Joseph Tascona

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Joseph N. Tascona (born October 9, 1951 in Barrie, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1995, and currently represents the riding of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford for the Progressive Conservative Party.

Tascona is the son of Joe Tascona, a Barrie used car dealer whose advertising dubbed him as "Honest Joe, the working man's pal". He is the uncle of Patrick Brown, the current Conservative federal MP for Barrie.

He has an M.B.A. from McMaster University and an LL.B. from Queen's University, and worked as a corporation lawyer before entering public life. At one stage, he worked for the Ford Motor Company in matters relating to production and labour relations. He has also written several articles for the Industrial Relations Centre at Queen's University on labour and employment law. On one occasion, he was named Most Valued Politician by the Alcona Business Association.

Tascona began his political career at the municipal level, serving from 1991 to 1995 as an alderman in the City of Barrie's second ward. In the provincial election of 1995, he was elected in the riding of Simcoe Centre, defeating Liberal Bruce Owen by over 17,000 votes (incumbent New Democrat Paul Wessenger finished third). The Conservatives won the election, and Tascona became a backbench supporter of the government of Mike Harris.

In the 1999 provincial election, Tascona was re-elected in the redistributed riding of Barrie--Simcoe--Bradford, defeating Liberal Maura Bolger by over 18,000 votes (making his riding one of the safest in the province for the Conservatives). He was later appointed a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education.

The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 2003 provincial election, although Tascona had little difficulty being re-elected in his riding (this time by just under 10,000 votes). He was subsequently appointed opposition critic for the Attorney General. In April 2004, he introduced a private member's bill calling for a price freeze on petroleum prices (for which action he was criticized by some right-wing groups in the province).

Tascona holds some socially conservative views, and circulated a petition against same-sex marriage in June 2003 (shortly after the Ontario Court of Appeal recognized the validity of such unions).

	Barrie
Political representation	Dave Aspden (Mayor), Patrick Brown (CPC, MP), Joe Tascona (PCO, MPP)
Education	MacLaren Art Centre - Barrie Public Library - Georgian College
Events	Live 8 - Kempenfest
Hospitals	Royal Victoria Hospital