Robert Zambito

Robert Liborio Zambito is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He has served on the Montreal city council since 2009, representing Saint-Léonard-Est as a member of the Union Montreal party.

Robert Liborio Zambito
Montreal City Councillor for Saint-Léonard-Est
In office
2009–2013
Preceded byYvette Bissonnet
Succeeded byDomenico Moschella
Saint-Leonard Borough Councillor for Saint-Léonard-Est
Known as Grande-Prairie before 2005
In office
2001–2009
Preceded byposition created
Succeeded byLili-Anne Tremblay
Saint-Leonard City Councillor, Ward Ten
In office
1998–2001
Preceded byredistribution[1]
Succeeded byposition eliminated
Saint-Leonard City Councillor, Ward Twelve
In office
1986–1998
Preceded byMaurice Benoît
Succeeded byredistribution
Personal details
Political partyUnion Montreal (2001-2013)
Independent (2013-)

Early life and private career

Zambito was born in Italy.[2] He was a land surveyor in the 1980s and was described as president of Ciment National Inc. and Entreprises de construction Stertalco Inc. in 1986. He later worked as a travel-agency operator and real-estate broker.[3]

Early political career

Zambito was a Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec candidate in the 1985 provincial election, running in the Montreal division of Dorion. He focused his campaign on subsidized housing, community services for the elderly, and improved services at the city's Jean Talon Hospital. The Progressive Conservatives did not have a strong provincial base in Quebec, and Zambito finished fourth against Liberal Violette Trépanier on election day.[4]

Zambito was narrowly elected to the Saint-Leonard city council in the 1986 municipal election, winning as a Ralliement de Saint-Léonard (RdSL) candidate in the city's twelfth ward.[5] The RdSL won a majority on council, and Zambito initially supported mayor Raymond Renaud. In May 1988, Zambito and seven other councillors, led by Frank Zampino, charged that Renaud's administration was undemocratic and resigned from the party to sit as independents.[6]

Frank Zampino later consolidated the rebel group as the Parti municipal and was elected as Saint-Leonard's mayor in the 1990 municipal election. Zambito was re-elected to council as a Parti municipal candidate in 1990, 1994 and 1998.[7]

Post-amalgamation

All municipalities on the Island of Montreal were amalgamated into a single government in 2001, and Saint-Leonard became part of the new city of Montreal. Zambito was elected to the Saint-Leonard borough council in the 2001 municipal election as a candidate of the Montreal Island Citizens Union, which was later renamed as Union Montreal.[8] He was re-elected in 2005 and was elected to a seat on the Montreal city council in the 2009 municipal election.

In 2003 Zambito was up for re-election in St-Leonard and joined newly formed political party Equipe Coderre after his former party Union Montreal, under the former Mayor Gerald Tremblay, applied for dissolution after several raids were conducted by Montreal's anti-corruption squad (UPAC) and an investigation by the Charbonneau Commission.

Denis Coderre, mayoral candidate and party leader, removed Zambito from his party after Radio-Canada's investigative program Enquête, was planning to report that he had profited from a land deal by taking advantage of his position on council. Amidst allegations of a kick-back scheme Zambito dropped out of politics and is now working as a real-estate broker for Keller-Williams.

Italian politics

Zambito ran for the Italian Senate in that country's 2006 general election, as a candidate of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in an overseas Senate division reserved for Italian voters in North America and Central America.[9] He appeared on the ballot as "Liborio Zambito." Berlusconi's list was defeated by Romano Prodi's coalition, known as The Union.

Zambito subsequently broke with Berlusconi's party and sought election to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the 2013 Italian general election as a candidate of Mario Monti's With Monti for Italy coalition. Although Monti's list received enough votes for one regional seat, Zambito did not place first in the list's candidate preference votes and was once again not elected.

Electoral record
Montreal municipal
2009 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Saint-Léonard-Est division
2005 Montreal municipal election results: Saint-Leonard borough Councillor, Saint-Léonard-Est division
2001 Montreal municipal election results: Saint-Leonard borough Councillor, Grande-Prairie division
1998 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Ten
1994 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Twelve
1990 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Twelve
1986 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Twelve
Quebec provincial
1985 Quebec general election: Dorion
Party Candidate Votes%
LiberalViolette Trépanier12,72451.71
Parti QuébécoisHuguette Lachapelle10,22641.56
New DemocraticPaul Comtois6532.65
Progressive ConservativeRobert Zambito2901.18
Parti indépendantisteNormand Lacasse2681.09
HumanistAlain Despaties1550.63
CommunistLine Chabot760.31
United Social CreditRéal Bastien660.27
Commonwealth of CanadaM. Luisa Grau560.23
Christian SocialistAndré St-Arnaud550.22
N/A (Workers)Mario Caluori360.15
Total valid votes 24,605
Rejected and declined votes 453
Turnout 25,058 74.58
Electors on the lists 33,601
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
Italian
Party Votes % Senators
   The Union 32,036 38.03 1
   Forza Italia 25,556 30.33
   For Italy in the World with Tremaglia 11,604 13.77
   Union of Christian and Centre Democrats 9,412 11.17
   Independent Alternative for Italians Abroad 3,191 3.79
   Northern League 1,389 1.65
   Tricolour Flame 1,061 1.26
Total valid votes 84,249 100.00
The Union candidate preference votes
Renato Turano (elected) 12,097
Rocco di Trolio 7,675
Forza Italia candidate preference votes
Augusto Sorriso 8,898
Liborio Zambito 5,387
For Italy in the World with Tremaglia candidate preference votes
Carlo Consiglio 5,446
Vincenzo Centofanti 2,531
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats candidate preference votes
Vittorio Coco 3,906
Bernardo Paradiso 2,885
Independent Alternative for Italians Abroad candidate preference votes
Domenico Serafini detto Dom 1,471
Sonia Marcella Spadoni 922
Northern League candidate preference votes
Salvatore Rappa 807
Tricolour Flame candidate preference votes
Alfredo Viti 415

Source: ARCHIVIO STORICO DELLE ELEZIONI - Consultazione dati: Senato 09/04/2006, Area ESTERO, Ripartizione AMERICA SETTENTRIONALE E CENTRALE, Ministerio dell'Interno, Government of Italy, accessed 27 July 2011. Voters were not required to give a preference vote for any candidate.

References
  1. Reports from the Montreal Gazette indicate that the Saint-Leonard city council was reduced from twelve to ten members in 1998. Domenico Moschella had held the Ward Ten seat before redistribution; in 1998, he was re-elected in Ward Four. See Mike King, "Zampino, 8 councillors acclaimed in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 18 October 1994, A6; Irwin Block, "Second acclamation in a row for Zampino Series: Civic Elections '98," Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1998, A6.
  2. Candidato al Senato: Liborio Zambito, Italian/American Digital Project, accessed 17 July 2011.
  3. David Wimhurst, "Dorion: Three candidates feel they can win riding," Montreal Gazette, 29 November 1985, A7; Debbie Parkes, "Five new candidates join St. Leonard mayor's slate," Montreal Gazette, 2 October 1986, X8; Irwin Block, "Second acclamation in a row for Zampino," Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1998, A6; Jeff Heinrich, "When in St. Leonard, do as the Romans," Montreal Gazette, 5 March 2006, A3.
  4. David Wimhurst, "Dorion: Three candidates feel they can win riding," Montreal Gazette, 29 November 1985, A7; "How the province voted, riding-by-riding," Montreal Gazette, 3 December 1985, C6.
  5. Debbie Parkes, "Renaud wipes out St. Leonard opposition," Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1986, A8.
  6. Amorell Saunders, "Eight St. Leonard city councillors quit mayor's 'undemocratic' party," Montreal Gazette, 5 May 1988, A3.
  7. Mike King, "Zampino, 8 councillors acclaimed in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 18 October 1994, A6; Irwin Block, "Second acclamation in a row for Zampino," Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1998, A6.
  8. John MacFarlane and Angus Loten, "'We showed who's boss': Team Tremblay captures the east," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 2001, A7.
  9. Jeff Heinrich, "When in St. Leonard, do as the Romans," Montreal Gazette, 5 March 2006, A3.
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