Career
Li Preti received a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the University of Toronto and went on to complete a Masters of Education in School Psychology and Clinical Counselling. Li Preti was appointed to fill a vacancy on North York City Council in 1985 when former alderman Claudio Polsinelli ran for a seat in the provincial legislature. Representing the troubled Jane and Finch, he campaigned for development in the area, including extending the Spadina subway.
He also argued that the media was biased against the region, and attempted to set up a fund that would sue for libel any media outlet that spoke negatively of the area.
Prior to the 1993 federal election, Li Preti had sought the Liberal Party nomination in the York Centre riding. However, Liberal leader Jean Chrétien directly appointed Art Eggleton to run in the seat.
Besides Li Preti and his supporters, the appointment was criticized by several high profile Toronto Liberals including Joe Volpe, Dennis Mills, and John Nunziata. Allegations of racism against Italian-Canadians were also levelled.
After battling Chrétien in the media and in the courts, Li Preti eventually chose to run as an independent, branding himself an "independent Liberal" using the Liberal colour red, and promising voters he would ask to join the Liberal caucus in House of Commons if elected.
Unlike the pro-choice Eggleton, he took a pro-life position opposed to abortion. He emphasized his support for industrial development in many of the CFB Downsview lands in the riding that were being decommissioned. Li Preti came in a distant second polling 3,918 votes to Eggleton"s 27, 150.
In 1997 when North York was merged with Toronto and the other parts of Metro to form the new "megacity", he was elected to the new Toronto City Council in the 1997 He was also elected in 2000 and 2003 elections.
Several incidents occurred during advanced polling on the weekend of November 4–5, 2006, leading to Li Preti and Perruzza accusing each other of dirty campaigning and the breaking of numerous elections. Perruzza beat him by 579 votes.
The contest was repeated in the 2010 municipal election with Peruzza prevailing by 352 votes. Unofficial results as of October 26, 2010 03:55 american
