Paul Calandra
Paul Calandra | |
|---|---|
| File:Paul Calandra Portrait.jpg | |
| Member of Parliament for Oak Ridges—Markham | |
| Assumed office 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Lui Temelkovski |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada and for Intergovernmental Affairs | |
| Assumed office September 19, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Dean Del Mastro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 13, 1970 Markham, Ontario |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Residence(s) | Stouffville, Ontario |
| Profession | insurance broker |
Paul A. Calandra (born May 13, 1970) is a Canadian politician. He was first elected to represent the electoral district of Oak Ridges—Markham in the 2008 Canadian federal election. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and in the past has been involved in the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and the Canadian Alliance. He is currently the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada and for Intergovernmental Affairs.[1]
Background
Prior to entering politics, Calandra was an insurance broker, from 1995 to 2003. He then served as chief of staff to Steve Gilchrist, who served as the Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP for Scarborough East in the government of Mike Harris.[2]
He ran as the federal Canadian Alliance candidate in the Scarborough East riding in the 2000 election, but lost to Liberal Party of Canada candidate John McKay.[2]
Politics
Following his election in 2008, in Calandra’s first term he sat on the Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics Committee, Citizenship and Immigration Committee, and the Government Operations and Estimates Committee.
During this term he also introduced two private member's bills. On June 19, 2009 he introduced ‘An Act to Change the Name of the Electoral District of Oak Ridges—Markham’,[3] and on March 11, 2011 he introduced ‘An Act Respecting the Establishment of a National Strategy for the Purchase and Sale of Second-Hand Precious Metal Articles.
He was re-elected in the 2011 election. In the 41st Parliament he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages where he sat on the Standing Committee for Canadian Heritage and formerly the Standing Committee on Bill C-11. His current position, as of September 2013 Paul Calandra was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.
As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Calandra was often called on to rise in the House of Commons during Question Period to field questions on behalf of the Prime Minister during the Senate Scandal (2013). This brought Calandra under a great deal of scrutiny for his perceived non-answers, deflections, and attacks, and prompted widespread backlash in the form of media articles, social media postings and even an automated humour website that allowed Canadians to ask questions and receive answers.[4] On 23 September 2014, Calandra's repeated refusal to acknowledge questions about Canada's involvement in Iraq led Thomas Mulcair to question the integrity of the Speaker of the House, who did not intervene. Calandra instead insisted on reiterating Canada's commitment to Israel, prompting Global News to describe the exchange as "unreal", and the Globe and Mail published an editorial stating "to call Mr. Calandra a clown is to do a disservice to the ancient profession of painted-face buffoonery".[5] On 26 September 2014, Calandra gave a tearful speech in Parliament in order to "unconditionally, unreservedly apologize to the House". [6]After the incident, the NDP introduced a motion that would allow the Speaker to crack down on irrelevant or repetitive answers.
Electoral record
| 2008 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Conservative | Paul Calandra | 32,028 | 42.2% | + 3.7% | ||||
| Liberal | Lui Temelkovski | 31,483 | 41.5% | - 5.5% | ||||
| New Democratic | Andy Arifin | 7,126 | 9.4% | - 0.5% | ||||
| Green | Richard Taylor | 5,184 | 6.8% | + 2.2% | ||||
| Total valid votes | 75,821 | – | +1.80% | |||||
| Turnout | – | 61.26% | ||||||
Template:Canadian federal election, 2000/Electoral District/Scarborough East
References
- ^ http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members/Paul-Calandra(30418)/Roles
- ^ a b "Paul Calandra will be federal Conservative candidate in Oak Ridges - Markham". King Township Sentinel, March 14, 2007.
- ^ "MP wants riding name to better reflect towns". Georgina Advocate, June 22, 2009.
- ^ "Ask Paul Calandra". Retrieved 2013-11-28.
- ^ "Unreal exchange in House of Commons over Canada's involvement in Iraq". Global News. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ^ O'Malley, Kady (28 Sept 2014). "Paul Calandra apologizes for non-answers as sources pin blame on PMO". CBC. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
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External links
- Paul Calandra, personal website
- Paul Calandra – Parliament of Canada biography
- Paul Calandra, Openparliament.ca