Alma mater University of Toronto Party Ontario Liberal Party Children 1 Education University of Toronto | Political party Liberal Role Politician Preceded by Peter Fonseca Name Dipika Damerla | |
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Portfolio Minister without portfolio Responsible/Associate Minister for Long-term Care (2014-present) Profiles | ||
Preceded by Portfolio Established | ||
A Second Act in Political Life
Dipika Damerla, is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville. She serves as Minister of Seniors Affairs in the Cabinet of Premier Kathleen Wynne.
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Background
Damerla was born in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (Present day Telangana). After emigrating to Canada she earned her MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She worked in corporate banking at the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Nova Scotia. Prior to the election she was Senior Policy Advisor to Ontario's Minister of Economic Development and Trade. She lives in Mississauga with her daughter, Sharmeila.
Politics
Damerla is a member of the Ontario Liberal Party. She won a tough 2011 nomination race to be the Liberal candidate for Mississauga East—Cooksville, beating Nancy Fonseca (the sister of previous Mississauga East—Cooksville MPP Peter Fonseca). She beat her nearest rival, Progressive Conservative Zoran Churchin by 4,238 votes in the 2011 provincial election.
In November 2011, she was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure. In April 2012, Damerla introduced a resolution to reform the 1998 Condominium Act. Her resolution would help facilitate disputes between condiminium boards and owners. She said that the current system is long and costly. She said, "the act provided a dispute resolution process which was right for that time and the place. However, 14 years later, times have changed. Our province is a very different place now." The resolution passed first reading in June.
She was re-elected in the 2014 provincial election.
Cabinet Minister
In June 2014, Damerla was appointed as an Associate Minister (minister without portfolio) for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care focusing on long-term care. She then succeeded Mario Sergio as Minister responsible for Seniors Affairs, another minister without portfolio position, in a June 13, 2016 cabinet shuffle.
Damerla was appointed Minister of Seniors Affairs, leading a new standalone ministry created from the former Ontario Seniors' Secretariat, on January 12, 2017.