Education and early career
She is of Italian descent, from the regions of Marche and Abruzzo, and raised Catholic. Tassi studied law at the University of Western Ontario, and then practised corporate law for six years. She subsequently left the legal profession and studied philosophy and religious education at the University of Waterloo, and began working as the chaplain at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School, a job she held until her election to the House of Commons.Political career
Tassi's first run for elective office was as a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1995 Ontario general election, 1995 provincial election, where she finished a narrow second to Ontario New Democratic Party, NDP incumbent David Christopherson. Two decades later, she became the federal Liberal candidate in Hamilton during the 2015 Canadian federal election, 2015 federal election. Her candidacy attracted some media controversy, as she had made statements in the past suggesting that her Roman Catholic faith made her personally opposed to abortion, which seemingly put her in conflict with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's requirement that all candidates agree to vote in favour of abortion rights. Trudeau clarified that Tassi had agreed to support the legal right to abortion. Prior to entering federal politics, Tassi was a Catholic school board trustee. After previously serving as Party Whip (Canada), Deputy Government Whip, Tassi was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Seniors on July 18, 2018, becoming the first minister responsible for the portfolio since 2015. After being re-elected in 2019 Canadian federal election, 2019, Tassi was named Minister of Labour (Canada), Minister of Labour, a job she held for just under two years until she was named Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Receiver General for Canada in the cabinet shuffle held following the 2021 Canadian federal election, 2021 federal election. Tassi served in that job until August 31, 2022, when she was named Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, having requested to be moved to a portfolio with a lighter workload in order to deal with a family health matter.Electoral record
Federal
Provincial
References
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