Alfonso Gagliano

Alfonso Gagliano, PC (born January 25, 1942) is a Canadian accountant and a former Liberal Party politician.

Born in Siculiana, Italy, his political career began in 1977 when he ran for a seat on the then Jérôme-LeRoyer school board, which no longer exists and used to cover the East End of Montreal Island. In the 1984 federal election, he ran for Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Anjou narrowly defeating the Progressive Conservative candidate. It was one of the few ridings that the Liberals retained, as they were swept out of power in a massive Conservative landslide. He was re-elected in the 1988 and 1993 elections representing Saint-Léonard, and in the 1997 and 2000 elections representing Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.

In 1965, Gagliano married Ersilia Gidaro and with her bore three children; Vincenzo, Maria and Immacolata.

From 1996 to 2002, he served in various cabinet posts including Minister of Labour, Deputy House leader and the Minister responsible for Communications Canada, Canada Post, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Royal Canadian Mint and Canada Lands Company Ltd. His most controversial positions were as Minister of Public Works and Government Services and as political minister for Quebec.

Following his career as a cabinet minister, Gagliano was appointed as the Canadian ambassador to Denmark. However, he was dismissed from this position on February 10, 2004 by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, amidst widespread speculation that during his time as public works minister he was actively involved in the sponsorship scandal.

On May 27, 2004, Gagliano filed a more than $4.5-million lawsuit against Prime Minister Paul Martin and the government. The suit accuses them of deliberately attacking Gagliano's reputation and alleges that he was illegally and unjustly fired. He is asking for compensation for wrongful dismissal, damage to his reputation and lost income.

Justice John Gomery's initial report on the sponsorship scandal places much of the blame on Gagliano, making him the highest ranking Liberal to be charged with deliberate dishonesty, rather than negligence. Following the initial report, Paul Martin expelled him from the Liberal Party for life.

On November 17, 2004, an article in the New York Daily News alleged that Gagliano was associated with the Bonanno organized crime family. In the article, former capo Frank Lino, now an informer for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, is quoted as saying Gagliano was introduced to him during a meeting with other mob members in Montreal. Gagliano has strongly denied the allegations. It is not the first time Gagliano's name has been linked to organized crime. In 1994, La Presse reported that Gagliano was the bookkeeper for Agostino Cuntrera, cousin of cocaine baron Alfonso Caruana, also a native of Siculiana, who was involved in a gangland slaying of Paolo Violi in Montreal in 1978. Cuntrera was subsequently convicted of murder. Gagliano denies any links to the Mafia. Gagliano now resides with his family on a vineyard in Dunham, Quebec and winters in Florida since 2006, and no further charges have been brought against him. (CanWest News Service, October 2006, 2007)

In September 2006, he argued that Liberal leadership candidate Joe Volpe was the victim of the same kind of anti-Italian sentiment that ended his own political career.

Electoral record (partial)

Canadian federal election, 1993: Saint-Léonard
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alfonso Gagliano	28,799	61.16	+10.91	$54,669
	Bloc Québécois	Umberto di Genova	12,879	27.35		$16,644
	Progressive Conservative	Tony Tomassi	4,021	8.54	−28.70	$36,146a
	New Democratic Party	David D'Andrea	583	1.24	−8.94	$0
	Natural Law	Marlène Charland	499	1.06		$269
	Marxist-Leninist	Claude Brunelle	141	0.30		$80
	Abolitionist	Mauro Fusco	91	0.19		$0
	Commonwealth	Sylvain Deschênes	77	0.16		$0
Total valid votes			47,090	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,342
Turnout			48,432	79.78	+5.29
Electors on the lists			60,710
a Does not include unpaid claims. Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from the official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.

Canadian federal election, 1988: Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alfonso Gagliano	23,014	50.25	–	$44,847
	Progressive Conservative	Marc Beaudoin	17,055	37.24		$43,281
	New Democratic	Michel Roche	4,663	10.18		$742
	Green	Rolf Bramann	833	1.82		$140
	Non-affiliated	Bernard Papillon	231	0.50		$130
Total valid votes			45,796	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,018
Turnout			46,814	74.49
Electors on the lists			62,845
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-fourth General Election, 1988.

Canadian federal election, 1984: Saint-Léonard—Anjou
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Alfonso Gagliano	24,520	41.40
	Progressive Conservative	Agostino Cannavino	23,275	39.29
	New Democratic	Terrence Trudeau	7,506	12.67
	Rhinoceros	Denis La Miuf Ouellet	2,152	3.63
	Parti nationaliste	Pierre-Alain Cotnoir	1,634	2.76
	Commonwealth of Canada	Jean Vigneault	145	0.24
Total valid votes			59,232	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,163
Turnout			60,395	73.97
Electors on the lists			81,646
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-third General Election, 1984.

References

• The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba, by Tom Blickman, Transnational Organized Crime, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer 1997
• 'They have to stop dirtying my name,' says Gagliano The Hill Times, November 22, 2004

External links

• Alfonso Gagliano – Parliament of Canada biography

26th Ministry – Cabinet of Jean Chrétien
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Diane Marleau	Minister of Public Works and Government Services 1997–2002	Don Boudria
Lucienne Robillard	Minister of Labour 1996–1997	Lawrence MacAulay
Sub-Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Title	Successor
Fernand Robichaud	Secretary of State (Parliamentary Affairs) (1994–1996)
Special Parliamentary Responsibilities
Predecessor	Title	Successor
Fernand Robichaud	Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (1994–2002)	Paul DeVillers
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Monique Bégin	Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel 1984-2002	Succeeded by Massimo Pacetti