Tony Ianno
Tony Ianno is a federal
Canadian politician with the
Liberal Party. He was first elected to the
House of Commons in
Trinity—Spadina in the
1993 election. He was re-elected in 1997, 2000 and 2004.
Ianno graduated from the
University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science degree. He and his wife, Christine Innes, have four children.
Ianno has long had trouble in the diverse and left-leaning riding of Trinity—Spadina, facing stiff competition from
Olivia Chow in the
1997 election and Michael Valpy in the
2000 election. In the
2004 election, Ianno again faced local city councillor Olivia Chow winning by an even slimmer margin.
In 2004 many were surprised to hear that Ianno had a trust fund set up by wealthy donors containing hundreds of thousands of dollars for his personal use.
He has won consistently with the strong backing of the Italian community, with Toronto's Little Italy in his riding. He is considered one of the Liberals' best organizers and claims to wield influence even after initially being denied a position in
cabinet despite his early support for
Paul Martin.
In 2004 it was revealed that Ianno had missed over 70% of all his committee meetings, by far the most of any Liberal MP. Ianno responded by saying it's not what is done in the House of Commons or in committees that matters, rather it is what one does in the backrooms. This did not save Ianno from being listed as the most useless MP by the
CBC. Despite this, Ianno was able to retain his seat in a close race with
Olivia Chow.
In the new Federal Cabinet, announced
July 20th,
2004, he rewarded with a low level cabinet post of Minister of State (Families and Caregivers).
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Ianno, Tony
