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

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 Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the ridings of

Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford Prior to the 2015 election Barrie was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. It consisted of the City of Barrie in the County of Simcoe. It was created in 2003 whe ...

and

Simcoe Centre Simcoe Centre was a federal 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 South and Wellington—Dufferi ...

from 1995 to 2007. He also served as an alderman for Barrie City Council 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; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

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 and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

and an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

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 automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

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 Barrie City Council from 1991 to 1995 as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

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 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 ...

Bruce Owen Bruce Owen (May 24, 1931 – February 7, 2022) was a Canadian lawyer and politician in Ontario. He served as a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1990, representing Simcoe Centre for the ...

and incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as cultural ...

Paul Wessenger Paul Wessenger (born December 25, 1937) is a former Canadian politician in Ontario. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 who represented the central Ontario riding of Simcoe Centre. Ba ...

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 the " ...

supporter of the

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 ...

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 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 several ministers including the Minister of Education, 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 and

Government Service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

. 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 serve ...

in the new riding of

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

. 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 21st-century Canadian politicians