Laura Albanese
| Laura Albanese | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ontario MPP | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Ferreira |
| Constituency | York South—Weston |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 11, 1957 Taranto, Italy |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Germinio Pio Politi |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Laura Albanese (born September 11, 1957) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in 2007. She represents the riding of York South—Weston. Albanese worked as a news anchor for Italian language news programming on Omni Television working in Italian language programming.
Background
Albanese was born in Taranto, Italy, in 1957. In her youth, she moved back and forth between Canada and Italy. She settled in Canada in 1981 and has lived in York South-Weston ever since, with her husband, artist Germinio Pio Politi, her two adult children and her mother.
Albanese worked in broadcast journalism spanning over two decades, from 1984 to 2007.[1] She worked in Italian language programming at OMNI TV in a number of capacities. She was featured as Co-Anchor of OMNI News: Italian Edition, a one hour daily Italian language newscast. She co-hosted Incontri with Vincenzo Somma. The show was an evening news show broadcast in the Italian language.[2] Other shows that she worked on included Omni News: Italian Edition, Italianissimo, Telecorriere News, and Girotondo.
Politics
Albanese was nominated as the Liberal candidate for the February 8, 2007 provincial by-election in the riding of York South—Weston. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Joe Cordiano, who resigned his seat for personal reasons.[3] The appointment of Albanese as the Liberal candidate was contested by David-Paul Sip, another potential candidate. Sip said that his candidacy was ignored by the riding association who wanted someone who would appeal to the riding's large Italian-speaking community. Sip launched a lawsuit against the Liberal party but Albanese remained as the Liberal candidate.[4]
Albanese narrowly lost to Paul Ferreira of the New Democratic Party by 358 votes. Ferreira advocated raising the minimum wage from $8 to $10 which was opposed by the Liberal party. Voters were also angered by legislators who had recently given themselves a 25% pay increase.[3] Eight months later she was in a rematch with Ferreira in the 2007 provincial election. This time with a much larger voter turnout, she edged Ferreira by 469 votes.[5][6]
Albanese was appointed parliamentary assistant (PA) to the Minister of Culture, Aileen Carroll. During her first term as MPP, Albanese advocated for funding to build the Jane Street Hub, a $6 Million investment toward building a new school for St. John the Evangelist,[7] a major expansion at West Park Healthcare Centre,[8] 11 full day kindergartens in the first year of the program, and introduced a Private Members Motion calling on the Province to embrace electrification and another calling on increased safety of residential neighbourhoods close to volatile fuels operations. She also introduced a Private Members Bill to eliminate the deduction of Old Age Security from workers compensation benefits.
She was re-elected in the 2011 election.[9][10] In her second term she was appointed PA to the Minister of Labour and subsequently PA to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
In 2013, when Kathleen Wynne took over as Premier, Albanese was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier and also made Deputy Government Whip. In the June 2014 election she met Ferreira for a fourth time, and defeated him by 3,572 votes.[11]
As of July 2014, she is Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance and also serves as Caucus Chair.
Electoral record
| Ontario general election, 2014 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ** Preliminary results — Not yet official ** | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Liberal | Laura Albanese | 15,719 | 47.99 | +3.44 | ||||
| New Democratic | Paul Ferreira | 12,147 | 37.08 | -5.40 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Andrew Ffrench | 3,672 | 11.21 | +0.11 | ||||
| Green | Jessica Higgins | 826 | 2.52 | +0.99 | ||||
| Freedom | Eric Compton | 250 | 0.76 | +0.27 | ||||
| Independent | Abi Issa | 144 | 0.44 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 32,758 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | +4.42 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[11] | ||||||||
| Ontario general election, 2011 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Liberal | Laura Albanese | 13,862 | 44.7 | +1.8 | ||||
| New Democratic | Paul Ferreira | 13,020 | 41.9 | +0.5 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Lan Daniel | 3,461 | 11.1 | +1.0 | ||||
| Green | Keith Jarrett | 477 | 1.5 | -2.3 | ||||
| Freedom | Eric Compton | 177 | 0.6 | 0.0 | ||||
| Independent | Mark Radejewsky | 46 | 0.1 | 0.0 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 31,043 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Ontario general election, 2007 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Liberal | Laura Albanese | 13,812 | 42.9 | +1.5 | ||||
| New Democratic | Paul Ferreira | 13,343 | 41.4 | -1.9 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Karen McMillan-Aver | 3,249 | 10.1 | -0.2 | ||||
| Green | Anthony Gratl | 1,225 | 3.8 | +2.4 | ||||
| Libertarian | Marco Dias | 382 | 1.2 | |||||
| Family Coalition | Mariangela Sanabria | 214 | 0.7 | 0.0 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 32,225 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Ontario provincial by-election, February 8, 2007[12] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Paul Ferreira | 8,188 | 43.3 | +24.0 | ||||
| Liberal | Laura Albanese | 7,830 | 41.4 | -20.2 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Pina Martino | 1,941 | 10.3 | -4.9 | ||||
| Green | Mir Kamal | 262 | 1.4 | -1.1 | ||||
| Independent | Kevin Clarke | 220 | 1.2 | |||||
| Independent | Mohammed Choudhary | 142 | 0.8 | |||||
| Family Coalition | Mariangela Sanabria | 139 | 0.7 | -0.8 | ||||
| Libertarian | Nunzio Venuto | 98 | 0.5 | |||||
| Freedom | Wayne Simmons | 77 | 0.4 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 18,897 | 100.0 | ||||||
References
- ↑ Collins, Michelle (December 26, 2006). "News anchor seeking Liberal nomination in High Park". The Globe and Mail. p. 22.
- ↑ Smith, Diane (July 15, 1989). "Whatever language, the news gets through". The Globe and Mail. p. 9.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Campbell, Murray; Karen Howlett (February 9, 2007). "NDP grabs Liberal seat in Ontario by-elections". The Globe and Mail.
- ↑ Skinner, Justin (February 1, 2007). "Liberal supporter sues Liberal party". York Guardian. p. 1.
- ↑ Rankin, Jim (October 12, 2007). "Rematch tilts Albanese's way; Ex-TV journalist 'tired but happy' to edge NDP's Ferreira eight months after close loss in by-election". Toronto Star. p. A19.
- ↑ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 18 (xxvii).
- ↑ Kim, Clark (September 14, 2011). ".School lobbies for new building instead of addition". York Guardian. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ↑ Kim, Clark (August 24, 2011). "West Park to renovate and expand". York Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 18, 2013. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ Kim, Clark (October 7, 2011). ".YORK SOUTH-WESTON: Albanese edges Ferreira". York Guardian. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
- ↑ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 20>.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "General Election by District: York South-Weston". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014.
- ↑ "By-election 2007: York South-Weston". Elections Ontario. February 8, 2007.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Albanese. |
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