campaign for mayor of Toronto in the 2003 election, being part of the leadership of the group "Grits for Tory". Toronto municipal elections are officially non-partisan, however, Tory was a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. Sousa ran against sitting Mississauga South member of Parliament (MP) Paul Szabo for the federal Liberal nomination in 2004, but was defeated in a tightly fought but amicable campaign. This would mark the start of a long-running rivalry between Sousa and Szabo for influence in that riding. In 2014 Sousa backed Sven Spengemann for the federal Liberal nomination against Szabo's preferred candidate, Julie Desjardins with Spengemann winning by only 19 votes as Szabo and Desjardins felt that the nomination was stolen. In the 2018 provincial election, Szabo backed PC party candidate Rudy Cuzzetto. Sousa ran for the federal Liberal nomination in Mississauga—Erindale in 2006 but was defeated as well. Provincial politics Entering provincial politics Sousa won the riding of Mississauga South in the 2007 provincial election, defeating incumbent Tim Peterson. Formerly a Liberal, Peterson had crossed the floor in March 2007 to join the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party). Analysts had expected the vote to be extremely close, but Sousa ultimately won the riding with 46.8 per cent of the popular vote, a margin of just over 5,000 votes more than Peterson. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2014. He was appointed as a parliamentary assistant to three different ministries before Dalton McGuinty promoted him to cabinet in 2010 as Minister of Labour. In October 2011, he was moved to the position of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He was also made minister responsible for the PanAm/ParapanAm Games. In 2008, Sousa introduced a private member's bill to track and report industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) waste. He also introduced a private member's resolution to improve financial literacy education amongst youth. He also facilitated passage of the Payday Loans Act to protect Ontario consumers against predatory lending. In 2011, he introduced and passed Bill 160 – the Occupational Health and Safety Statute Law Amendment Act to create a Chief Prevention Officer and a new prevention council within Ontario's Ministry of Labour. He also introduced and received unanimous support for Bill 181, the Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act (2011), addressing protection for Ontario firefighters and duty of fair representation. In November 2012, he resigned from his cabinet positions in order to