Peter Tabuns - a record of creating meaningful change
Peter became the NDP MPP for Toronto-Danforth in a 2006 by-election. He was re-elected in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018 and in the recent June 2022 campaign where he scored a decisive victory.
Following the election, Peter served as the ONDP's interim leader until Marit Stiles became our new permanent leader.
Peter brings fresh, bold ideas to Queen’s Park on tackling the climate crisis, renewable energy and job creation.
Get to know Peter
Peter has:
- Served as Jack Layton’s climate change advisor, a Toronto city councillor and the executive director of Greenpeace Canada
- Voted Best MPP by readers of NOW Magazine twice
- Helped lead the fight against the privatization of Hydro and worked to keep communities safe from toxins while protecting our future from the effects of climate change as the NDP's long-serving Critic for Energy and the Climate Crisis
- Advocated on behalf of the Ontario Nurses Association as their government relations representative
Peter also chaired Toronto’s Board of Health in his time as city councillor for Ward 8 - Riverdale - of the former City of Toronto.
Peter's accomplishments
Some of Peter's achievements for Toronto-Danforth and Ontario include:
- Stopping a high-voltage transmission line from being built along Donlands Avenue
- Introduced important pieces of legislation to fight the climate crisis including bills to:
- Ban fracking
- Address the health impacts of the climate crisis
- Make it easier to sue fossil fuel companies for the damage they create
- Accelerate climate action through the use of public sector purchasing power and other tools at the province’s disposal
- Secured the right for high school students to use ‘Gay Straight Alliances’ as a title for their in-school clubs organized to promote diversity and oppose homophobia
- Successfully worked with east-end parents to stop charges for families to put their children on wait lists for childcare centres
- Secured all-party support in the legislature for his resolution making June 22 Chinese Canadian Head Tax Redress Day in Ontario to recognize the historic injustice of a head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants
- Led the successful fight to expand bereavement leave for parents whose children pass away, correcting a long-standing wrong
- Discovered and revealed large-scale criminal destruction of government documents by the McGuinty government leading to charges against prominent government figures as the NDP representative on the inquiry into the gas plant scandal
- Successfully setting up mobile offices to serve constituents
- Leading the fight to stop door-to-door energy marketers
Peter also pressured the former Liberal government to expand rent control to new units in Ontario that were excluded by the Mike Harris era rent control limits
Critic portfolios
Peter is the Official Opposition’s long-serving energy and climate crisis critic. He's also currently the critic for intergovernmental affairs. Peter has held other major critic portfolios, such as:
- Education
- Finance
- Transportation
- Greater Toronto issues
- Culture
- Citizenship and immigration
- Revenue
- Public infrastructure renewal
Peter also served as the ONDP's interim leader from June 2022 to February 2023.
Peter's background
Prior to becoming MPP, Peter:
- Wrote the federal NDP’s Kyoto plan as Jack Layton’s Climate Advisor. This was a framework to meet the climate targets and put people to work in Canada
- Served as the Executive Director of Greenpeace
- Led the fight for smoke-free food courts, bars and restaurants as chair of Toronto’s Board of Health
- As city councillor got the City of Toronto to set up its very successful Better Buildings Partnership for large-scale energy retrofits of commercial and institutional buildings. This led to thousands of jobs created along with the cutting of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions
- Successfully pushed City Council to restore the Chester Springs Marsh in the Don Valley south of the Bloor Viaduct, the flagship project of “Bring Back the Don”
- Supported and approved the construction of many hundreds of social housing and seniors housing units in the riding that has made a huge difference in the lives of many in our community
- Successfully fought to block or shut down some of the worst polluting industries in our community including garbage incinerators and Darling Rendering
Peter has an adult son, Anton, and lives with his partner, Shawn Kerwin. She’s a professor of theatre design.