Peter Wong (Canadian politician)

After losing his job with the city in a round of austerity measures incumbent mayor Maurice Lamoureux had implemented in early 1982, Wong successfully challenged Lamoureux for the mayoralty in that year's municipal election.^[5] He was the city's first non-European mayor, as well as the third Chinese Canadian mayor ever elected in any municipality.^[6]

His term as mayor was marked by efforts to diversify the city's mining-based economy,^[7] as well as expansion of the city's extensive environmental remediation programs.^[7] Notable projects taking place during his term included the creation of Science North, an interactive science museum which launched in 1984,^[8] and the city's hosting of the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics.^[9] He also launched Action Sudbury, a municipal awareness campaign to combat drinking and driving, in 1984.^[10]

In 1989, Peter and Lynn Wong attended a parade in Sudbury, Massachusetts, as special guests on the occasion of that town's 350th anniversary.^[11]

In the 1991 municipal elections, former mayor Jim Gordon sought a return to office, and Wong was defeated.^[12]

He subsequently served on several municipal and provincial boards and commissions, including as a vice-chair of the Ontario Highway Transport Board and as chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund,^[4] as a chair of the local United Way, and as a board member of the Sudbury Regional Hospital.^[4]

In the 1997 municipal elections, the provincial government reformed the structure of the regional municipality, making the position of regional council chair a generally elected position for the first time. The position had previously been filled by a vote within council. Wong stood as a candidate and won over challenger Frank Mazzuca, becoming the municipality's first elected regional chair.^[4]

After serving less than a year in that office, Wong died of a heart attack on June 6, 1998, while attending a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Regina.^[4] On June 8, tributes to Wong were delivered in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by Rick Bartolucci and Shelley Martel,^[4] and on June 10, a tribute was delivered in the House of Commons by Ray Bonin.^[3]

Mazzuca, Wong's challenger in the 1997 election, won the by-election following Wong's death, and was the final chair of the regional municipality before its amalgamation into the current city of Greater Sudbury.