Marianne Cerilli

Who is Marianne Cerilli?

Marianne Cerilli is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. She served as a New Democratic member of the Manitoba legislature from 1990 until 2003, though she was not called to cabinet when the party formed government in 1999.

Cerilli was born in Toronto, raised in Winnipeg, and was educated at the University of Manitoba. Before entering political life, she worked as a high school athletics coach, and was a counsellor in the Winnipeg School Division. She also worked at the Unemployed Health Centre of Winnipeg, and was a consultant to Manitoba Employment and Youth Services for three years.

Cerilli initially intended to run for the NDP in the north-end Winnipeg riding of Broadway in the 1990 provincial election, but lost the party nomination to Conrad Santos by one vote. She instead ran in the northeast Winnipeg riding of Radisson, where she defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Mike Thompson by almost 1500 votes. The Progressive Conservatives won the general election, and Cerilli joined nineteen other New Democrats in the official opposition. At the time she was the youngest woman ever elected to the Manitoba legislature.