Elio Di Iorio

Elio Di Iorio (born August 10, 1971) is a municipal councillor in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He is one of the only elected politicians in Canada who is openly affiliated with the Green Party.

Related Topics:
August 10 - 1971 - Richmond Hill, Ontario - Canada - Green Party

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Di Iorio is on the board of Element Village, a nonprofit devoted to green building and the sustainable trades that actually build things. He has worked on the town's groundbreaking work in gathering statistics on all its greenhouse gas output to track federal Kyoto Protocol commitments. Among others, he has initiated a move to integrate renewable energy from various sources and on various scales to address energy sustainability in Richmond Hill, with a long term goal of achieving energy self-reliance for the municipality. He has also initiated high-level discussions regarding a possible ban of pesticides which is currently the subject of a final staff report to be submitted in 2005.

Related Topics:
Element Village - Green building - Sustainable trades - Greenhouse gas - Kyoto Protocol - 2005

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To extend this project he is working with the Civic Efficiency Group and Federation of Canadian Municipalities to bring CitiStat to the region, to help integrate these statistics into other regional and municipal reporting. Regionally, he has supported various initiatives widely seen as supporting "green" causes. He joined a group of 27 local and regional councillors from Toronto and his own adjoining York Region in support of the 2004 provincial greenbelt legislation.

Related Topics:
Civic Efficiency Group - Federation of Canadian Municipalities - CitiStat - Green - Toronto - York Region - Greenbelt

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Di Iorio ran in a 1999 byelection in York West for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, finishing in second place behind Judy Sgro. He left the party shortly thereafter, after finding himself at odds with personalities and motives that were dominating the party, choosing to focus on municipal issues instead. He ran for Richmond Hill Council in 2000, losing by 120 votes (2%). He was then successful in 2003 in winning the Ward 5 seat. At the same time, Elio had been introduced to the Green Party of Ontario and the Green Party of Canada, both of which he soon joined. He has stood very strongly for its participatory democracy principle and behind the Green Party of Canada Living Platform.

Related Topics:
1999 - Byelection - York West - Progressive Conservative Party of Canada - Judy Sgro - Green Party of Ontario - Green Party of Canada - Participatory democracy - Green Party of Canada Living Platform

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At the party's annual general meeting in 2004, Di Iorio was elected the party's international secretary. He speaks several languages including English, French, and Italian. He has also acted as the party's critic for urban and municipal issues.

Related Topics:
2004 - Urban

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In June 2005, he resigned from the GPC's national executive. His resignation letter accused party leader Jim Harris of poor leadership, and of mismanaging the party's finances. Di Iorio described Harris as "socially awkward, control-centric, and in my opinion, somewhat sociopathic".http://openpolitics.ca/tiki-index.php?page=Elio+Di+Iorio+resigns+from+GPC+Council%2C+2005-06-19.

Related Topics:
2005 - Jim Harris

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