Joe Spina (born September 21, 1946) is a former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, representing a Brampton-area riding for the Progressive Conservative Party.

Background

Spina was educated at the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree in 1975. He was the owner and president of Amplexus Communications from 1981 to 1995 and served as president of the Brampton Board of Trade in 1989-90. He was also a founding chair of the Brampton and Vaughan Santa Claus Parades.

Politics

Spina was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Carman McClelland John Carman McClelland (September 22, 1951 – June 1, 2022) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He was an Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995 who represented the riding of Brampton North. He was subseque ...

by just over 5,000 votes in the riding of Brampton North. This riding is located in "905 belt", a suburban region which provided the Ontario Tories with their strongest support base in this period. On two occasions during his first term in office, Spina attracted controversy for making inflammatory comments while heckling opposition members speaking in the legislature. On November 6, 1996, while

Marilyn Churley Marilyn Churley (born May 7, 1948) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2005 who represented the downtown Toronto ridings of Riverdale and Toronto—Danfor ...

was speaking about the government's handling of a proposed new school breakfast program, Spina yelled "Why don't you go home and take care of your own kids?", and on November 18, 1996 he yelled at Gilles Bisson to "Speak English!" while Bisson was making a speech in French to mark the 10th anniversary of the provincial

French Language Services Act The ''French Language Services Act'' (french: Loi sur les services en français) (the ''Act'') is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or French-speaking people, in the province. T ...

. He increased his margin of victory in the 1999 provincial election in the redistributed riding of Brampton Centre, defeating Liberal candidate Gurjit Grewal by over 10,000 votes. In 2000, he supported Stockwell Day's bid to lead the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...

on the second ballot of the new federal party's leadership vote. Spina served as a backbench supporter in the governments of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

and

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...

. He served as

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...

to six cabinet ministers. In 2001, he introduced a private member's bill attempting to increase public awareness of congenital heart defects. He supported Tony Clement, then Jim Flaherty for the party's leadership in 2002. In the 2003 provincial election, he was defeated by Liberal candidate Linda Jeffrey by 1,005 votes. In the Canadian federal election of 2004, Spina ran for the Conservative Party of Canada in the riding of

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

against high-profile

incumbent Maurizio Bevilacqua. He was defeated, losing to Bevilacqua by almost 20,000 votes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spina, Joe 1946 births Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Living people People from Brampton People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Windsor alumni