Tony Ianno

Anthony "Tony" Ianno[1] PC (born 1957) is a businessman and a former Canadian politician. He served as a Liberal Party of Canada MP representing Trinity—Spadina (1993–2006) and Minister of Families and Caregivers (2004–06).

Tony Ianno
Member of Parliament
for Trinity—Spadina
In office
October 25, 1993  January 23, 2006
Preceded byDan Heap
Succeeded byOlivia Chow
Personal details
Born (1957-01-02) January 2, 1957
Toronto, Ontario
Political partyLiberal
SpouseChristine Innes
Children4
Residence(s)Toronto, Ontario
ProfessionBusinessman
CabinetMinister of State for Families and Caregivers (2004-2006)

Personal life

Born on January 2, 1957, 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. His wife, Christine, was the Liberal candidate for Trinity-Spadina in the 2008 federal election and 2011 federal election.

Politics

Ianno was 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 campaign.[2]

He first ran for Federal office in the 1988 election, as part of a group of four Liberals who, according to author William Johnson, "brought a new turbulence to the politics of Metro Toronto."[3] The group, which included Joe Volpe, Armindo Silva, and Jasbir Singh, worked together and used aggressive tactics to secure nominations in the Toronto area.[4] Ianno was nominated in the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, but was defeated by New Democratic Party incumbent Dan Heap.

He ran again in the 1993 election and was elected in a Liberal sweep where they won nearly every seat in Ontario. Ianno continued to represent Trinity-Spadina for the next 13 years until he was defeated in 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 the riding. Ianno defeated Toronto city councillor Olivia Chow in the 1997 election and The Globe and Mail journalist Michael Valpy who ran for the NDP in the 2000 election. In the 2004 election, Ianno again faced councillor Chow and managed to win re-election, 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 (Families and Caregivers) in Paul Martin's cabinet following the Liberals' re-election.

During the 2006 election, Ianno faced off against Chow for the third time. This time she narrowly 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 her husband an "asshole".[5][6] Klander apologized for the remark and resigned.

Later life

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 leadership campaign to replace Martin.[7] On April 8, 2006, Mr. Ianno told Canadian Press that he decided to run for the party presidency, in which he was unsuccessful.[8]

Electoral record

1988 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%
New DemocraticDan Heap15,56538.55
LiberalTony Ianno15,08237.35
Progressive ConservativeJoe Pimentel8,61821.34
LibertarianPaul Barker4941.22
RhinocerosJohn Douglas4441.10
IndependentSukhdev S. Grewal1270.31
IndependentCharles Shrybman490.12
Total valid votes 40,379
1993 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalTony Ianno19,76951.14+13.79
New DemocraticWinnie Ng10,43026.98-11.57
Progressive ConservativeLee Monaco3,1298.09-13.25
ReformPeter Loftus3,0277.83
NationalPatrick Kutney8812.28
GreenChris Lea6231.61
Natural LawAshley James Deans3911.01
LibertarianPaul Barker2830.73-0.49
Marxist–LeninistFernand Deschamps740.19
AbolitionistRobert Martin520.13
Total valid votes 38,659
1997 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalTony Ianno18,21545.30−5.84
New DemocraticOlivia Chow16,41340.81+13.83
Progressive ConservativeDanielle Wai Mascall2,7936.95−1.15
ReformNolan Young1,6494.10−3.73
GreenSat Singh Khalsa3920.97−0.64
Natural LawAshley Deans1940.48−0.53
IndependentJohn Roderick Wilson1590.40
Marxist–LeninistJ.-P. Bedard1400.35+0.16
Canadian ActionThomas P. Beckerle1300.32
IndependentRoberto Verdecchia1290.32
Total valid votes 40,214100.00
2000 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalTony Ianno19,04147.41+2.11
New DemocraticMichael Valpy15,33238.17-2.64
Progressive ConservativeJohn E. Polko2,1995.47-1.48
AllianceLee Monaco2,1355.32+1.22
MarijuanaPaul Lewin6401.59
GreenMatthew Hammond5331.33+0.36
Marxist–LeninistNick Lin1010.25-0.10
Natural LawAshley Deans960.24-0.24
CommunistJesse Benjamin880.22
Total valid votes 40,165
Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.
2004 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalTony Ianno23,20243.55−3.86$68,821
New DemocraticOlivia Chow22,39742.04+3.87$77,070
ConservativeDavid Watters4,6058.64−2.15$34,598
GreenMark Viitala2,2594.24+2.91$1,330
Progressive CanadianAsif Hossain5311.00$24
Marxist–LeninistNick Lin1020.19−0.06$164
Canadian ActionTristan Alexander Downe-Dewdney910.17N/A
IndependentDaniel Knezetic890.17$3,103
Total valid votes 53,276100.00
Total rejected ballots 3290.61
Turnout 53,60563.7
Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.
2006 Canadian federal election: Trinity—Spadina
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticOlivia Chow28,74846.03+3.99$78,702
LiberalTony Ianno25,06740.14−3.41$66,373
ConservativeSam Goldstein5,6259.01+0.36$22,879
GreenThom Chapman2,3983.84−0.40$165
Progressive CanadianAsif Hossain3920.63−0.37$257
Marxist–LeninistNick Lin1380.22+0.03
Canadian ActionJohn Riddell820.13−0.04$25
Total valid votes 62,450100.00
Total rejected ballots 2780.44−0.17
Turnout 62,72870.9+7.2

References

  1. "Former MP Ianno to pay OSC $100,000 over trades".
  2. "CBC News - Viewpoint: Larry Zolf". Archived from the original on October 23, 2005.
  3. Montreal Gazette, Jul 15 1988
  4. A Word on Two Retiring Incumbent MPs, Pundits' Guide to Canadian Federal Elections. October 2010.
  5. NDP's Olivia Chow wins bid for seat on third try. CTV News. January 24, 2006. "CTV.ca | NDP's Olivia Chow wins bid for seat on third try". Archived from the original on 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  6. "Liberal exec quits over his blog remarks about NDPers". CBC News. December 27, 2005. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  7. "Archived". Archived from the original on March 2, 2006. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  8. Liberal hopefuls try out their lines in Edmonton meet, CBC News. April 8, 2006.
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