Bob Wong
Robert Charles Wong was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He was the first Canadian of Chinese descent to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, represented the downtown Toronto riding of Fort York from 1987 and 1999 as a Liberal. He served as a cabinet minister in the provincial government of David Peterson, making him the first Canadian of Chinese descent to serve in a provincial cabinet.
Background
Wong was educated at the University of Toronto, York University, Harvard University, and the University of Waterloo, earning Bachelor of Science and M.B.A. degrees. He was a special assistant of the minister of national health and welfare, John Munro, from 1968 to 1970. He also served as special advisor to Stanley Haidasz, Canada's first minister of state for multiculturalism in 1972. Wong later served as president of the Toronto District Liberal Association from 1974 to 1976, and of the Ontario Chinese Liberal Association in 1986. He also chaired the Toronto Ontario Olympic Committee, and was a member of the Multicultural Advisory Council.In private life, Wong served as chair of Goulding, Rose & Turner Ltd., and was a director of May Mikkila Inc., Abico Management Ltd., Multilingual Television Ltd., Channel 47 Toronto and Sky Continental Management Inc. He established the first brokerage office in Toronto's Chinatown, and was named analyst of the year for 1980 by Financial Times of Canada. He also is the author of "Computing: An Introduction" and the co-author of "Algorithms", both published in 1967.
Politics
Wong was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Joe Pantalone of the New Democratic Party by 137 votes in the downtown Toronto riding of Fort York. His election made him the first Canadian of Chinese descent elected to Queen's Park, and the fifth Chinese Canadian to hold elected office at the federal or provincial levels.He was appointed to cabinet on September 29, 1987 as minister of energy. On August 2, 1989, he was named minister of citizenship responsible for race relations, multiculturalism and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. He is the second visible minority person to serve in the Ontario provincial cabinet, and the first Chinese Canadian cabinet minister in Canada.
The Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, and Wong lost the Fort York riding by about 1,500 votes to Rosario Marchese. He sought to return to the legislature in the 1995 election, but lost again to Marchese by over 2,000 votes.
Wong supported Gerard Kennedy for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.
Cabinet positions
Later life and death
Wong was later appointed chair of the Canadian Automobile Association Ontario's Government and Public Affairs Committee. He was later vice-chairman and portfolio manager with Leon Frazer & Associates, and was a board member of the Royal Ontario Museum.Wong died on December 16, 2025, at the age of 84.