Giuseppe "Joe" Volpe (born September 21, 1947) is a Canadian politician. He represented the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until 2011, when he lost his seat to Conservative candidate Joe Oliver. Volpe held two senior positions in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Cabinet from 2003 to 2006, and served as transportation critic when his party became the Official Opposition. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party leadership.
Background Volpe was born in Monteleone di Puglia, in southern Italy, and migrated to Canada with his family in 1955."Luciano Volpe aided son's Commons bid", Toronto Star, 13 May 1989, A8; Jane Taber, "Volpe to make an Italian homecoming", Globe and Mail, 6 November 2004, A7; Carol Goar, "The insurrection at Monteleone", Toronto Star, 10 November 2004, A30. Several of his relatives played leading roles in a local citizens' rebellion against Benito Mussolini's fascist government in 1942, the first such rebellion anywhere in Italy. See Jane Taber, "Volpe to make an Italian homecoming", Globe and Mail, 6 November 2004, A7; Carol Goar, "The insurrection at Monteleone", Toronto Star, 10 November 2004, A30. As a teacher, he taught in Stoney Creek from 1971 to 1974, headed the history department of a secondary school in Etobicoke from 1974 to 1979, and was head of multicultural studies in a college in Weston, Ontario between 1979 and 1982. He worked as a mortgage development officer in 1982–83, and was vice-principal of the James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School (which he helped found) between 1983 and 1988.In The Eighties (circa 1987) He was on staff at Brother Edmund Rice Catholic Secondary School The Federal Election: Riding Profiles , Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1997.
He is married to Mirella and they have four children.
Early political career
Volpe first became involved with the Liberal Party in the 1968 federal election, when he worked on Charles Caccia's campaign in Davenport. He ran for the North York Board of Education in the 1974 municipal election as a separate school representative, but was defeated.See Toronto Star, 30 November 1974, p. A16 for one of his campaign advertisements. He later ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1981 provincial election and narrowly lost to New Democratic Party incumbent Odoardo Di Santo in Downsview. The following year, he supported David Peterson for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership.Joe O'Donnell, "Drop support for accord Peterson being urged", Toronto Star, 1 June 1987, A1.
Volpe subsequently chaired the sponsoring group of an immigrant counseling agency called Alliance Community Services, which received a controversial $500,000 grant from the federal government in January 1984. Local municipal politicians Howard Moscoe and Maria Rizzo charged that the ACS was a partisan organization and that the grant was political patronage; Volpe and others rejected this charge. Maria Minna, the president of COSTI-IIAS Immigrant Services, opposed the grant on the grounds that the new organization would duplicate the work of her organization.Geoffrey York, "$500,000 grant to immigrant body is termed political", Globe and Mail, 6 January 1984. Local MP Roland de Corneille was also critical of the grant. Employment and Immigration Minister John Roberts retracted the grant following criticism, but later reversed himself and allowed it to proceed.Geoffrey York, "Roberts stands by grant to disputed Italian agency", Globe and Mail, 11 April 1984, M2. The ACS dissolved in early 1985.
Volpe increased his profile in the mid-1980s by recruiting many new Liberal Party members from Toronto's Italian community. He helped influence several party nomination contests, including John Nunziata's 1984 victory over Paul Hellyer in York South—Weston.James Rusk and Ross Howard, "Fleming quits, infighting starts in riding", Globe and Mail, 17 July 1984, P5. Some questioned Volpe's methods and suggested that he was manipulating the system by signing up "instant party members", a charge that he denied. He endorsed John Roberts in the 1984 federal Liberal leadership convention, and threw his support to Jean Chrétien on the second ballot after Roberts withdrew from the contest.Richard Cleroux, "Roberts favored by Liberal block", Globe and Mail, 11 May 1984, P5; Joe O'Donnell, "Ontario Liberals choose lawyer as new president", Toronto Star, 24 March 1986, A15. The winning candidate was John Turner, who led the Liberal Party to defeat in the 1984 federal election.
Volpe unsuccessfully campaigned for the presidency of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1985 and 1986, against media speculation that leading figures in the party opposed his candidacy.Ross Howard, "Spirits flag as fortunes sag for federal Grits", Globe and Mail, 22 June 1985, P5; Joe O'Donnell, "Ontario Liberals choose lawyer as new president", Toronto Star, 24 May 1986, A15. Despite Volpe's earlier support for Chrétien, he organized a pro-Turner slate for the Liberal Party's 1986 leadership review. Turner, who was faced with public and backroom challenges since 1984, received the necessary support to consolidate his leadership.Joe O'Donnell, "Turner wins 6 of 7 delegates in York North", Toronto Star, 22 October 1986, A7. Volpe spoke out against the Meech Lake Accord the following year, while most of the Liberal leadership supported it.Joe O'Donnell, "Trudeau will keep up fight over accord Liberals say", Toronto Star, 7 June 1987, A01.
Member of Parliament
Nomination challenge
Volpe successfully challenged sitting Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Rev. Roland de Corneille to win the party's nomination for Eglinton—Lawrence in the 1988 election. The contest was extremely divisive, with de Corneille alleging that Volpe was "trying to organize a group for his personal advantage" in recruiting new members from the riding's Italian community.Ross Howard, "Liberal MP urges party to protect incumbents", Globe and Mail, 2 December 1987, A3; Dan Smith, "De Corneille in nomination showdown as Liberals fight over Eglinton-Lawrence", Toronto Star, 26 April 1988, A16.
After losing the nomination, de Corneille endorsed Progressive Conservative candidate Tony Abbott, who was himself a former Liberal cabinet minister.Dan Smith, "Former Liberal minister seeks Tory nomination", Toronto Star, 6 October 1988, A20. Volpe defended his right to seek the nomination, arguing that Toronto's Italian residents were seeking to play a more active role in government.Linda McQuaig, "Minorities learn to win numbers game", Globe and Mail, 16 August 1988, A5. He also sought a reconciliation with de Corneille's supporters, many of whom were from the riding's Jewish community.Murray Campbell, "Nomination scars Liberals in Eglinton-Lawrence", Globe and Mail, 3 November 1988, A15. Volpe's nominator was Les Scheininger, who became president of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1989. See John Allemang, "New CJC head seeks better relations with Israel", Globe and Mail, 7 April 1989, A13. Despite the divisions engendered by his nomination, Volpe won a convincing victory on election day.Paul Hoy, "'True Grit' the big winner in battle marred by dissent", Toronto Star, 29 November 1988, N12.
Opposition member, 1988–1993
The Progressive Conservatives were re-elected with a majority government in the 1988 election and Volpe sat as a member of the official opposition for the next five years, serving as his party's revenue critic for part of this time.Sally Ritchie, "Small firm severely harassed owner says", Toronto Star, 18 July 1992, A10. During the constitutional debates of the early 1990s, he suggested that the Parliament of Canada (as opposed to the executive branch of government) should assume responsibility for reformulating the terms of Canadian Confederation. He argued that parliament represented a strong cross-section of Canada's population, saying that parliamentary initiative on constitutional reform could save millions of dollars on "needless commissions".Joe Volpe, "How Commons could be used to unify country", Toronto Star, 13 May 1991, A17; Carol Goar, "MP's faith in Parliament not shared by public", Toronto Star, 14 May 1991, A17.
Volpe supported Paul Martin in the 1990 federal Liberal leadership convention, which was won by Jean Chrétien.Colin Vaughan, "The City Grit Expectations", Globe and Mail, 27 April 1990, P21. He subsequently opposed some of Chrétien's reforms to the Liberal Party constitution, including a change that allowed the leader to appoint candidates in selected ridings. Several Chrétien supporters defended this as necessary to prevent "instant party members" from taking over the party nomination process; many believe the change was directed against both Volpe and the Liberals for Life group affiliated with MP Tom Wappel.David Vienneau, "Eggleton stands fast in riding flap", Toronto Star, 14 November 1992, A4.
Volpe remained one of Martin's most prominent Toronto-area supporters after 1990. Many political observers believe this association kept him out of cabinet during Chrétien's tenure as prime minister, from 1993 to 2003.
Government backbencher
The Liberals won a majority government in the 1993 election, and Volpe sat as a government backbencher in the parliament that followed.Tim Harper, "Silent majority GTA backbenchers have been conspicuous by their absence from parliamentary debate", Toronto Star, 30 December 1995, B1. He was elected chair of the Ontario Liberal caucus following the election, but unexpectedly lost the position to a challenge from Sue Barnes in 1995.David Vienneau, "Ontario backbench revolts", Toronto Star, 22 February 1995, A19. On 23 February 1996, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Health and Welfare. The ministry was renamed on 12 July 1996, and Volpe's position was restyled as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health, a position he held until 15 July 1998.
Volpe was easily re-elected to parliament in the 1997 election. His closest opponent was Progressive Conservative candidate David Rotenberg, a former minister in the provincial government of Frank Miller. Volpe later endorsed Mel Lastman's bid to become Mayor of Toronto in 1997 municipal election.Murray Campbell, "How style closed gap in megacity mayoral race", Globe and Mail, 8 November 1997.
Volpe served as chair of the all-party Commons Health Committee after the 1997 election. He brought forward a report in late 1998 encouraging the sale of herbal medicines in Canada, and advocating their regulation in a category separate from foods and drugs. The following year, his committee produced a series of recommendations for improving Canada's organ donation system.Tim Harper, "Labels urged for alternate medicines", Toronto Star, 25 March 1998, A11; Dennis Bueckert, "Door opened on herbal medicines", Hamilton Spectator, 5 November 1998, D2; Tim Harper, "Baby awaiting heart shows flaws in donor system", Toronto Star, 23 March 1999, p. 1; Tim Harper, "Network could end organ shortage in Canada", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 23 April 1999, A01.