Tony Ianno
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198213674
2008-03-14T16:00:49Z
Earl Andrew
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<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:Ianno.jpg|right|frame|Hon. Tony Ianno|{{deletable image-caption|1=Wednesday, 3 October 2007}}]] -->'''Tony Ianno''', [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|PC]], [[Bachelor of Science|B.Sc]] (born [[January 2]], [[1957]]) is a Canadian [[politician]] and businessman. He served as a [[Liberal Party of Canada]] [[Member of the Canadian House of Commons|MP]] representing [[Trinity-Spadina]] (1993-2006) and Minister of Families and Caregivers (2004-06).
==Political Career==
Ianno is a long-time political organizer and helped a number of Italian-Canadians win federal and provincial Liberal nominations in Toronto in the 1980s. He also was a key figure in organizing support among Toronto's large Italian-Canadian population for [[Jean Chrétien]] during the 1990 [[Liberal leadership conventions|Liberal leadership campaign]] [http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_zolf/20020722.html].
====Trinity-Spadina====
He first ran for office in the [[Canadian federal election, 1988|1988 election]] in the [[Toronto]] riding of [[Trinity-Spadina]], but was defeated by [[New Democratic Party]] incumbent [[Dan Heap]]. He was first elected to the [[Canadian House of Commons|House of Commons]] in the [[Canadian federal election, 1993|1993 election]] which saw the Liberals sweep into power and win nearly every seat in [[Ontario]]. Ianno was re-elected in [[Canadian federal election, 1997|1997]], [[Canadian federal election, 2000|2000]] and [[Canadian federal election, 2004|2004]], and was defeated in [[Canadian federal election, 2006|2006]].
While most Ontario seats were easily won by the Liberals under Prime Minister [[Jean Chrétien]], Trinity—Spadina was closely fought each time. Ianno narrowly held the diverse downtown riding through four federal elections, facing strong competition from [[New Democratic Party]] candidates. Much of his support came from the Italian, Portuguese and Chinese areas. Toronto's traditional Little Italy and Chinatown areas are in Trinity-Spadina. Ianno narrowly defeated Toronto city councillor [[Olivia Chow]] in the [[Canadian federal election, 1997|1997 election]] and [[Globe and Mail]] journalist [[Michael Valpy]] who ran for the NDP in the [[Canadian federal election, 2000|2000 election]]. In the [[Canadian federal election, 2004|2004 election]], Ianno again faced councillor Chow and managed to win re-election by a slim margin, as the Liberals were reduced to a minority government due to the [[Sponsorship Scandal]].
On [[July 20]], [[2004]], Ianno was appointed to the junior position of [[Minister of State (Canada)|Minister of State]] (Families and Caregivers) in [[Paul Martin]]'s cabinet following the Liberals' re-election.
During the [[Canadian federal election, 2006|2006 election]], Ianno faced off against Chow for the third time. This time she defeated him, winning 46% of the vote to Ianno's 40%. Some attributed Ianno's loss to his perceived support for the [[Toronto Port Authority]] and the [[Toronto City Centre Airport]]. Although Ianno did not have an official role in the Authority's creation or policies, he nonetheless defended a controversial payout to the Authority as compensation for the cancellation of the Island Airport Bridge.
His party's proposal redress the Head Tax also did not help his campaign, as the Liberals had not consulted many of the major Canadian-Chinese groups (despite claiming to), the promised amount was reduced to from $12.5 million to $2.5 million, and the pre-condition was that the government would make no apology, while the three opposition parties pledged to make a full apology. Several gaffes by the Liberals also reflected negatively on Ianno, including when [[Mike Klander]] (the executive vice-president of the federal Liberals' Ontario wing) made posts on his [[blog]] comparing Chow to a [[Chow Chow]] dog and calling [[Jack Layton|her husband]] an "[[asshole]]". [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1135637428938&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News]
====Liberal Party of Canada Leadership Bid====
After the election, the ''[[Globe and Mail]]'' reported on [[February 11]], [[2006]] that Ianno had been "burning up the caucus phone lines" testing the waters for a possible bid in the [[Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006|Liberal leadership campaign]] to replace Martin. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060211.wxliberal0211/BNStory/National/home]
On April 8, Mr. Ianno told [[Canadian Press]] that he decided to run for the party presidency, in which he was unsuccessful. [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/04/08/libs-060408.html]
He has recently been re-nominated to once again run against Chow in Trinity-Spadina.
==Personal==
Born in [[Toronto, Ontario]], Ianno graduated from the [[University of Toronto]] with a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree. He and his wife, Christine Innes, have four children. He is also the cousin of former [[Ontario]] MPP and cabinet minister [[Joseph Cordiano]].
==External links==
*[http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=145&s=M&md=1 Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]
*[http://www.tonyianno.ca Tony Ianno's Website]
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[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Canadians of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian Roman Catholics]]