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Laura Albanese Politi (born September 11, 1957) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2018 who represented the Toronto riding of York South—Weston. She served as a cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne. Prior to being elected, she worked as a news presenter for Italian language news programming on Omni Television working in Italian language programming.
Albanese worked in broadcast journalism spanning over two decades, from 1984 to 2007. She worked in Italian language programming at OMNI TV in a number of capacities. She was featured as Co-Anchor of OMNI News: Italian Edition, a one-hour daily Italian language newscast. She co-hosted Incontri with Vincenzo Somma. The show was an evening news show broadcast in the Italian language. Other shows that she worked on included Omni News: Italian Edition, Italianissimo, Telecorriere News, and Girotondo.
Albanese narrowly lost to Paul Ferreira of the New Democratic Party by 358 votes. Ferreira advocated raising the minimum wage from $8 to $10 which was opposed by the Liberal party. Voters were also angered by legislators who had recently given themselves a 25% pay increase. Eight months later Albanese was in a rematch with Ferreira in the 2007 provincial election. This time with a much larger voter turnout, Albanese edged Ferreira by 469 votes.
Albanese was appointed "Laura Albanese Dates of Service", Legislative Assembly of Ontario parliamentary assistant (PA) to the Minister of Culture, Aileen Carroll. Here she conducted an extensive Program Review on three specific cultural operating grants for Community Museums, Heritage and Public Libraries to modernize the formulas through which such grants are allocated.
During her first term as MPP, Albanese advocated for funding to build the Jane Street HubLisa Queen, "New health and social hub will work magic, health minister says", North York Mirror, April 16, 2010, a $6 Million investment toward building a new school for St. John the Evangelist, a major expansion at West Park Healthcare Centre with a push for a Community Benefits Agreement, full-day kindergarten, and introduced a Private Members Motion calling on the Province to embrace electrification and another calling on increased safety of residential neighbourhoods close to volatile fuels operations. She also introduced a Private Members Bill to eliminate the deduction of Old Age Security from workers compensation benefits.
Albanese was re-elected in the 2011 election.
In her second term she was appointed PA to the Minister of Labour where she prepared a report with recommendations to enhance Ontario's health and safety prevention capacity, by augmenting efforts to identify and reduce underground economic activities in the construction sector. This contributed to the implementation of Ontario's Integrated Health and Safety Strategy Government of Ontario, "Healthy and Safe Ontario Workplaces Strategy", Government of Ontario, December 12, 2018 and the appointment of the province's first Chief Prevention Officer. "Chief Prevention Officer Announced", Workplace Safety North, August 31, 2011
In February 2013, Albanese was appointed PA to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Michael Chan, where she represented the Minister and promoted the ministry at various events, conferences and forums.
In 2013, when Kathleen Wynne took over as Premier, Albanese was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier and also made Deputy Government Whip. In March 2014, she was also appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing but this was cut short soon after as the minority government was poised to lose a confidence vote on their budget bill due to not having the support of the NDP “despite including so many spending measures designed to win NDP support”CBC, Ontario heads for June election after NDP rejects budget, May 2, 2014]. Opting to go straight to the polls instead of waiting to be defeated in the legislature, Wynne triggered an unexpected election period on May 2, with election day set for June 12, 2014.
In the June 2014 election Albanese met Ferreira for a fourth time, and defeated him by 3,572 votes.
After the 2014 election Albanese was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance and also served as Caucus Chair. At Finance, Albanese led the five-year review of the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, 1994 which included an extensive in-person consultation tour across Ontario, and prepared a report outlining fifteen different recommendations, which were adopted and shaped amendments to the Act and related regulations.Ontario Newsroom, "Strengthening Credit Unions While Protecting Consumers", Ontario Newsroom, October 16, 2014Laura Albanese, "Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act, 1994 LEGISLATIVE REVIEW", Ministry of Finance, November 15, 2015 Later, Albanese led a series of roundtables and meetings to consult with experts and industry stakeholders to tackle tax avoidance schemes and practices. Albanese also had input in ways to better address the underground economy in Ontario across sectors.Anita De Vries, "DRHBA: Understanding the true cost of an underground economy", Toronto Sun, January 14, 2016Laura Albanese, "Addressing Ontario’s Underground Economy in the Residential Construction Sector: Final Report for the Minister of Finance On Behalf of Former Parliamentary Assistant Laura Albanese, MPP", Ministry of Finance, August 15, 2016
Albanese also held yearly pre-budget consultation town halls (both in-person and virtual town halls) across the province and in her local riding of York South-Weston.Ministry of Finance, "Province Seeking Public Input to Help Develop the 2016 Ontario Budget", Ontario Newsroom, February 3, 2016
In November 2015, Albanese introduced the Albanian Heritage Month Act as a Private Members’ Bill. It did not receive royal assent during the legislative session and needed to be reintroduced as early as Fall 2016 although Albanese could no longer introduce PMBs as a newly appointed Minister. The bill was introduced and passed in the Fall 2016 session by her Parliamentary Assistant, Dr. Shafiq Qaadri Laura Albanese, "ALBANIAN HERITAGE MONTH ACT, 2016", Ontario Hansard, October 6, 2016 but she was credited in bringing the legislation forward with the 2017 ACE Contribution to Albanian Community Award. "2017 ACE EVENING WITH NOMINEES" , Albanian Canadian Excellence, 2017
On June 13, 2016, Albanese was appointed to cabinet as the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Albanese's Mandate letter from the Premier reveals her priorities as a Minister.Kathleen Wynne, "September 2016 Mandate letter: Citizenship and Immigration", Premier of Ontario, September 23, 2016 Here Albanese successfully negotiated and signed the new Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA) and associated MOUs with the federal government.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, "Canada, Ontario to cooperate on maximizing the benefits of immigration", Newswire, November 24, 2017 Albanese also stabilized the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program (OINP) by securing an increase in the allocation of nominees from the Federal government, attaining a permanent increase in staffing and implementing an e-filing application system.former Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, "Ontario Welcoming Newcomers with Expanded and Modernized Immigration Program", Ontario Newsroom, May 31, 2017 Albanese secured increased investment for the Ontario Bridge Training Program.MARGARET JETELINA, "11 new bridge training projects for internationally trained immigrants in Ontario", Canadian Immigrant, August 11, 2016Helen Davis, "Good news for immigrant professionals in the Ontario 2018 budget", Toronto Region Immigration Employment Council, TRIEC, March 28, 2018 Strengthened programs and services aimed at helping newcomers and refugees overcome social and economic integration barriers through the Refugee Resettlement Secretariat. Albanese represented Ontario as a member of the Federal Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Irregular Migration, formed to respond to the irregular border crossings by asylum seekers.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, "Members of the Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Irregular Migration report on latest progress", Newswire, March 18, 2016 Albanese also published a progress report in 2016 on Ontario's Immigration StrategyLaura Albanese, "A NEW DIRECTION: ONTARIO’S IMMIGRATION STRATEGY 2016 Progress Report" , Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, date
With Premier Kathleen Wynne's increasing unpopularity leading up to the 2018 Ontario Provincial election and Doug Ford becoming the leader of the Conservative Party, Albanese lost an unprecedented number of votes to the Conservative Party candidate which led to her third-place defeat and the new Ontario NDP candidate, Faisal Hassan winning the seat.
Metrolinx planned to construct an 18 megawatt natural gas-powered backup power plant at the Eglinton LRT Carhouse, in Mount Dennis. In response the Mount Dennis Community Association prepared a petition voicing concern that a plant using a fossil fuel would cause unacceptable local pollution, when used. On July 23, 2016, Albanese met with representatives of the MDCA, and assured them that she would advocate to the provincial agency and to the Minister of Transportation to investigate less polluting alternatives to fossil fuels. She successfully changed the decision to build the 18-megawatt gas plant, and Metrolinx, together with Toronto Hydro, are building a battery energy storage system for backup power to the Eglinton LRT instead.Laura Howells, "'This is a dream': Residents welcome Metrolinx decision to cancel gas plant in Mount Dennis", CBC News, March 28, 2017AARON D'ANDREA, "Metrolinx planning to build battery backup system for Crosstown LRT", York Guardian, March 28, 2017
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Categories: 1957 Births, Canadian Television News Anchors, Canadian Television Reporters And Correspondents, Canadian Women Television Journalists, Italian Emigrants To Canada, Journalists From Toronto, Living People, Members Of The Executive Council Of Ontario, Ontario Liberal Party Mpps, People From Taranto, People From York, Toronto, People Of Apulian Descent, Politicians From Toronto, Women Government Ministers Of Canada, Women Mpps In Ontario, 21st-century Members Of The Legislative Assembly Of Ontario, 21st-century Canadian Women Politicians
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