Michelangelo Spensieri

Michael 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 Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Laws. He practiced law in Toronto following his graduation, and was a member of the Jane/Finch Concerned Residents Association and the Canadian Italian Businessmen's Association.

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. He resigned from the bar in 1989, after admitting that he had improperly accounted for two million dollars worth of his clients' money. Spensieri cited a manic-depressive illness in his defense before the Ontario Law Society, and was permitted to resign to prevent a recurrence.^[3] After this, he wrote a number of letters to Toronto newspapers criticizing the prominent Toronto-area figures in the Liberal Party. 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 health concerns, however, he was unable to participate in the election.[6]

After attending Osgoode Hall Law School Spensieri was awarded the degree of Master of Laws (LL.M.) in international business trade and tax laws, in the fall of 1992 and later a Ph.D. in Communications and Neurolinguistics by Wolfe's University of King's College, Mapleton upon York UK. He returned to his native Molise,where he was able to reactivate the family farm bought in 1918 by his grandfather, Michelangelo Spensieri, upon his return from the United States that year. The lawyer, turned politician, survivor of the psychiatrization mentality in Ontario, found himself the grower of vineyards neither his late father Domenico, nor his grandfather Michelangelo had been able to complete. He is the Chair of the FONDAZIONE SANNIO FOUNDATION dedicated to genetic research in bipolar disorders and moodswing currently engaged in clinical studies involving the people of Sannio (Benevento, Avellino and Campobasso) living in Canada and their first degree counterparts still living in Sannio. He is often consulted on offshore Law and investment banking and provides legal expertise to several Law firms worldwide. www.lexpertise.ca e-mail info@lexpertise.ca

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.