- Joe Fontana
:"This article is about the Canadian politician. For the fictional detective from "
Law & Order ", see Joe Fontana."Joseph Frank "Joe" Fontana, PC, (born
January 13 ,1950 inCellara ,Cosenza ,Italy ) was a Liberal member of theParliament of Canada for the riding ofLondon North Centre , inLondon, Ontario .In 1954 his father Ugo (a police officer), his mother Pearl and his sisters Anna and Maria emigrated from Italy to
Timmins, Ontario , (where another sister, Adrianna, was later born).He later studied chemical engineering at the
University of Waterloo , but left school after becoming the drummer in a rock band. While in the band he met his first wife Marilyn, with whom he had a son, Joey. They settled in London and Fontana briefly returned to school at theUniversity of Western Ontario , but left to work in real estate and the insurance industry.He opposed the building of a federal prison in London and soon became involved in local politics. In 1976 he ran for city council, representing Ward 3, but lost; in 1978 he also lost the Liberal nomination for the federal riding of London-Middlesex, but was elected to London City Council later in the year and served there until 1988, sitting on London's Board of Control from 1985 to 1988. In 1986 he married his second wife Vicky.
In 1988 he was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the opposition and served as Critic for Urban Affairs and Housing. He also formed the band "True Grit" with several Liberals including
Roger Gallaway and future prime ministerJean Chrétien (who played trombone). He became theOntario chair of the Liberal Caucus and was involved in the Task Force onVIA Rail and the Task Force on the Economy and Recession. In 1990 he supportedPaul Martin 's attempt to become leader of the Liberal Party.He was re-elected in 1993 and became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, playing a key role in, among other things, the introduction of the National Airports Policy. From 1996 to 1999 he served a record three times as chair of the National Liberal Caucus and in 1999 became chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration and the chair of the Southwestern Ontario Liberal Caucus.
He served as Minister of Labour in Paul Martin's
minority government untilFebruary 6 2006 , whenStephen Harper was sworn in as Prime Minister.He was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2006. Appointed as the critic for Science and Research within the Liberal shadow cabinet, Mr. Fontana was strongly speculated to be considering a run for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, though he ultimately did not seek the post, supporting
Gerard Kennedy instead. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060427/new_kennedy_leadership_060427/20060427?hub=TopStories]On
September 8 2006 , Fontana announced that he would run for Mayor in London against current MayorAnne Marie DeCicco-Best . OnSeptember 20 2006 , Fontana formally resigned his seat in the House of Commons in order to run for Mayor. [Hansard , 39th Parliament, 1st Session, Number 049, [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Pub=hansard&Ses=1#SOB-1640752] . Accessed21 September ,2006 .] [Hansard , 39th Parliament, 1st Session, Number 049, [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Pub=hansard&Ses=1#SOB-1641285] . Accessed21 September ,2006 .] He was unsuccessful, losing badly to Mayor DeCicco-Best. Fontana expressed his discontent for theLondon Free Press 's arguable bias for DeCicco-Best in the weeks prior to the election and stated "There is a benefit in not winning and that is because I am going to cancel my subscription to The London Free Press... I debated The Free Press more than the mayor". [London Free Press,November 13 ,2006 [http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/11/13/2350970.html] ]He resides in Arva, a few kilometres north of London.
References
External links
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=103&s=M Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]
Persondata
NAME=Fontana, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Fontana, Joseph Frank (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH=January 13 ,1950
PLACE OF BIRTH=Celare ,Cosenza ,Italy
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=
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