Vic Fedeli

Fedeli has been the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing Nipissing since his election in the 2011 general election. He has served as the party's Finance Critic, as well as mayor of North Bay, Ontario from 2003 to 2010. In 2014, he announced his candidacy for the 2015 Ontario PC leadership race but later withdrew and endorsed Christine Elliott. In June 2018, he was sworn in as Ontario's Minister of Finance in the new Ford Administration. Fedeli was moved to the position of Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade in a cabinet shuffle by Premier Doug Ford on June 20, 2019.

On June 20, 2019, Fedeli was moved over to the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Fedeli became interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and Leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario in January 2018, and continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition after Doug Ford became party leader at the Progressive Conservative Party leadership election on March 10, 2018, as Ford did not have a seat in the Ontario legislature at that time.

Fedeli was unanimously chosen as interim leader by the PC caucus on January 26, 2018, one day after the resignation of Patrick Brown.

On June 29, 2018, Fedeli was sworn in as Ontario's Minister of Finance under Doug Ford. He was also appointed Chair of Cabinet.

On January 25, 2018, Fedeli declared himself as a candidate for the next Ontario PC Party leadership election. On January 26, 2018, Fedeli was acclaimed by the PC caucus as the PC Leader. The party planned to hold a leadership convention to be concluded by late March 2018. Fedeli announced that he would be a candidate. However, on January 30, 2018, he announced that he would not be a candidate after all in order to focus his efforts on being interim leader and getting the party ready for the June election.

Fedeli dropped out of the race on February 4, 2015, and endorsed Christine Elliott, saying, "As you know I'm a numbers guy and a pragmatist. There are two numbers you have to look at in any leadership campaign – memberships and money. I've added up the numbers and simply put, I don't see them being there for me to win this leadership race."

Fedeli's time as mayor was also marked by investments in social housing—the only municipality to do so, and development of a methane-powered generation facility at the municipal landfill, also unique among communities the size of North Bay. Total building starts hit a record $92 million in 2009, compared with a 10-year average before Fedeli was elected mayor of $35 million. Before the end of Fedeli's second term the city's credit rating with Moody had jumped five points to AA1, their highest rating.

On September 24, 2014, Fedeli announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the 2015 leadership election.

On June 6, 2013, Fedeli and fellow Progressive Conservative Rob Leone wrote to OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis asking him to order an investigation into "theft of taxpayer property and breach of public trust" in relation to the deletion and removal of emails from government computers.

With the election of Kathleen Wynne to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ontario a new cabinet was sworn in on February 11, 2013. Michael Gravelle took over the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines file and soon announced there would be no dramatic change in direction for the ONTC. On March 6, 2013, at Fedeli's request the Standing Committee on Public Accounts asked the auditor general to investigate the divestiture of the ONTC. On May 1, Fedeli claimed he had numbers showing the ONTC divestment would cost the government $530 million more than earlier estimates. Soon thereafter, Gravelle disclosed to a meeting of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities in Parry Sound that "(w)e need to be open to options other than divestment", a shift in direction that he attributed to feedback he had received since taking over the Northern Development and Mines portfolio.

On September 18, 2013, the Standing Committee on Estimates approved a motion brought forward by Fedeli ordering the release of Ministry of Finance Documents relating to the ONTC in the months prior to the 2011 election.

On March 23, 2012, the province announced it would be selling the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission. As the ONTC is headquartered in North Bay, and several hundred workers are employed within Nipissing, the issue was a significant concern in the riding.

One of the charges levelled at the government over their handling of the ONTC file was that there had been a lack of consultation. In an effort to draw a contrast with this, Fedeli and his caucus colleague Norm Miller undertook a tour of northern communities to meet with various stakeholders in June 2012. The same month, Fedeli claimed the government would realize 'no savings' with the divestiture of the ONTC.

On January 13, 2011, Fedeli announced his candidacy to be the Progressive Conservative candidate in the provincial election scheduled for October 10, 2011. The only other candidate at the time was Bill Vrebosch, mayor of East Ferris, who had run and lost against Monique Smith by a 357-vote margin in the 2007 Ontario election. Vrebosch dropped out of the race soon after, citing family health concerns, and Fedeli was acclaimed the PC candidate on February 26, 2010. He won the seat on election day over Liberal candidate Catherine Whiting, New Democratic candidate Henri Giroux and Green Party candidate Scott Haig with more than half the valid votes cast. On September 10, 2013, it was announced that Fedeli would be replacing Peter Shurman as Tory finance critic. Fedeli was re-elected after winning Nipissing in the 2018 Ontario general election.

PC Leader Tim Hudak named Fedeli as energy critic and critic of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines on October 25, 2011. However, after Frank Klees abandoned his bid for Speaker, Hudak rewarded him with the Transportation portfolio, which was previously the responsibility of Norm Miller. Miller was then appointed critic for Northern Development and Mines.

On February 1, 2010, Fedeli announced he would not seek a third term as mayor in the October municipal election, keeping a promise from his first campaign in 2003 that he would only serve two terms.

During the 2009 effort to raise funds for the Harris Learning Library, Fedeli again made a donation to Nipissing University and Canadore College of $250,000. He made a substantial contribution to a North Bay General Hospital campaign of $150,000.

In 2009, Fedeli launched an effort to win exemption for Canadian businesses from the Buy American provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In the 2006 mayoral election, Fedeli was challenged by Stan Lawlor. Despite Lawlor’s high profile as a former mayor and candidate for the Liberal Party of Ontario, Fedeli was re-elected with more than two-thirds of the vote.

In 2003, Fedeli made his first run for elected office. He was swept into the mayor’s chair running on his ‘2020 Vision’ campaign platform with 75% of the vote, easily defeating three challengers including former deputy mayor Lynne Bennett.

The divestiture announcement was largely unanticipated as then-Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty had signed a pledge in 2002 to not privatize the corporation, while in the 2011 election the Progressive Conservatives had committed to transfer oversight from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to the Ministry of Transportation, and expand the commission's capital spending abilities by giving it access to infrastructure spending.

In 1992, Fedeli served as co-chair of the Nipissing University expansion fundraising campaign, contributing $250,000 to fund the Vittorio Fedeli Business Centre, named after his grandfather. At the time it was the single largest donation the university had ever received and represented a significant portion of the $3.7 million raised during the campaign. Subsequently, Canadore College enlisted Fedeli to serve as chair of their campaign to fund a School of Aviation. A donation of $100,000 was made by Fedeli to construct a lecture hall named after his father. Fedeli would later donate an additional $100,000 to Canadore saying he relied on the school as a source of staff when he started his advertising firm.

Fedeli served ten terms on the board of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, including as president in 1986. He has also served as director with Global Vision and the provincial government's Northern Businesses Support System. When the federal government moved 414 Squadron from Canadian Forces Base North Bay in 1992, most of the facilities were deemed surplus. While part of the complex was demolished, some of the base’s airfield facilities were sold to the non-profit Air Base Property Corporation in 1996, of which Fedeli served as the dollar-a-year chairman from inception until 2002. This period included a lawsuit against the Canadian government which resulted in a $3 million award to ABPC. The court settlement allowed the corporation to repair, enhance and market the property, as well as reimburse Fedeli for expenses he had incurred personally to keep ABPC alive. In large part because of his work with the ABPC Fedeli was named North Bay’s Citizen of the Year in 1999. Fedeli also received the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship in 1999, and was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.

In 1978, Fedeli returned to North Bay and opened Fedeli Advertising, at the time the only full-service marketing agency in Ontario north of Barrie. In 1989 Profit ranked the firm 34th on its list of 50 Best Places to Work in Canada. Fedeli was also recognized as one of Canada's Most Successful Entrepreneurs in an episode of MoneyMakers, hosted by Everett Banning. Fedeli Advertising was sold in 1992.

Victor Anthony "Vic" Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian entrepreneur, executive, philanthropist, and politician, serving as the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade of Ontario.