TORONTO – Sixteen elected, distributed in the main federal parties, three new faces. These are the data relating to the candidates of Italian origin who managed to win the seat in the last federal elections on September 20th. Nine MPs were elected from the ranks of the Liberal Party, five with the Conservative Party, one in the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. At the provincial level, the largest representation continues to be in Ontario, with nine MP winning their respective electoral race, while five Italian Canadians are elected in Quebec. In British Columbia, finally, we find two new parliamentarians expression of our community, both at the first experience at the House of Commons. 

Francesco Sorbara takes his third victory in a row, after those of 2015 and 2019, in the Vaughan-Woodbridge district. If in the past the liberal deputy had defeated Julian Fantino and Teresa Kruze, this time he got the better of another Italian Canadian, Angela Panacci: Sorbara scored 21,699 votes (46%), while the opponent stopped at 19,019 votes (40.4%).

In the Humber River-Black Creek constituency, the liberal Judy Sgro had no problems whatsoever, totaling 60.7 percent of the preferences (in all, 19,533 votes) far exceeding the other candidate of Italian origin Matias de Dovitiis. For SGRO, in parliament since the 1999 by-elections, this is the ninth legislature.

No problem even for the grit Marco Mendicino in the Eglinton-Lawrence district. The outgoing Immigration Minister, in the House of Commons since 2015 – when he defeated harper’s minister, Joe Oliver – has totaled a total of 23,939 votes.

Filomena Tassi was reconfirmed in the district of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas – with 44.3 percent of the votes (27,845 votes). The former Minister for the Elderly is also in her third legislature, after the victories of 2015 and 2019.

Conservative Tony Baldinelli defends the Niagara Falls seat. The outgoing Italian-Canadian deputy, who reaches 38 percent of the vote (26,810 votes), beat the liberal Andrea Kaiser for the second time, after winning the elections two years ago.

And the Elgin-Middlesex-London district also remains a conservative flag thanks to the reconfirmation of Karen Vecchio. For the Tory MP, who has totalled 31,372 votes, it is the third consecutive experience in the House of Commons.

In the Peterborough-Kawartha district we find the first new face. This is the conservative Michelle Ferreri, who with 39 percent of the preferences (27,402 votes) beat the former minister of the federal government Maryam Monsef. Before entering politics, Ferrari was a television journalist for the local Peterborough channel CHEX-DT.

Also in Ontario, the Italian Canadian Eric Melillo won the reconfirmation in Kenora. The Conservative MP – elected very young for the first time in 2019 at just 21 years old – obtained 11,103 votes (42.5 percent), beating the Italian-Canadian challenger David Bruno.

The outgoing Speaker of the House also returns to Ottawa. Anthony Rota, author of the historic speech in Italian at the House of Commons after being elected president of the House, easily wins in the Nipissing-Timiskaming district, with 18,047 votes.

In Quebec, after the victory of 2019, Julie Vignola, Bloc mp, repeats the success. For the autonomist MP, 15,146 voters voted, equal to 31.1 percent.
Also in the French-speaking province, in the Montreal area, we find four other deputies of Italian origin, all elected in the Liberal Party.
Angelo Iacono with 47.8 percent of the vote wins in the district of Alfred-Pellan, which he represents continuously since 2015. Patricia Lattanzio was also elected in the electoral district of Saint Leonard-Saint Michel, a result that doubles the victory of 2019: for the parliamentarian 29,000 votes, equal to 69.4 percent.

In Lac-Saint-Louis Francis Scarpaleggia is reconfirmed. For the liberal MP, in parliament since 2004, it will be the seventh consecutive legislature: totaled 30,777 votes.

Back to the House of Commons David Lametti. For the former Justice Minister, who easily wins in LeSalle-Emard-Verdun district with 43 percent of the vote (20,330 votes), it is the third experience at the House of Commons.

In British Columbia, finally, we find two new faces. In the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo constituency, the conservative Italian Canadian Frank Caputo beats the competition with 42 percent of the preferences (30,281 votes), while in Port Moody-Coquitlam Bonita Zarrillo wins the seat after the defeat in 2019: the new NDP Mp totals 19,367 votes, equal to 37 percent.