 joseph cordiano (born october 30, 1957) is a former politician in ontario, canada. he was a member of the legislative assembly of ontario from 1985 to 2006 and he was a cabinet minister in the government of liberal premier dalton mcguinty. ==background== cordiano was born in toronto, ontario, the son of italian immigrants. he was educated at the university of toronto and the university of toledo in ohio, graduating from the latter with a master's degree in business administration. he was the owner and general manager of cash rolls of canada. ==politics== cordiano was elected to the ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1985, defeating incumbent new democrat odoardo di santo by 221 votes in the toronto riding of downsview. he was re-elected by a greater margin in the redistributed riding of lawrence in the provincial election of 1987. he served as parliamentary assistant to several ministers. the liberals were upset by the ndp in the provincial election of 1990 and cordiano faced a difficult challenge from ndp candidate shalom schachter, winning by 11,786 votes to 10,179. he subsequently emerged as a prominent voice for the provincial liberal party within toronto. the provincial election of 1995 saw cordiano win his riding by a comfortable margin &mdash; the provincial swing was to the progressive conservative party, but the pcs did not have enough support in lawrence to seriously 
1957_births Canadian_people_of_Italian_descent Living_people Members_of_the_Executive_Council_of_Ontario Ontario_Liberal_Party_MPPs Politicians_from_Toronto University_of_Toronto_alumni