Albina Guarnieri was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Mississauga East in 1988. She has been re-elected six times, achieving more than 50% of the vote on each occasion. Albina is now the longest serving woman in the history of the Canadian House of Commons.
Albina has served in Cabinet as Minister of Veterans Affairs, Associate Minister of National Defence, and Minister of State (Civil Preparedness). As Minister of Veterans Affairs, Albina declared 2005, Canada's Year of the Veteran. Canada was the only country to have offered this tribute to its veterans this year. Just as importantly, Albina brought in the most extensive transformation of veterans benefits in half a century with the New Veterans Charter. This landmark legislation included new programs to help veterans return to civilian life and support disabled veterans with care and careers geared toward building independence and potential.
During her tenure at Veterans Affairs, Albina was responsible for a budget of $2.8 billion and the management of 4,000 employees delivering pensions, healthcare and home care to 217,000 veterans and survivors. Albina's department received the highest public approval rating of any government department according to Ipsos Trend Report, Sep-Oct 2005.
Albina's previous parliamentary roles have included serving as Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and Co-Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Official languages. She has served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and has been a member of the Standing Committees on Finance and Foreign Affairs and a member of the Special Joint Parliamentary Committee on a Renewed Canada.
In Parliament, through Private Members' Bills and committee work, Albina has promoted initiatives to retrain older workers, establish personal training accounts, combat identity fraud by reforming the Social Insurance Numbering system, impose consecutive sentencing for multiple murderers, toughen laws against child pornography, lower middle-income tax rates, and preserve universal publicly-funded health care.
In 1999, after a three-year campaign, her Bill to mandate consecutive sentences for multiple murderers and serial rapists was passed overwhelmingly by the House of Commons before being stalled in the Senate the following year. Just recently, Albina’s Bill to require charities to disclose the names and salaries of their highest-paid employees passed Second Reading by a vote of 280 to 3.
Born in the Faeto, Italy, Albina is fluent in both official languages and Italian. She is a graduate of McGill University, earning a Master's degree in English.
