Joseph N. Tascona (born October 9, 1951) is a former politician in

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 Progressive Conservative 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 ...

representing the ridings of

Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford Barrie was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015. It consisted of the City of Barrie in the County of Simcoe County, Ontario, Simc ...

and

Simcoe Centre Simcoe Centre was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from parts of Grey—Simcoe, Simcoe Sou ...

from 1995 to 2007. He also served as an alderman for

Barrie City Council Barrie City Council is the governing body for the City of Barrie, in Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the Mayor of Barrie and ten councillors, who represent the ten wards of the city. The council postagendasfor council meetings. There are ...

from 1991 to 1995. In 2010 he ran for mayor of Barrie but lost to Jeff Lehman.

Background

Tascona is the son of Edna (Smith) and Joe Tascona. He has an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

and an

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from Queen's University, and worked as a prominent labour and employment lawyer before entering public life. He also worked for the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

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. Tascona also has a sister, Judy who is the mother of former Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown.

Politics

Tascona began his political career at the municipal level, serving on

from 1991 to 1995 as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in the City of Barrie's second ward. Tascona was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Barrie Public Library, and the Molson Hockey Centre and helping secure Barrie's waterfront land for public use. In the provincial election of 1995, he was elected in the riding of

, defeating Liberal Bruce Owen and incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Paul Wessenger by a plurality of over 17,000 votes. The Conservatives won the election and Tascona 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 of the

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 ...

government for the next four years. In the 1999 provincial election, Tascona was re-elected in the redistributed riding of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, defeating Liberal Maura Bolger by 18,345 votes. During his second term, Tascona was appointed 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 several ministers including the

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

, the

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and the Minister of Consumer and Business Services. Although the Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 2003 provincial election, Tascona was re-elected in his riding with a margin of victory of 9,531 votes. He was subsequently appointed opposition critic for the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

and

Government Service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busines ...

. Tascona was also elected as Second Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House. In April 2006, he introduced a private member's bill ''Restore the Deed Act'', calling for the protection of homeowners from title and mortgage fraud and such measures were implemented by the provincial government. In the 2007 provincial election, Tascona was defeated by

Aileen Carroll Margaret Aileen Carroll ( O'Leary; June 1, 1944 – April 19, 2020) was a Canadian politician. She served as a member of the House of Commons from 1997 to 2006 who represented the ridings of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford and Barrie. She served ...

in the new riding of

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

. In 2010, Tascona ran for mayor of Barrie. He was the first to register his name. He lost to Barrie city councilor Jeff Lehman on October 25.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tascona, Joseph 1951 births Barrie city councillors Living people McMaster University alumni Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario