Tony Grande

Anthony William (Tony) Grande (January 11, 1943—August 9, 2006) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1987, as a member of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP).

Early life and career

Grande was born in Calabria, Italy, and moved to Canada with his family at age eleven. [Mary Trueman, "New Democrat focuses on immigration", "Globe and Mail", 22 November 1975, p. 5.] He was educated at the University of Toronto, Lakeshore Teacher's College and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and worked as a teacher with the Toronto District School Board. Prior to his election, he was teacher liaison chair for the New Democratic Party. ["123 candidates seeking Metro's 29 seats", "Toronto Star", 12 September 1975, A8.]

Tony married Helen Grande (nee Schlanger) in 1974 and had three children: Aaron David Grande (1977), Daniel Robert Grande (1979) and Laura Simone Grande (1983).

In politics

Grande was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, and re-elected in 1977, 1981 and 1985. He served as NDP education critic in the early 1980s, and was reassigned as critic for citizenship, culture and special issues of education in 1983. [Robert Matas, "Ontario private schools given tax break", "Globe and Mail", 12 January 1982, P54; "NDP member to study poverty", "Globe and Mail", 20 September 1983, P5.]

Grande supported Bob Rae's successful campaign for the NDP leadership in 1982, and was subsequently asked to relinquish his seat to allow Rae to run for a position in the legislature. He declined, arguing that the local Italian community in his riding would be upset if he were forced to resign in favour of a non-Italian. [Judy Steed, "The NDP's optimistic scramble for a high-profile winner", "Globe and Mail", 2 February 1982, P7; Sylvia Stead, "MPPs sitting tight as Rae searches for place to run", "Globe and Mail", 23 June 1982, P5; Eric Dowd, "Perhaps Ticketmaster could find Tory a seat", "Guelph Mercury", 25 January 2005, A8.]

Grande was a strong advocate for multiculturalism and multicultural services during his time. He supported minority language rights in education, and in 1986 he introduced a Private Member's Bill that would have made it easier for students to be taught in languages other than English or French. [Mary Trueman, "New Democrat focuses on immigration", "Globe and Mail", 22 November 1975, p. 5; Louise Brown, "Battle looms over language in our schools", "Toronto Star", 2 February 1987, A14.] The bill died on the order paper when a new election was called in 1987. Grande was also an advocate for labour, and successfully represented three workers from a North York factory before the Ontario Labour Relations Board in 1979-80. [Stephen Strauss, "Don't want jobs back for spite, 2 dismissed workers tell board", "Globe and Mail", 5 February 1980, P5;"Three women win 2-year fight to be rehired by toy company", "Globe and Mail", 28 March 1980, P3.] He also supported the rights of tenants, and promoted legislation to permit persons over sixteen years of age to gain access to their medical records. [Susan Lesjak, "Vaughan Road tenants fight eviction notices", "Globe and Mail", 17 April 1986, A15 [tenants] ; Dorothy Lipovenko, "Bill would open files for patients", "Globe and Mail", 8 November 1984, M5 [medical] .]

The Progressive Conservative Party, which had governed Ontario since 1943, was reduced to a minority government in the 1985 election. After the election, the NDP provided outside support to allow the Liberal Party to form a new administration. The Liberal government was still popular in office after two years, and won a landslide majority government in the 1987 election. Grande lost his seat to Liberal star candidate Chaviva Hosek, and worked as a health and safety officer after leaving office. [Darcy Henton, "Close race shapes up in smallest city", "Toronto Star", 7 November 1988, A6.]

He campaigned for Mayor of York in 1988, describing the city's government as a "family compact" and promising to fight for an increased share of Metropolitan Toronto's tax base. [Paul Taylor, "York dying of neglect, says Grande in launching bid to be next mayor", ""Globe and Mail", 9 September 1988, A15; Paul Watson and Jim Byers, "Dumping cover-up alleged", "Toronto Star", 10 November 1988, A7.] He lost to moderate Tory candidate Fergy Brown.

Death

Grande died of cancer on August 9, 2006, following a four-year illness. His family requested that mourners give donations to Amnesty International or the Princess Margaret Foundation in lieu of flowers. [ [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/Deaths.20060812.93057536/BDAStory/BDA/ Anthony William Grande, obituary notice] , "Globe and Mail", 12 August 2006.]

Table of offices held

Electoral Record

Results taken from the "Globe and Mail" newspaper, 16 November 1988, A16. The final official results were not significantly different.

All provincial election information is taken from Elections Ontario.

Footnotes