Peter Stollery

Peter Alan Stollery (born November 29, 1935) is a Canadian politician and businessman.

His family owns Stollery's clothing store at the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor Street in Toronto, hence his designation in the Canadian Senate as Senator for "Bloor and Yonge".

Stollery has worked as a teacher and travel writer, as well as working for the family business. In addition, he worked as a cab driver in Toronto for many years.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal candidate in the 1972 election for Spadina riding in Toronto defeating incumbent MP Perry Ryan who had left the Liberals and crossed the floor and joined the Progressive Conservatives since the 1968 election. He was re-elected in 1974, 1979 and 1980 elections. He served for a time as Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus.

In 1981, Stollery was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau wanted to open Stollery's Spadina riding so that Trudeau's aide James Coutts, could be elected to Parliament in a by-election. The voters rebelled, and Coutts was defeated in what had been a safe Liberal seat by Dan Heap of the New Democratic Party in the subsequent by-election.

On March 29, 2006 during a session of the Canadian Senate's National Security & Defence Committee Stollery described Hamid Karzai, then President of Afghanistan as a "Stooge", he was criticised by many for this apparent misstep.

Stollery is currently Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. He has been involved with the Canada-Europe Interparliamentary Union, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, and a Member of the National Liberal Club in London.

See also List of Ontario senators.

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=387&s=M Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament]