First elected as the Member of Parliament for Mississauga East in 1988, Ms. Guarnieri has been re-elected six times.
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. The legislation Albina introduced earned the support of all major veterans' organizations, the Chief of Defence Staff, and all four political parties. It was passed into law in May 2005.
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. Just recently, 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 Committee on Finance 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.
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.
Declared 2005, Canada's Year of the Veteran