Martin Silva is a politician and radio personality in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

Biography

Born in Sever do Vouga

Sever do Vouga

Sever do Vouga is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 129.6 km² and a total population of 12,977 inhabitants, and 11,354 electors...

, Aveiro, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, he emigrated to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in August 1968, where he gained popularity in the Portuguese community as a radio announcer on CHIN Radio

CHIN (AM)

CHIN is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts multilingual programming at AM 1540 in Toronto, Ontario. The station, owned by CHIN Radio/TV International, also has an FM rebroadcaster at 91.9 to fill in reception gaps in parts of the Toronto area — this should not be confused with CHIN-FM,...

. In 1973 he hosted a Portuguese language morning show called Ecos de Portugal and continued with Wake Up Portuguese Style in 1982.

He was elected to the Toronto City Council

Toronto City Council

The Toronto City Council is the governing body of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors....

 in 1988 as Ward 4 councillor. A member of the New Democratic Party's Toronto caucus, he was re-elected in 1991 and 1994. Silva was the Ontario New Democratic Party

Ontario New Democratic Party

The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...

's candidate in Parkdale

Parkdale (electoral district)

Parkdale was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979. It included the community of Parkdale in the western part of Toronto...

 in the 1995 provincial election

Ontario general election, 1995

The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...

 but was defeated by incumbent Liberal

Ontario Liberal Party

The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 MPP Tony Ruprecht

Tony Ruprecht

Tony Ruprecht is a former Canadian politician. His first elected position was as an alderman in the old Toronto City Council, in the late 1970s. He became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1981, and served in premier David Peterson's cabinet as minister without portfolio from...

.

He wasn't re-elected in the 1997 municipal election, when he came third after Joe Pantalone

Joe Pantalone

Joe Pantalone is a former Canadian politician, city councillor for Ward 19, one of two wards in Trinity—Spadina. He served as deputy mayor under David Miller from 2003 to 2010...

 and Mario Silva

Mario Silva

Mario Silva, is a Canadian politician and a former Canadian Member of Parliament. Silva is a former a Toronto City Councillor and acting mayor."Acting Mayor" is a non-elected position. For example, the sets out the duties and powers of their Acting Mayor. Other cities will no doubt have somewhat...

 in a newly formed ward. There appeared to be some confusion amongst voters as he shared the same last name with Mario Silva.

After the election he served as a union representative for the Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees Union (HERE)

UNITE HERE

UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with more than 265,000 active members The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries...

, Local 75 and then returned to CHIN Radio in late 2001.

On February 1, 2006, Toronto City Council appointed Silva to fill the vacancy in Ward 20 that was created when Olivia Chow

Olivia Chow

Olivia Chow is a Canadian New Democratic Party Member of Parliament and former city councillor in Toronto. She won the Trinity—Spadina riding for the New Democratic Party on January 23, 2006, becoming a member of the Canadian House of Commons. Most recently, she was re-elected in her riding for...

 decided to run in the federal riding of Trinity-Spadina. Silva served as councillor until the 2006 municipal election

Toronto municipal election, 2006

The 2006 Toronto municipal election took place on 13 November 2006 to elect a mayor and 44 city councillors in Toronto, Ontario. In addition, school trustees were elected to the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest...

in November 2006. A condition of the appointment was that he wasn't allowed to run as a candidate in that election.