Michelangelo Spensieri

Michelangelo Spensieri (born January 2, 1949) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1985, as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Spensieri was born in Molise, Italy, and moved to Canada as a child. He was educated at the University of Toronto, receiving a Bachelor of Laws J.D., degree in 1972 and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University where he was awarded the Master of Laws degree in 1992. He practiced law in Toronto following his graduation until October 26,1989.

Spensieri joined the Liberal Party in 1963. He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, and lost to New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Odoardo Di Santo in Downsview by sixty-eight votes. He was elected in the 1981 election, defeating NDP candidate Mike Morrone by 1,187 votes in Yorkview.

Spensieri supported David Peterson for the Liberal party leadership in 1982. In late 1984, he was forced to issue an apology after sending out a newsletter which portrayed the New Democratic Party as "as a group of socialists committed to the destruction of the separate school system and the murder of unborn children".^[1] He served one term in the legislature, and was not a candidate for re-election in 1985. He sought the Liberal nomination in Downsview for the 1987 election, but lost to Laureano Leone.^[2]

He returned to his law practice after leaving the legislature, specializing in government relations work at the Provincial and Federal level. He asked permission to leaveThe Law Society of Upper Canada in 1989, after losing count of of two million dollars worth of unclaimed moneys. Spensieri recited a manic-depressive Bipolar I illness in his defense before Convocation, and was granted leave to resign for his own well being.^[3] After this, he wrote a number of letters to Toronto newspapers describing prominent Italian-Canadian figures in the Liberal Party as cultural misfits. In 1998, he wrote that "voters of Italian heritage [...] have erred too often and too long by electing mostly Liberals".^[4]

In 1999, the socially conservative Family Coalition Party announced that Spensieri would be their candidate in York Centre for the upcoming provincial election.[5] Due to persistant cardiovascular health concerns, however, he was unable to participate.[6]

Shortly after the creation of the "Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians" in June of 2000 by special Act of the Ontario Legislature, Spensieri became a founding Member and contributes to the Association's work on democratic reform. [{O.A.F.P.}]

Spensieri contributes to an Italian daily known as "Vinchiaturo" with a corresponding electronic version [www.comune.vinchiaturo.cb.it] with an audience of about 3,000 Vinchiaturesi around the world, predominantly N.America's principal cities, and Australia, Brazil and Venezuela while approximately another 1,000 are spread out in the various cities of the EU.

He is currently a strategist for candidates for the April 9-10 2006 Italian federal parliamentary election in the overseas riding of "nordamerica est" consisting of eastern Canada, USA and Mexico where over 300,000 Italian citizens are eligible to vote. Spensieri never ceased to be an Italian citizen since arriving in Canada and has been a resident of Canada for nearly 40 years.

Notes

1. ^ Robert Stephens, "MPP Spensieri offers apology for newsletter", Globe and Mail, 12 October 1984.
2. ^ Sterling Taylor, "2,000 Downsview Liberals pick candidate", Toronto Star, 8 June 1987.
3. ^ Rick Haliechuk, "Lawyer can resign from bar in mishandling of $2 million", Toronto Star, 27 October 1989.
4. ^ Michael Spensieri, "Cultural Misfits", Globe and Mail, 11 May 1998.