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Sandra Pupatello

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Sandra Pupatello

Sandra Pupatello (née Pizzolitto; born October 6, 1962) is a Canadian politician. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2011 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Dalton McGuinty. Since 2025, she is a member of the Senate of Canada. In September 2025, she was appointed chair of the Government Representative's Office in the Senate.

Pupatello ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ontario in 2013; she placed second to Kathleen Wynne. She unsuccessfully ran for the federal Liberal Party in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Pupatello served as chair of Hydro One from 2014 to 2015.

Pupatello is married to Jim Bennett, a former leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party.

Pupatello was born Sandra Pizzolitto in Windsor, Ontario. She became politically active by campaigning for Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Herb Gray in the 1970s. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Windsor (1986). She remained in the city after her graduation, serving as general manager of the city's Rotary Club and executive director of the Essex County Kidney Foundation of Canada. She was also a board member of the Windsor Regional Hospital and Windsor Regional Children's Centre and was president of the Fogolar Furlan Club. Pupatello was named "Italian of the Year" for Windsor-Essex County in 1996, received the Charlie Clark Award for Outstanding Service from the University of Windsor in 2001, and was named "Windsor Woman of the Year" in 2003.

Pupatello was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Arlene Rousseau by 5,526 votes in Windsor—Sandwich. The seat had previously been held by New Democrat George Dadamo, who did not seek re-election. The Progressive Conservative Party won a majority government in the election, and Pupatello entered the legislature as an opposition Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP). During her first term, she served as Official Opposition Critic for Community and Social Services, Children's Issues, Youth Issues, and the Management Board of Cabinet.

Pupatello was co-manager of Dwight Duncan's 1996 campaign to lead the Ontario Liberal Party. Like Duncan, she supported Gerard Kennedy on the final ballot.

Pupatello was re-elected by a landslide in the 1999 provincial election for the redistributed constituency of Windsor West, while the Progressive Conservatives were re-elected to a second consecutive majority government. Pupatello remained a member of the opposition frontbench, serving over the next four years as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Official Opposition Critic for Health and Long-Term Care.

She was a vocal critic of the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves governments, frequently criticizing cutbacks to child care and other programs. In 1997, she introduced a Private Member's Resolution intended to stop cutbacks to hospital funding. She later criticized the Progressive Conservative government's plans to introduce a private MRI clinic, arguing that it posed a long-term threat to public health care.

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