Tina R. Molinari (born October 25, 1956) 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. She was a
Progressive Conservative member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2003, serving as an associate minister and member of the Cabinet in the government of
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, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...
. As of 2007, she works as a
Justice of the Peace.
School trustee
Molinari served as president of a local Parent Teacher Association, and was elected to the
York Catholic District School Board
The York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 42 prior to 1999) is the English-language public-separate school district authority for the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canad ...
in 1988. She served as chair of the board from 1994 to 1998, and was also given a Catholic School Trustees Association Trustee Award of Merit in 1998.
Provincial politics
Molinari was elected to the Ontario legislature in the
provincial election of 1999, 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 ...
candidate Dan Ronen in the riding of
Thornhill.
Molinari's bid for election was almost derailed early in the campaign when one of her pollsters asked constituents how they felt about being represented by a candidate who was the son of a
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
survivor (Ronen's father had survived internment at
Auschwitz, and Thornhill has a large
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
population). She overcame this controversy, however, and defeated Ronen by 343 votes.
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, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...
replaced
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 ...
as
Premier of Ontario on April 15, 2002, and he appointed Molinari as an
Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with responsibility for urban affairs.
There were some who believed that Molinari would be re-elected in the
provincial election of 2003, because of her party's support for a tax credit to parents who send their children to private or denominational schools. This issue was important to some members of Toronto's Jewish community, and Dan Ronen even chose to endorse Molinari for re-election because of her party's stand on this single issue.
While she polled better than most other Tories in the
Greater Toronto Area, Molinari was not able to overcome a provincial shift to the Liberals and lost to local councillor
Mario Racco by 796 votes.
Later life
In 2004, Molinari was appointed to a post in
Catholic Missions in Canada. Some regarded this appointment as controversial, given Molinari's
pro-choice
Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pr ...
views on
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
. She has organized and hosted an annual fundraiser to raise funds for Catholic Missions within Canada.
Molinari campaigned for the Ward Four council seat in the
2006 Vaughan municipal election, and lost to
Sandra Yeung Racco, the wife of the former Thornhill MPP who unseated Molinari in 2003.
On May 18, 2007, Ontario's
Attorney General Michael Bryant announced Molinari's appointment as a justice of the peace.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molinari, Tina
1956 births
Living people
Politicians from Toronto
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs
Women MPPs in Ontario
21st-century Canadian politicians
21st-century Canadian women politicians
Canadian justices of the peace
Ontario school board trustees