Paul Szabo - Politics

Politics

Szabo has long been involved with the Liberal Party. He was the party's candidate in Mississauga South for the federal elections of 1980 and 1984, losing to Progressive Conservative Don Blenkarn on both occasions (the first time by 473 votes, the second time by a greater margin). Szabo was first elected in the election of 1993, defeating both Blenkarn and Reformer John Veenstra by a significant margin.

He was re-elected in the 1997 election, easily defeating Reformer Joe Peschisolido (who later became a Liberal MP) and PC candidate Dick Barr. He won another comfortable victory in the 2000 election.

Szabo is known as one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus. He is pro-life, and has written two works on the perceived breakdown of traditional family values: Divorce - The Bold Facts and Strong Families Make a Strong Country. Szabo also led the opposition within the Liberal caucus to a bill permitting stem cell research, and has been credited with (or blamed for) modifying the final wording of the bill. He is also an opponent of same-sex marriage. In 2004, Szabo was awarded the Joseph P. Borowski Award for his pro-life activities.

Szabo has also promoted children's issues, and has brought forward private member's legislation to provide stiffer criminal sentences for abusers of women and children. He has supported greater funding for maternal and parental leave. Here, as well, Szabo's views are strongly influenced by social conservatism. He has described women's shelters as perpetuating a cycle of poverty, and believes that only a stronger emphasis on the family unit will provide a viable solution to poverty issues.

In addition to the two works mentioned above, Szabo has written four other monographs: Tragic Tolerance of Domestic Violence, The Child Poverty Solution, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - The Real Brain Drain and The Ethics and Science of Stem Cells.

Szabo has never been appointed to cabinet, though he served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2000 to 2003. He also served as chair of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group for four years.

In 2004, Szabo faced a serious challenge from Charles Sousa for the Liberal nomination in Mississauga South. Sousa was supported by many on the left-wing of the Liberal Party, and Szabo was supported by many on its right-wing. It has been speculated that Carolyn Parrish, Liberal MP for a neighbouring riding, was assisting Sousa, and that the Campaign Life organization was working for Szabo. Szabo won the challenge, 966 votes to 838.

The nomination proved to be Szabo's most difficult challenge in the 2004 campaign. Although the newly-founded Conservative Party of Canada targeted his riding, Szabo was able to win re-election with over 50% support.

In the 2006 election, Szabo faced a tough effort from Conservative candidate Phil Green (who also ran for the Conservatives in 2004), but still managed to win by just over 2000 votes.

Notably, Szabo was determined to have spoken the most words in the 38th Parliament—154,683 to be exact—by the How'd They Vote website.

On November 21, 2006, Szabo was honoured as "The Hardest-Working" Member of Parliament at the First Annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards ceremony held at the National Gallery in Ottawa. Sponsored by Macleans, l'Actualite and the Dominion Institute, the selection was based on an Ipsos-Reid survey of all 306 current Members of Parliament. On November 21, 2007, Szabo was honoured with the same award for a second consecutive year at a ceremony held at the Chateau Frontenac Hotel in Ottawa.

Szabo supported Michael Ignatieff's bid to become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention.

Among his many chairmanship appointments, his position as Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, commonly known as the "Ethics Committee", reached high-profile public recognition in late 2007 and early 2008 as the committee was convened to review the monetary and business dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian Karlheinz Schreiber.