# Bob Wong

Robert Charles Wong (Chinese: 黃景培; born April 27, 1941) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the first Canadian of Chinese descent to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, represented the downtown Toronto riding of Fort York from 1987 and 1999 as a Liberal. He served as a cabinet minister in the provincial government of David Peterson, making him the first Canadian of Chinese descent to serve in a provincial cabinet.

## Background

Wong was educated at the University of Toronto, York University, Harvard University, and the University of Waterloo, earning Bachelor of Science and M.B.A. degrees. He was a special assistant of the Minister of National Health and Welfare John Munro from 1968 to 1970, and served as special advisor to Stanley Haidasz, Canada's first Minister of State for Multiculturalism in 1972. Wong later served as president of the Toronto District Liberal Association from 1974 to 1976, and of the Ontario Chinese Liberal Association in 1986. He also chaired the Toronto Ontario Olympic Committee, and was a member of the Multicultural Advisory Council.
In private life, served as chair of Goulding, Rose & Turner Ltd., and was a director of May Mikkila Inc., Abico Management Ltd., Multilingual Television Ltd., Channel 47 Toronto (Canada's first multilingual television station) and Sky Continental Management Inc. He established the first brokerage office in Toronto's Chinatown, and was named Analyst of the year for 1980 by Financial Times of Canada. He also is the author of "Computing: An Introduction" and the co-author of "Algorithms", both published in 1967.

## Politics

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Joe Pantalone of the New Democratic Party (NDP) by 137 votes in the downtown Toronto riding of Fort York. His election made him the first Canadian of Chinese descent elected to Queen's Park, and the fifth Chinese Canadian to hold elected office at the federal (after Douglas Jung and Art Lee, elected from Vancouver in 1957 and 1974 respectively) or provincial levels (after George Ho Lem and Henry Woo, both elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1970s).
He was appointed to cabinet on September 29, 1987 as Minister of Energy. He was named Minister of Citizenship responsible for race relations, multiculturalism and Ontario Human Rights Commission on August 2, 1989. He is the second visible minority person to serve in the Ontario provincial cabinet, and the first Chinese Canadian cabinet minister in Canada.
The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, and Wong lost the Fort York riding by about 1,500 votes to Rosario Marchese. He sought to return to the legislature in the 1995 election, but lost again to Marchese by over 2,000 votes.
Wong supported Gerard Kennedy for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.

### Cabinet positions

Ontario provincial government of David Peterson :
| Cabinet posts (2) |||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Gerry Phillips | Minister of Citizenship 1989–1990 also Responsible for Race Relations and Ontario Human Rights Commission | Elaine Ziemba |
| Vince Kerrio | Minister of Energy 1987–1989 | Lyn McLeod |

## Later life

Wong was later appointed chair of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) Ontario's Government and Public Affairs Committee. He is now Vice-Chairman and Portfolio Manager with Leon Frazer & Associates Ltd, and is a board member of the Royal Ontario Museum.