View source for Charles Caccia

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Charles Caccia
| honorific-suffix = {{postnom|PC|size=100%}}
| image            = 
| office           = [[Minister of the Environment (Canada)|Minister of the Environment]]
| primeminister    = [[Pierre Elliott Trudeau]]<br />[[John Turner]]
| term_start       = August 12, 1983
| term_end         = September 16, 1984
| predecessor      = [[John Roberts (Canadian politician)|John Roberts]]
| successor        = [[Suzanne Blais-Grenier]]
| office2          = [[Minister of Labour (Canada)|Minister of Labour]]
| primeminister2   = Pierre Elliott Trudeau
| term_start2      = September 22, 1981
| term_end2        = August 12, 1983
| predecessor2     = [[Gerald Regan]]
| successor2       = [[André Ouellet]]
| riding3          = [[Davenport (federal electoral district)|Davenport]]
| parliament3      = Canadian
| term_start3      = June 25, 1968
| term_end3        = June 28, 2004
| predecessor3     = [[Walter L. Gordon]]
| successor3       = [[Mario Silva (politician)|Mario Silva]]
| party            = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1930|04|28}}
| birth_place      = [[Milan, Italy|Milan]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2008|05|03|1930|04|28}}
| death_place      = [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| profession       = Professor
| residence        = 
| spouse           = Mildred (div), Iva
}}
'''Charles L. Caccia''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (April 28, 1930 – May 3, 2008) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] politician. Caccia was a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] member of the [[House of Commons of Canada]]. He represented the [[Toronto]] [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Davenport (federal electoral district)|Davenport]] between 1968 and 2004.

==Background==
Caccia was born in 1930 in Milan, [[Italy]]. He became a professor of [[forestry]] at the [[University of Toronto]], and was a co-founder of [[COSTI]] in Toronto. Caccia's first wife, Mildred, was a candidate for the [[Ontario Liberal Party]] in a provincial election in the 1970s. They had two children, Nicolette and John, and were divorced. Caccia was survived by second wife Iva.

==Politics==
Caccia was best known for his strong pro-environment views on the left of the Liberal party. He served at various times during the ministries of [[Pierre Trudeau]] and [[John Turner]] as [[Minister of Labour (Canada)|Minister of Labour]], [[Minister of the Environment (Canada)|Minister of the Environment]], [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Solicitor General of Canada]], Parliamentary Secretary to the [[President of the Treasury Board (Canada)|President of the Treasury Board]], and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Manpower and Immigration.  He most recently was the Chair of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, and of the subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Caccia was one of only three cabinet members to endorse [[Jean Chrétien]] in the [[1984 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election]], along with [[David Collenette]] and [[Roméo LeBlanc]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Divided loyalties : the Liberal Party of Canada, 1984-2008|last=Jeffrey, Brooke.|date=2010|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-6018-2|location=Toronto|pages=13|oclc=762397337}}</ref> He was the Liberals' Environment critic from 1984 to 1989, and spent most of the rest of his career on the backbench.

One of the most left-leaning Liberal [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) of the time, he was known for his stances on environmental issues and his staunch opposition to the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], he was one of the few Liberal MPs to back [[Sheila Copps]] in the Liberal Party's [[2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|2003 leadership election]].  His left-leaning politics and support of Copps ended his political career when the more right-leaning [[Paul Martin]] became Liberal leader and [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]] in 2004. Martin backed former Toronto city councillor [[Mario Silva (politician)|Mario Silva]] for the Liberal Party nomination in Davenport.  With Martin's support, Silva signed up enough new members until it was obvious he would defeat Caccia for the nomination.  Caccia pulled out of the race, and after some talk, chose to retire from politics rather than run as an independent or Green in the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 election]].

In 1964, he was labelled as a communist by East York Mayor [[True Davidson]] for suggesting that Toronto city run day cares accept children from mothers in two parent working families. At the time, they only accepted children from single working mothers.<ref>{{cite news |title=A long career tilting at windmills |publisher=Toronto Star |first=Cameron |last=Smith |date=November 22, 2003 |page=B5}}</ref>

== Electoral record ==
{{2000 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1997 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1993 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1988 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1984 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1980 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1979 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1974 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1972 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}
{{1968 Canadian federal election/Davenport}}

==References==
{{Archival records|title=Charles Caccia fonds|location=|inventory_number=Fonds 1315|description_URL=http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/torontodetail.html?key=89406|dates=|access_conditions=}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090327055418/http://www.costi.org/downloads/COSTI_HISTORY_IN_PROGRESS_EXCERPTS.pdf COSTI. A History in Progress by Adriana Suppa]
*{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=17056}}

{{Turner Ministry}}
{{Second Trudeau Ministry}}
{{CA-Ministers of the Environment}}
{{CA-Ministers of Labour}}
{{CA-Dean of the House}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caccia, Charles}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian environmentalists]]
[[Category:Canadian foresters]]
[[Category:Forestry academics]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the 22nd Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the 23rd Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Toronto city councillors]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto]]
[[Category:Ministers of the environment of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian municipal councillors]]