Eric Gordon Cunningham is a former politician in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 from 1975 to 1984, as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario Liberal Party

The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

.

Cunningham was born in Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, Ontario, and educated at the University of Western Ontario

University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...

 and McMaster University

McMaster University

McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...

. He worked as an advertising executive, was a founder of the Ontario New Liberal Association, and received a provincial recognition award in 1968.

He campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the 1974 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1974

The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...

 as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, and lost to Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 Bill Kempling

Bill Kempling

William James Kempling was a Canadian politician. Born in Grimsby, Ontario, he represented the electoral districts of Halton—Wentworth in the Canadian House of Commons from 1972 to 1979, and Burlington from 1979 to 1993....

 by 668 votes in Halton—Wentworth

Halton—Wentworth

Halton—Wentworth was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1979. It was located in the province of Ontario...

. He was elected to the Ontario legislature in a provincial election

Ontario general election, 1975

The Ontario general election of 1975 was held on September 18, 1975, to elect the 125 members of the 30th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

 the following year, defeating Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...

 incumbent Don Ewen by 1,977 votes in Wentworth North. He was re-elected by an increased majority in the 1977 election

Ontario general election, 1977

The Ontario general election of 1977 was held on June 9, 1977, to elect the 125 members of the 31st Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, and defeated Progressive Conservative challenger Ann Sloat

Ann Sloat

Frances Ann Sloat is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1984 to 1985, although she never actually sat in the assembly. Sloat was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.She was born in Stratford, Ontario, and was educated...

 in 1981

Ontario general election, 1981

The Ontario general election of 1981 was held on March 19, 1981, to elect members of the 32nd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

. He supported Jim Breithaupt

Jim Breithaupt

Lieutenant-Colonel James Roos Breithaupt KStJ, CD, OM, QC, MA, LLB is a former Canadian politician. His surname is pronounced as "bright-up". He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1984 as a member of the Liberal Party...

 for the Liberal Party leadership in 1982, and resigned from the legislature in 1984 to run federally a second time.

Cunningham was defeated in the 1984 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1984

The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...

, losing to Progressive Conservative candidate Geoff Scott

Geoffrey Scott (Canadian politician)

Geoffrey Douglas Scott is a former Canadian Member of Parliament for the riding of Hamilton—Wentworth. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada caucus....

 by over 10,000 votes amid Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney

Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...

's landslide victory across the country.

Cunningham joined United Water

United Water

United Water Resources, founded as Hackensack Water Company in 1869, has grown into one of the United States's largest water services companies. It is headquartered in Harrington Park, New Jersey. The company owns and operates water and wastewater utilities and also has contracts to operate...

 Canada in 1999, as vice-president of business development responsible for Canada.http://google.com/search?q=cache:b_eRoRtdQJQJ:www.dree.org/nafic/3%2520entree%2520dans%2520le%2520site/3%2520activites%2520and%2520events/2001/toronto/toronto%2520cd/pdf%2520Version/NAFIC%2520MEETINGprint.pdf+%22Eric+Cunningham%22+%22United+Water%22+MPP&hl=en In 2002, he told an interviewer that his company was investigating possibilities with several Canadian municipalities for private sector expansion in water treatment.http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-04-04/news_story8.php

Cunningham has also remained active in the Liberal Party. In 2004, he supported Tony Valeri

Tony Valeri

Tony Valeri, PC is a former Canadian politician. Valeri was the Canadian Government House Leader in Paul Martin's government from 2004 until 2006...

 over Sheila Copps

Sheila Copps

Sheila Maureen Copps, PC is a former Canadian politician who also served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from November 4, 1993 to April 30, 1996 and June 19, 1996 to June 11, 1997....

 for the federal party's contested nomination in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek

Hamilton East—Stoney Creek

Hamilton East—Stoney Creek is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.The riding was formed in 2003 from parts of the former ridings of Hamilton East and Stoney Creek....

.http://google.com/search?q=cache:u1z1lbkbE8AJ:www.bluedraft.com/vm/newca/visual_index.phtml%3Fclientpk%3D259%26langue%3Danglais%26visual%3D12%26user%3D%26id%3D121%26section%3D14%26parent%3D0+%22Eric+Cunningham%22+Ontario&hl=en