Senator Art Eggleton

Art Eggleton has served in public office at the municipal level at the City of Toronto and in the Canadian House of Commons for over thirty-five years.

Mr Eggleton was raised and educated in Toronto where he first worked as an accountant before being elected to Toronto City Council in 1969, where he served for twenty-two years on the Executive Committee. Between 1973 and 1980, he was City Budget Chief, the member of council responsible for financial matters and from 1980 to 1991 he was Mayor of Toronto, the longest serving Mayor in the City’s history.

Mr. Eggleton has also served on the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, the Board of the Canadian National Exhibition, and several committees and task forces charged with dealing with community issues. In recognition of his service to his city, Mr. Eggleton received Toronto’s highest honor, the Civic Award of Merit, in 1992.

He then brought his considerable talents to Parliament Hill as the Member for York Centre. First elected in 1993, he was soon thereafter appointed to Cabinet where he served as President of the Treasury Board and Minister Responsible for Infrastructure from 1993 to 1996; Minister for International Trade from 1996 to 1997; Minister of National Defence from 1997 to 2002 and Vice-Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy from 1997 to 2002.

In his final two years in Parliament (2002-2004) Mr. Eggleton served as the Chair of the Greater Toronto Liberal Caucus; Member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade; and the Chair of the Canada-Israel InterParliamentary Group.

Mr. Eggleton is 61 years of age and will be sitting in the Senate as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.