Filomena Tassi
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Filomena Tassi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Tassi in 2019 | |
| Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario | |
| In office August 31, 2022 – December 20, 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Helena Jaczek |
| Succeeded by | Ruby Sahota |
| Minister of Public Services and Procurement Receiver General for Canada | |
| In office October 26, 2021 – August 31, 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Anita Anand |
| Succeeded by | Helena Jaczek |
| Minister of Labour | |
| In office November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Patty Hajdu |
| Succeeded by | Seamus O'Regan |
| Minister of Seniors | |
| In office July 18, 2018 – November 20, 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Office re-established |
| Succeeded by | Deb Schulte |
| Deputy Government Whip | |
| In office January 30, 2017 – August 31, 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
| Preceded by | Ginette Petitpas Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Linda Lapointe |
| Member of Parliament for Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas | |
| In office October 19, 2015 – March 23, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | David Sweet |
| Succeeded by | John-Paul Danko |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1962 (age 63–64)[citation needed] Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Party | Liberal |
| Alma mater | |
| Profession |
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Filomena Tassi PC is a Canadian politician who served as the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Liberal Party, Tassi represented the riding of Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas in the House of Commons, taking office following the 2015 federal election. She served as the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Receiver General for Canada from 2021 to 2022, as the Minister of Labour from 2019 to 2021, and as the Minister of Seniors from 2018 to 2019. She did not seek re-election in 2025.
Tassi is of Italian descent, from the regions of Marche and Abruzzo, and was raised Catholic.[1] She studied law at the University of Western Ontario, and then practised corporate law for six years. She subsequently left the legal profession and studied philosophy and religious education at the University of Waterloo, and began working as the chaplain at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School and Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School, a job she held until her election to the House of Commons.[2]
Political career
Tassi's first run for elective office was as a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1995 provincial election, where she finished a narrow second to NDP incumbent David Christopherson. Two decades later, she became the federal Liberal candidate in Hamilton during the 2015 federal election. Her candidacy attracted some media controversy, as she had made statements in the past suggesting that her Roman Catholic faith made her personally opposed to abortion, which seemingly put her in conflict with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's requirement that all candidates agree to vote in favour of abortion rights. Trudeau clarified that Tassi had agreed to support the legal right to abortion.[3]
Prior to entering federal politics, Tassi was a Catholic school board trustee.[4]
After previously serving as Deputy Government Whip, Tassi was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Seniors on July 18, 2018, becoming the first minister responsible for the portfolio since 2015.[5] After being re-elected in 2019, Tassi was named Minister of Labour, a job she held for just under two years until she was named Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Receiver General for Canada in the cabinet shuffle held following the 2021 federal election.[6] Tassi served in that job until August 31, 2022, when she was named Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, having requested to be moved to a portfolio with a lighter workload in order to deal with a family health matter.[7]
Tassi did not seek re-election in the 2025 Canadian federal election.[8] Liberal John-Paul Danko succeeded her as Member of Parliament for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.[9]