How Greg Sorbara changed Ontario politics — and what comes next

I met Greg Sorbara for the first time when he was a 39-year-old rookie cabinet minister in Premier David Peterson’s government. The year was 1985, and the province’s 42-year-long Progressive Conservative dynasty had just ended, the result of some hugely unlikely Liberal victories. 

Sorbara’s in York North was one of them. The riding had been reliably Tory for 40 years. But Sorbara felt the call of politics. His wife Kate Barlow did not, but Sorbara assured her that, by the time the blossoms fell off the trees at their home in Richmond Hill, his quixotic political adventure would be over.

The PCs had a huge lead entering that ‘85 campaign, but things changed. Instead of enjoying a brief political adventure, Sorbara spent two decades as an MPP, eventually becoming the number two guy in government.

Last Friday, he turned 80 — one of those big numbers that seems to grab your attention and prompt reflection. “It’s getting close to the end of the exercise,” Sorbara says. He told me that he’s had a Frank Sinatra lyric running through his head recently, and broke into song: “And now, the end is near….”

That’s from “My Way,” written by Canada’s own Paul Anka. But to me, Sorbara’s life very much resembles another Sinatra tune, “Come Fly with Me.” That’s because he’s still so engaged in so many things — and seems to be focused on the future.

Sorbara was born in Toronto on September 4, 1946. While his two older brothers gravitated towards the family property development business, Sorbara […] This is an excerpt. Read the full article at TVO.org.