]

He was the president of the Canadian Polish Congress from 2005 to 2010.^[2] He assisted in the removal of visa requirements for visitors from Poland.^[3] He is also a founding member of Tribute to Liberty, an organization dedicated to building a national monument in Ottawa to honour the victims of communism in the world.^[4]

Politics

In the 2011 Canadian federal election, Lizon ran as Conservative candidate in the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville. He defeated Liberal candidate Peter Fonseca by 676 votes.^[5]

In September 2011, Lizon introduced Bill C-266, An Act to establish Pope John Paul II Day, also called by its short title: Pope John Paul II Day Act.^[6] A similar bill was first introduced in October 2010 by Liberal MP Andrew Kania.^[7] Both bills sought to recognize April 2 as a day to honour the memory of the late Pope John Paul II. Bill C-266 received Royal Assent on December 16, 2014, becoming law. April 2, 2015 marked the 10 year anniversary since the passing of Pope John Paul II and was incidentally the first Pope John Paul II Day observed in Canada.

In 2012, Lizon was criticized by the South Asian community and his colleagues in Parliament when he sent out a survey to his constituents asking what languages they spoke, with one of the languages listed as "Indian". Jim Karygiannis, the Liberal MP for Scarborough-Agincourt, issued a press release calling the mailer insulting, comparing it to asking someone if they speak Canadian or Mexican.^[8]

In 2013, Lizon joined two other Conservative MPs (Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott and Alberta MP Leon Benoit) in writing a letter to the RCMP requesting a homicide investigation into some late term abortions that may have resulted in live births. The letter was criticized as an attempt to reopen the abortion debate. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "I think all members of this House, whether they agree with it or not, understand that abortion is legal in Canada and this government, myself included, have made it very clear that the government does not intend to change the law in this regard."^[9][10]

In the 2015 election Lizon again faced Liberal candidate Fonseca. This time Fonseca defeated him by 9,801 votes.^[11]

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	28,154	54.23	+18.07	–
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	18,353	35.35	-8.20	–
	New Democratic	Ali Naqvi	4,481	8.63	-9.03	–
	Green	Jaymini Bhikha	766	1.48	-0.69	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Tim Sullivan	163	0.31	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			51,917	100.00		$216,912.60
Total rejected ballots			287	0.55
Turnout			52,204	63.87
Eligible voters			81,736
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+13.13
Source(s)  "Mississaugs East--Cooksville". Election Results. Elections Canada. Retrieved 22 October 2015. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

Canadian federal election, 2011: Mississauga East—Cooksville
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Wladyslaw Lizon	18,796	39.97	+7.42	$90,142
	Liberal	Peter Fonseca	18,120	38.53	-11.63	$71,450
	New Democratic	Waseem Ahmed	8,836	18.79	+7.44	$6,591
	Green	Jaymini Bhikha	1,032	2.19	-3.05	$968
	Marxist–Leninist	Pierre Chénier	241	0.51	-0.16
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,025	100.00		$169,151
Total rejected ballots			289	0.61
Turnout			47,314	56.8
Eligible voters			83,018
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.52
Source(s)  Elections Canada (2011). "Official Voting Results: Forty-first General Election". Retrieved 28 September 2015.

References

1. O'Toole, Megan (May 4, 2011). "Meet your new MPs; All nine are Conservatives". National Post. p. A12.
2. "Past Presidents". Canadian Polish Congress. 2015.
3. Khalil, Nouman (April 13, 2011). "Profiles of candidates fighting for key GTA ridings". South Asian Focus (Brampton, Ont). p. 1.
4. Curry, Bill (March 19, 2015). "Tory-linked charity behind monument declared it was not active politically". The Globe and Mail. p. A1.
5. "Riding results from across Canada". Edmonton Journal. May 3, 2011. p. A6.
6. "Bill C-266". Parliament of Canada. 2011-09-19. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
7. "Bill C-573". Parliament of Canada. 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
8. "Tory MP to his South Asian constituents: Do you speak ‘Indian’?". The Globe and Mail. January 20, 2012.
9. Canadian Press (January 1, 2013). "Group Of Tory MPs Want Late Abortions Investigated As Murders". Huffington Post.
10. "MPs’ request to have RCMP investigate abortions is way off base". The Globe and Mail. 1 February 2013.
11. Diebel, Linda (19 October 2015). "Peter Fonseca wins Mississauga East—Cooksville". Toronto Star. Retrieved 20 October 2015.

External links

• Wladyslaw Lizon – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca