19 Facts About Vince Kerrio

Vincent George Kerrio was a businessperson and politician in Ontario, Canada.

Vince Kerrio served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1975 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government of David Peterson.

Vince Kerrio was the first Italian-Canadian to serve as a cabinet minister in Ontario.

Vince Kerrio began working in the family business, then Vince Kerrio Welding Works, in the 1930s.

Vince Kerrio became Kerrio and Germano Construction and later Kerrio Construction, and the younger Kerrio its president.

Vince Kerrio was the president of the Niagara Falls Curling Club.

Vince Kerrio was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative John Clement by 172 votes in the Niagara Falls riding.

Vince Kerrio was re-elected by greater margins in the elections of 1977 and 1981.

Vince Kerrio, easily returned in Niagara Falls, was appointed Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Energy on June 26,1985.

Vince Kerrio was retained in the former portfolio after the 1987 provincial election.

In 1988, Vince Kerrio prohibited mineral exploration and mining activities in Ontario provincial parks.

Vince Kerrio banned large-scale water exports from Ontario in 1989.

Vince Kerrio oversaw the reintroduction of the wild turkey to Ontario.

In 1988, Vince Kerrio approved the expansion of the Red Squirrel logging road, directly through Anishnabe territory in Temagami, Ontario, Canada.

Vince Kerrio was a prominent supporter of the "Beck 3" plan to build a third hydroelectric generating station on the Niagara River.

Vince Kerrio left cabinet on August 2,1989, and did not run for re-election in 1990.

Vince Kerrio remained a leading figure in Niagara Falls's Italian community.

Vince Kerrio died on October 30,2009, at Greater Niagara General Hospital where he had been hospitalized with leukemia for six months.

Vince Kerrio's spouse, Rose, died from natural causes on February 7,2021.