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Judy Sgro
Judith A. Sgro PC MP (born December 16, 1944) is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of Humber River—Black Creek in the House of Commons of Canada. Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade and as a chair on the Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee since 2016.
Sgro was introduced to politics when she was elected to North York City Council in 1987. In 1994, she was acclaimed as a Metro councillor for North York. In 1998 she became a Toronto city councillor in the newly amalgamated city where she served a term as vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.
In 1997, Sgro's first attempt at federal politics came up short when she tried to get elected in the riding of York South—Weston. She lost to John Nunziata, who was running as an independent, by 4,431 votes. In 1999 she won a by-election in York West to replace Sergio Marchi who had accepted an ambassadorial position to the World Trade Organization. She has since been re-elected by substantial pluralities.
In 2001, she was named chairperson of the prime minister's "Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues". In 2003, her group released an interim report recommending increased federal support to recognize their economic and social value. From December 12, 2003 to January 13, 2005, Sgro served as minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the government of Paul Martin.
In November 2004, controversy began to surround Sgro as questions arose surrounding her activities during the June election earlier that year. Several members of her ministerial staff had filed expense claims to travel to and work in her riding throughout the campaign ending on election day. More serious claims were also raised when Opposition Conservative MPs claimed she had given a special immigration permit to a campaign supporter – specifically Alina Balaican, a Romanian who had initially been admitted to the country to work as a stripper. New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin also accused Sgro's aides of making threats to deny ministerial permits to his constituents if he criticized her on the stripper controversy. The press dubbed the issue Strippergate.
On January 14, 2005, Sgro resigned from cabinet after further allegations that she had offered to intervene in the immigration hearing of Harjit Singh, a Brampton pizzeria owner, in exchange for free pizza for her campaign staff. The following day, the Toronto Star revealed that Singh had previously committed credit card fraud.
On January 31, 2005, Sgro filed a lawsuit against Singh for $750,000 in damages. On May 10, 2005, the federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro cleared Sgro of all wrongdoing from the "Strippergate" debacle when it was found that Sgro didn't know that two staffers had put her in a position of conflict of interest. The ethics commissioner also concluded that Sgro had never met the woman or even knew that she had volunteered on her re-election campaign. Shapiro said to Sgro, "It appears you acted appropriately." Also the same day, Singh retracted his allegations and apologized to Sgro. He said, "I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems."
Sgro was the first member of Cabinet to resign from Paul Martin's government. There was some speculation in the media that fellow minister Joe Volpe helped to engineer her resignation given that they had a cool relationship.
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Judy Sgro
Judith A. Sgro PC MP (born December 16, 1944) is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of Humber River—Black Creek in the House of Commons of Canada. Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade and as a chair on the Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee since 2016.
Sgro was introduced to politics when she was elected to North York City Council in 1987. In 1994, she was acclaimed as a Metro councillor for North York. In 1998 she became a Toronto city councillor in the newly amalgamated city where she served a term as vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.
In 1997, Sgro's first attempt at federal politics came up short when she tried to get elected in the riding of York South—Weston. She lost to John Nunziata, who was running as an independent, by 4,431 votes. In 1999 she won a by-election in York West to replace Sergio Marchi who had accepted an ambassadorial position to the World Trade Organization. She has since been re-elected by substantial pluralities.
In 2001, she was named chairperson of the prime minister's "Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues". In 2003, her group released an interim report recommending increased federal support to recognize their economic and social value. From December 12, 2003 to January 13, 2005, Sgro served as minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the government of Paul Martin.
In November 2004, controversy began to surround Sgro as questions arose surrounding her activities during the June election earlier that year. Several members of her ministerial staff had filed expense claims to travel to and work in her riding throughout the campaign ending on election day. More serious claims were also raised when Opposition Conservative MPs claimed she had given a special immigration permit to a campaign supporter – specifically Alina Balaican, a Romanian who had initially been admitted to the country to work as a stripper. New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin also accused Sgro's aides of making threats to deny ministerial permits to his constituents if he criticized her on the stripper controversy. The press dubbed the issue Strippergate.
On January 14, 2005, Sgro resigned from cabinet after further allegations that she had offered to intervene in the immigration hearing of Harjit Singh, a Brampton pizzeria owner, in exchange for free pizza for her campaign staff. The following day, the Toronto Star revealed that Singh had previously committed credit card fraud.
On January 31, 2005, Sgro filed a lawsuit against Singh for $750,000 in damages. On May 10, 2005, the federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro cleared Sgro of all wrongdoing from the "Strippergate" debacle when it was found that Sgro didn't know that two staffers had put her in a position of conflict of interest. The ethics commissioner also concluded that Sgro had never met the woman or even knew that she had volunteered on her re-election campaign. Shapiro said to Sgro, "It appears you acted appropriately." Also the same day, Singh retracted his allegations and apologized to Sgro. He said, "I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems."
Sgro was the first member of Cabinet to resign from Paul Martin's government. There was some speculation in the media that fellow minister Joe Volpe helped to engineer her resignation given that they had a cool relationship.
