12 Facts About Tony Ianno

Anthony "Tony" Ianno was born on 1957 and is a businessman and a former Canadian politician.

Tony Ianno is the cousin of former Ontario MPP and cabinet minister Joseph Cordiano.

Tony Ianno was a long-time political organizer and helped a number of Italian-Canadians win federal and provincial Liberal nominations in Toronto in the 1980s.

Tony Ianno was a key figure in organizing support among Toronto's large Italian-Canadian population for Jean Chretien during the 1990 Liberal leadership campaign.

Tony Ianno was nominated in the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, but was defeated by New Democratic Party incumbent Dan Heap.

Tony Ianno ran again in the 1993 election and was elected in a Liberal sweep where they won nearly every seat in Ontario.

Tony Ianno continued to represent Trinity-Spadina for the next 13 years until he was defeated in 2006.

Tony Ianno narrowly held the diverse downtown riding through four federal elections, facing strong competition from New Democratic Party candidates.

Tony Ianno narrowly defeated Toronto city councillor Olivia Chow in the 1997 election and The Globe and Mail journalist Michael Valpy who ran for the NDP in the 2000 election.

On July 20,2004, Tony Ianno was appointed to the junior position of Minister of State in Paul Martin's cabinet following the Liberals' re-election.

Several gaffes by the Liberals reflected negatively on Tony Ianno, including when Mike Klander made posts on his blog comparing Chow to a Chow Chow dog and calling her husband an "asshole".

Tony Ianno accepted a plea deal which had him pay a $100,000 fine and was banned from working as a stock trader for five years.