Justin Trudeau’s Italian problem

Ipolitics.ca
March 10, 2016
By Michael Harris

Nothing can ruin a politician’s day quite like a secret tape recording.

On December 5, 2015, rookie Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara visited the home of constituents in his Vaughan-Woodbridge riding after receiving an email that knocked him “out of his chair”.

The email was from Simone Barbieri, a PhD candidate at York University, who has interrupted her post-graduate studies to research the plight of her parents, Gino and Phyllis.

The Barbieris bought a house in Vaughan eighteen years ago, thinking that it was built on a ‘meadow’. They now claim that their home and a lot of others were erected on a former dump site that was not properly remediated by developers before construction began.

The tone of the email, which Sorbara received on November 30, 2015 at 2:31 p.m., shocked the newly minted MP. After all, he had just pulled off one of the major upsets of Election 2015 by defeating Tory cabinet minister Julian Fantino. Barbieri was not writing to offer her congratulations, but rather to accuse Sorbara of breaking a promise to her mother.

“Since you have been elected, you have not made it a priority to keep your word and (the) promise you made to my mother ... So Francesco, thank you for starting out on the common foot of not supporting the residents when they need it most. It look (sic) like you seem to be fitting in quit (sic) well with the rest,” she wrote.

(The latter comment refers to visits to the Barbieri home by Ontario’s Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, accompanied by the Ontario government’s environmental director, and also from Ward 2 Vaughan City Councillor Tony Carella. In the opinion of the Barbieris, neither politician did anything for them after being briefed on the situation.)

Sorbara had promised to visit the Barbieris to learn more about their claim that their home should never have been built on a site allegedly off-gassing lead, methane and barium. Simone Barbieri also believes that the medical problem she has developed, Crohn’s Disease, could very well have been caused by environmental factors in the sub-division. The Barbieris have been crusading for years to get the province and the municipality of Vaughan to investigate their claims - so far without success.

Even though there was no federal jurisdiction in the matter, Sorbara kept his promise and visited the Barbieris’ home. For one hour, forty-one minutes and twenty seconds he listened to a story of forged reports, dismissiveness from Queen’s Park and the city of Vaughan, negligence on the part of developers, and even of an alleged attempt at a bribe by a local developer to shut down Simone Barbieri’s research - none of which has been proven.

“I went into their home knowing nothing of their situation,” MP Sorbara told iPolitics. “I went there with the best of intentions to give them what support I could. That’s why I got into politics - to help people in any way I could.”

That instinct comes naturally to the MP whose mother worked in a fishplant in British Columbia, where he grew up. Sorbara himself started out in a pulp mill and ended up as a Wall Street banker before entering politics. He moved to Vaughan in the mid-nineties.

What Sorbara did not know on that December day in Vaughan is that a tape was running that captured his every word. The MP advised the Barbieris not to be intimidated by anyone and not to make their crusade personal against individuals. He also advised them to be well prepared for their upcoming meeting with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne with a concise, factual presentation of their situation.

(The premier’s office has refuted the claim, insisting that no meeting of the sort ever took place, or was scheduled, with the premier or her principal secretary, Andrew Bevan.)

After offering his advice, as well as money for future Freedom of Information requests, Sorbara unburdened himself of some of his own frustrations with the new government of which he was a part. Representing the most ‘Italian’ riding in Canada, his remarks were not surprising.

“I’m an emotional guy so I am in Ottawa. No Italians in the cabinet ... Only one Italian makes principal secretary. So out of 55 appointments (cabinet and principal secretaries) only one Italian. We are totally under-represented. Totally getting squashed out. Simone, I got to hold my emotions back ... ”

Sorbara had another emotional moment at Pearson Airport on December 4, 2015, which he also recounted to the Barbieris.

“I was at the airport yesterday and Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk (Employment, Workforce and Labour) was there. A whole bunch of us. Everybody was there on the 8:30 flight last night. And I brought the minister back for the Carpenters Union ... the Carpenters Union is in our riding, you’ve got to show respect. You’ve got to show the union respect. They helped us out in the election. We were there, and the minister said, ‘I saw these guys, I felt like I was in a Mafia movie.’ She said it jokingly.”

(iPolitics contacted Minister Mihychuk’s office in writing for her reaction. Her director of communications, John M. OLeary, requested a phone number to further discuss the matter. He did not make further contact.)

Sorbara also apparently expressed misgivings about his caucus mate, and the Liberal chair of the Environment Committee, Deb Shulte.

“She doesn’t like Italians,” he said on the tape, in an answer to a comment from Tony Barbieri, the son of the Barbieris.

(iPolitics contacted MP Shulte, who said: “Anyone who knows me knows some of my best friends are Italian and I chose to raise my family in Vaughan because of the strong family values of the Italian community living there ... The person making these comments obviously does not know me well.”)

Shulte later wrote to add that the whole thing was a misunderstanding and that she and Francesco Sorbara would continue to work together.

iPolitics sat down with Francesco Sorbara in Toronto for his reaction to his comments on the Barbieri tape. Regarding his comment about Italians being “totally squashed out” of the senior ranks of the Trudeau government, Sorbara said that “Italians will continue to make their contributions whether as members of cabinet, parliamentary secretaries or ordinary MPs.”

As for Minister Mihychuk’s “mafia” remark, the rookie MP stressed that she was joking, though he added he didn’t appreciate the insensitivity. Finally, he flatly admitted that the claim that Deb Shulte didn’t like Italians was not true and was his “mistake.”

“I confused her unhappiness with a campaign loss in Vaughan municipal politics with not liking Italians. I was wrong.”

Despite backing away from his secretly taped comments, Sorbara’s initial view that Italian Canadians are sorely under-represented in the Trudeau inner circle is only unique by virtue of the fact that his name is attached to it. Writing in his blog, TV Ontario host Steve Paikin quoted anonymous Italian Liberals who were not pleased with being shut out of the cabinet for the first time in 35 years.

Paikin reported that the Italian community was “more than a little miffed” about Trudeau’s apparent cold shoulder. Pakin quoted one of them as saying: “Four Sikhs and no Italians. I don’t know about that.”

In Paul Martin’s era there were seven ministers of Italian descent - Albina Guarenieri, Tony Valeri, Joe Volpe, Joe Fontana, Tony Ianno, Judy Sgro and Joe Comuzzi. And it’s not as if Justin Trudeau had a shortage of Italian-descent candidates for his “perfect” cabinet: Eleven MPs of Italian heritage were elected in 2015, including Judy Sgro, Joe Peschisolido, Marco Mendocini, Anthony Rota, Mike Bossio, Angela Iacono, David Lametti, Nicolo Di Lorio - and Francesco Sorbara.

Writing in the Globe and Mail, Lysianne Gagnon also challenged Trudeau on his claim that he had cobbled together a cabinet that perfectly reflected Canada, citing the fact that there were no Italian, Chinese or black representatives in his inner circle.

She also noted that Sikhs, who represent 1.4 per cent of the population, got four cabinet posts - a reward, perhaps, for the Sikh community electing 16 Sikh MPs. The Italian community, which represents approximately 4.5 per cent of the population, elected 11 MPs and received no cabinet seats.

One of the pioneers of Italian-Canadian participation in federal politics was philosophical about the lack of representation in the Trudeau cabinet. Former Liberal cabinet minister Joe Volpe, now the publisher of the Italian language Corriere Canadese newspaper in Toronto, told iPolitics he would rather see Italians be proactive about getting into the cabinet instead of grousing about not being included.

“Of course I would rather we had been represented. I was never consulted on that decision. Everybody needs to be validated and the Italian contribution to the Liberal party should be reflected in the government. But in identity politics, it’s like John Turner said: ‘You gotta step up to the plate and swing or shut up.’ We have to let people know who we are. Eleven elected and no one made it this time, so here at Corriere we’re going to help them tell the country who they are.”

As for Francesco Sorbara’s secretly taped comments, Volpe was succinct. “It was a rookie mistake. The important thing is that he is a good person and this shouldn’t cripple him for life.”