Filomena Tassi

Filomena Tassi is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 federal election. She is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and currently serves as the Minister of Labour. In the past, she held the position of Minister of Seniors and Deputy Government Whip.
Education and early career.
She is of Italian descent, from the regions of Marche and Abruzzo, and raised Catholic. Tassi studied law at the University of Western Ontario, and then practised corporate law for six years. She subsequently left the legal profession and studied philosophy and religious education at the University of Waterloo, and began working as the chaplain at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School, a job she held until her election to the House of Commons.
Political career.
Tassi's first run for elective office was as a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1995 provincial election, where she finished a narrow second to NDP incumbent David Christopherson. Two decades later, she became the federal Liberal candidate in Hamilton during the 2015 federal election. Her candidacy attracted some media controversy, as she had made statements in the past suggesting that her Roman Catholic faith made her personally opposed to abortion, which seemingly put her in conflict with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's requirement that all candidates agree to vote in favour of abortion rights. Trudeau clarified that Tassi had agreed to support the legal right to abortion.
Prior to entering federal politics, Tassi was a Catholic school board trustee. 