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

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1995 to 2003, representing a Brampton-area riding for the Progressive Conservative Party.

Background

Spina was educated at the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

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 * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

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

by just over 5,000 votes in the riding of

Brampton North Brampton North () was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It encompassed portions of Ontario formerly included in the electoral districts of Brampton—Springdale, Bramalea—Gore—Malton and Brampton West. Brampton North was ...

. 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—Danf ...

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 Gilles C. Bisson (born May 14, 1957) is a Franco-Ontarian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 until his defeat in the 2022 Ontario general election. From 1999 to 2022 ...

to "Speak English!" while Bisson was making a speech in French to mark the tenth anniversary of Ontario's ''

French Language Services Act French Language Services Act may refer to: * French Language Services Act (Ontario) The ''French Language Services Act'' () (the ''Act'') is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or ...

''. He increased his margin of victory in the 1999 provincial election in the redistributed riding of

Brampton Centre Brampton Centre () is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that is represented in the House of Commons of Canada. This riding was created in 1996 from parts of Brampton (federal electoral district), Bra ...

, defeating Liberal candidate Gurjit Grewal by over 10,000 votes. In 2000, he supported

Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a former Canadian politician who served as leader of the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001 and later as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alber ...

's bid to lead the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

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

backbench 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 t ...

supporter in the governments of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian 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. Taking the PC ...

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 Party of Ontario, Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership up ...

. He served as

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

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 Tony Peter Clement ('' né'' Payani; born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian former politician in the federal and Ontario governments. He was Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka and a federal cabinet minister in the Conservative Party ...

, then

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assemb ...

for the party's leadership in 2002. In the 2003 provincial election, he was defeated by Liberal candidate

Linda Jeffrey Linda Jeffrey (born née Linda Rooney) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. From 2003 to 2014 she was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the ridings of Brampton Centre and then Brampton—Springdale. She ...

by 1,005 votes. In the Canadian federal election of 2004, Spina ran for the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in the riding of

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) 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 increa ...

against high-profile

incumbent

Maurizio Bevilacqua Maurizio Bevilacqua (; born June 1, 1960) is a Canadian politician who served as the 4th mayor of Vaughan from 2010 to 2022. He was a Liberal member of Parliament (MP) from 1988 to 2010 and was one of eleven candidates for the 2006 leadershi ...

. 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 Politicians from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Windsor alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario