Albina Guarnieri (born June 23, 1953) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician. She was a Liberal member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2011 who represented the Greater Toronto Area ridings of Mississauga East and

Mississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East—Cooksville (french: Mississauga-Est—Cooksville) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. History It was created in 2003 from parts of Mis ...

. She served in the cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

as Minister of Veterans Affairs.

Background

Guarnieri was educated at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, where she graduated with a master's degree in English. As part of her thesis, she wrote a book called ''The cheese on the moon: a collection of short stories''. After graduating she worked for the federal government as a spokesperson for

Bob Kaplan Robert Philip "Bob" Kaplan, (December 27, 1936 – November 5, 2012) was a Canadian politician and lawyer. Life and career Born in Toronto, Ontario to Solomon and Pearl Kaplan and brother of Michael Kaplan. Kaplan attended and graduated from Fo ...

and also as a press liaison office for Stuart Smith, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. In 1981, she worked as an assistant to Toronto Mayor Art Eggleton but left after seven months "because of a disagreement". In 1984 she worked for ''Lowther Consulting'', a company owned by Jim Coutts who was a principal secretary for

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

. She and her husband live in Mississauga.

Politics

In 1988 Guarnieri was nominated in the new riding of Mississauga East after a fractious contest with another candidate, Armindo Silva. Silva contended that the vote, which Guarnieri won by a margin of 71, was marred by 'irregularities and improprieties'. He vowed to contest the result with the party's nomination board. The party hired police officers to control the crowd due to threats made against Guarnieri. The nomination board upheld the vote despite "deeply disturbing" voting irregularities but this decision was overturned by the Ontario party's executive board. A second, less contentious vote was held which Guarnieri won by a much wider margin. Guarnieri was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

in 1988 in a fairly close race with her Progressive Conservative opponent Laurie Pallett. She won all her subsequent elections in Mississauga East and after 2004 in

by wide margins. A longtime Martin loyalist, she was a relatively obscure

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the ...

during the Chrétien era. Martin named her

Associate Minister of National Defence The associate minister of national defence () is a member of the Canadian cabinet who is responsible for various files within the defence department as assigned by the prime minister or defence minister. The position was created in 1940 during W ...

and

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

for Civil Preparedness in his first

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. She moved to Veterans Affairs on July 20, 2004. She also served as Chair of the

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and Co-Chair of the Standing Committee on Official languages. She also served as Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister of Canadian Heritage The minister of Canadian heritage (french: ministre du patrimoine canadien) is the minister of the Crown who heads Canadian Heritage, the department of the Government of Canada responsible for culture, media, sports, and the arts. History The p ...

. In September 2010, Guarnieri announced that she would not seek re-election due to being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Cabinet posts

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guarnieri, Albina 1953 births Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Italian emigrants to Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people McGill University alumni Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry Politicians from Mississauga Women in Ontario politics 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada