View source for Larry Di Ianni

{{Short description|Italian-Canadian politician and educator}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| name            = Larry Di Ianni
| image           = 
| caption         =
| office          = 54th [[Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario|Mayor of Hamilton]]
| term_start      = 2003
| term_end        = 2006
| deputy          =
| predecessor     = [[Robert E. Wade]]
| successor       = [[Fred Eisenberger]]
| birth_date      = 1948
| birth_place     = [[Villetta Barrea]], [[Abruzzo]], Italy
| death_date      =
| death_place     =
| constituency    =
| party            = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| otherparty      = {{plainlist|
* [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
* [[Ontario Liberal Party|Ontario Liberal]]
}}
| spouse          = Ginetta Paolone
| profession      = {{hlist|Politician|educator}}
| signature       =
| footnotes       =
}}

'''Larry Di Ianni''' (born '''Renzo Pasquale Di Ianni''', 1948)<ref name="URBANICITY">{{cite web| url=http://urbanicity.ca/2013/04/the-life-and-times-of-renzo-pasquale-di-ianna/| title=The Life and Times of Renzo Pasquale Di Ianni| date=April 1, 2013| website=Urbanicity| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808053220/http://urbanicity.ca/2013/04/the-life-and-times-of-renzo-pasquale-di-ianna/ |archive-date=August 8, 2014| url-status=dead}}</ref> is an [[Italian-Canadian]] politician and educator who served as the 54th [[List of mayors of Hamilton, Ontario|mayor of Hamilton]] from 2003 to 2006. Prior to his tenure as mayor, he served as a town councillor in [[Stoney Creek, Ontario|Stoney Creek]] and a city councillor in the amalgamated City of Hamilton.

==Early life==
Di Ianni immigrated to Canada from [[Abruzzo]], [[Italy]] in 1956 as a boy.<ref name="auto">Dan Nolan, "Di Ianni offers continuity in bid for mayor," ''Hamilton Spectator'', April 29, 2003, pp. A03.</ref> Following his father, who had immigrated years before the family and found work at [[Stelco]], Di Ianni and his family settled in an apartment on Cannon Street. Pressured by his mother, an assembly-line worker in a shoe factory, to receive a university education, Di Ianni graduated from [[McMaster University]] with a [[Bachelor's degree]] in English and went on to receive his Master's Degree in Education from the [[University of Toronto]] soon after.<ref name="auto1">Chinta Puxley, "The Candidates: Larry Di Ianni," ''Hamilton Spectator'', November 7, 2003, pp. A04.</ref><ref name="CABLE14">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cable14.com/people/larry-di-ianni|title=Larry Di Ianni|website=[[Cable 14]]}}</ref>

After graduating, Di Ianni moved with his wife Janet (Ginetta) and three children, Robert, Paul and Stephanie, to Stoney Creek. There, Di Ianni was hired by the [[Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board]] as a [[high school]] [[teacher]] and eventually became [[school principal|principal]] of several high schools.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="CABLE14" />

==Political history==
Di Ianni was first elected to Stoney Creek council in 1982, where he served for six terms until the amalgamation of the town into Hamilton. Following amalgamation, Di Ianni was elected to [[Hamilton City Council]] as councillor for Ward Ten, defeating former Stoney Creek deputy mayor Albert Marrone and town councillor Maria Pearson in a hotly contested race.<ref>John Burman, "Veteran DiIanni the victor in Ward 10; Race offered a unique set of challenges," ''Hamilton Spectator'', November 14, 2000, pp. D06.</ref> Di Ianni served one term as a Hamilton councillor until November 2003.

In early March 2003, Di Ianni was approached by members of the [[Ontario Liberal Party|Ontario Liberals]], including then-[[Premier of Ontario|Premier]] [[Dalton McGuinty]], in an effort to convince him to run provincially against [[Ministry of Labour (Ontario)|Labour Minister]] [[Brad Clark]]. Di Ianni ultimately declined the offer, noting that he wished to focus on municipal issues.<ref>"Di Ianni rejects Grits' bid to run," ''Hamilton Spectator'', March 15, 2003, pp. A10.</ref>

In the same month, sitting Hamilton mayor [[Robert E. Wade|Bob Wade]] announced he would not seek re-election in the [[2003 Hamilton, Ontario municipal election|2003 municipal election]]. On April 28, 2003, Di Ianni announced he would seek the office of mayor indicating that he believed Hamilton to be at a crossroads with regard to development.<ref name="auto"/> Di Ianni's main opponent in the race was former provincial [[Ontario New Democratic Party|NDP]] cabinet minister [[David Christopherson]] and the race focused considerably on the construction of the [[Red Hill Expressway]], of which Di Ianni was in favour and Christopherson was opposed.<ref>Andrew Dreschel, "Di Ianni's two-way race invention an inspired act; Councillor's first big speech of his mayoral campaign aimed at Christopherson," ''Hamilton Spectator'', June 27, 2003, pp. A03.</ref> The candidates sparred frequently on the campaign trail, with Di Ianni promoting his municipal experience and support from the business community while Christopherson highlighted his time in cabinet and support from organized labour and progressive political organizations.<ref>"Down to Wire for Mayor's Chair; Frontrunners in mayoral race offer distinct choices for voters," ''Hamilton Spectator,'' November 4, 2003, pp. A01.</ref> On election night, Di Ianni defeated Christopherson by a margin of 52% to 39%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/CorporateServices/Clerks/2003_Election_Results.htm|title=2003 City of Hamilton Election Results}}</ref> Speaking to reporters, Di Ianni noted he was immensely happy that the voters of Hamilton elected their first Italian-Canadian mayor by such a large margin.<ref>Eric McGuinness and Joan Walters, "Di Ianni New Mayor; City's first Italian-Canadian mayor says huge vote of confidence puts the Red Hill issue to bed," ''Hamilton Spectator'', November 11, 2003, pp. A01.</ref>

Di Ianni's term as mayor saw him attempt to enact his mayoral platform by addressing such issues as the completion of the Red Hill Expressway, business tax reduction, airport development, improving relations among the amalgamated municipalities, and obtaining additional social service funding from the more senior levels of government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.raisethehammer.org/article/131/|title=Smoove D: An Interview with Mayor Larry Di Ianni| first=Ryan| last=McGreal| date=August 22, 2005|website=Raise the Hammer}}</ref>

In the [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008 federal election]], Di Ianni was the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidate in the federal riding of [[Hamilton East—Stoney Creek (federal electoral district)|Hamilton East—Stoney Creek]], losing the race to incumbent [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|MP]] [[Wayne Marston]] of the [[New Democratic Party|NDP]] by a margin of 6,464 votes.

Di Ianni ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Hamilton in October 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://old.hamilton.ca/clerk/election/2010-election-results/default.asp|title=City of Hamilton Ontario Canada - 2010 Municipal Election Results|website=City of Hamilton}}</ref>

==Electoral record==
{{election table|title=Summary of the October 25, 2010 [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]] [[Hamilton City Council (Ontario)|Mayoral Election]]}}
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Candidate'''
!colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" |'''Popular vote'''
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
| style="text-align:center;" | '''Votes'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''%'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''±%'''
|-
| style="background-color:#3FFF00;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | '''[[Bob Bratina]]'''
| style="text-align:right;" |'''52,684'''
| style="text-align:right;" |'''37.32%'''
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#FF0000;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Larry Di Ianni
| style="text-align:right;" |40,091
| style="text-align:right;" |28.40%
| style="text-align:right;" |-14.44%
|-
| style="background-color:#66023C;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Fred Eisenberger]] <small>(incumbent)</small>
| style="text-align:right;" |38,719
| style="text-align:right;" |27.43%
| style="text-align:right;" |-15.78%
|-
| style="background-color:#69359C;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Michael Baldasaro]]
| style="text-align:right;" |2,892
| style="text-align:right;" |2.05%
| style="text-align:right;" |-1.56%
|-
| style="background-color:#9BDDFF"|
| style="text-align:left;" | Tone Marrone
| style="text-align:right;" |1,052
| style="text-align:right;" |0.75%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#00563F;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Mahesh Butani
| style="text-align:right;" |950
| style="text-align:right;" |0.67%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#00BFFF;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Glenn Hamilton
| style="text-align:right;" |949
| style="text-align:right;" |0.67%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#E4D00A;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Pasquale (Pat) Filice
| style="text-align:right;" |768
| style="text-align:right;" |0.54%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#4F7942;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Ken Leach
| style="text-align:right;" |577
| style="text-align:right;" |0.41%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#C19A6B;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Andrew Haines
| style="text-align:right;" |557
| style="text-align:right;" |0.39%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#8DB600"|
| style="text-align:left;" | Mark Wozny
| style="text-align:right;" |433
| style="text-align:right;" |0.31%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#FF9966;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Steven Waxman
| style="text-align:right;" |429
| style="text-align:right;" |0.30%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#B2BEB5;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Edward Graydon 
| style="text-align:right;" |404
| style="text-align:right;" |0.29%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#5D8AA8;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Gino Speziale
| style="text-align:right;" |356
| style="text-align:right;" |0.25%
| style="text-align:right;" |-0.77%
|-
| style="background-color:#663854;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Victor Veri
| style="text-align:right;" |313
| style="text-align:right;" |0.22%
| style="text-align:right;" |''n/a''
|-
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Total votes'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''141,174'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''100%'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |
|- 
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Registered voters'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''353,317'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''40.45%'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''+3.2%'''
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="6" |<small>Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. <br> Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)<br>and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.</small>
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="13" |'''Sources:''' [http://old.hamilton.ca/clerk/election/2010-election-results/default.asp Hamilton, Ontario, City Clerk's Office]
|}

{{election table|title=Summary of the November 13, 2006 [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]] [[Hamilton City Council (Ontario)|Mayoral Election]]}}
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Candidate'''
!colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" |'''Popular vote'''
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
| style="text-align:center;" | '''Votes'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''%'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''±%'''
|-
| style="background-color:#66023C;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | '''[[Fred Eisenberger]]'''
| style="text-align:right;" | '''54,110'''
| style="text-align:right;" | '''43.21%'''
| style="text-align:right;" | ''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#FF0000;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Larry Di Ianni (Incumbent)
| style="text-align:right;" | 53,658
| style="text-align:right;" | 42.84%
| style="text-align:right;" | −8.08%
|-
| style="background-color:#00008B;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Diane Elms
| style="text-align:right;" | 9,459
| style="text-align:right;" | 7.55%
| style="text-align:right;" | ''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#69359C;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Michael Baldasaro]]
| style="text-align:right;" | 4,520
| style="text-align:right;" | 3.61%
| style="text-align:right;" | +1.76%
|-
| style="background-color:#5D8AA8;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Gino Speziale
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,274
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.02
| style="text-align:right;" | ''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#4F7942;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Steve Leach
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,250
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.00
| style="text-align:right;" | ''n/a''
|-
| style="background-color:#FCF75E;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Martin S. Zuliniak
| style="text-align:right;" | 968
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.77
| style="text-align:right;" | ''n/a''
|-
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Total votes'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''126,986'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''100%'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |
|- 
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Registered voters'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''340,941'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''37.25%'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |'''−0.72%'''
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="6" |<small>Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. <br> Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)<br>and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.</small>
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="13" |'''Sources:''' [http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/CorporateServices/Clerks/MunicipalElection/Nominated+Candidates.htm Hamilton, Ontario, City Clerk's Office]
|}

{{election table|title=Candidates for the November 10, 2003 [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]] [[Hamilton City Council (Ontario)|Mayoral Election]]}}
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
!rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |'''Candidate'''
!colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" |'''Popular vote'''
|- style="background-color:#fcfcfc;"
| style="text-align:center;" | '''Votes'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''%'''
| style="text-align:center;" |'''±%'''
|-
| style="background-color:#FF0000;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | '''Larry DiIanni'''
| style="text-align:right;" |'''70,539'''
| style="text-align:right;" |'''50.92%'''
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#FF7F00;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | David Christopherson
| style="text-align:right;" |54,298
| style="text-align:right;" |39.20%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Dick Wildeman
| style="text-align:right;" |4,462
| style="text-align:right;" |3.22%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Michael Peters
| style="text-align:right;" |3,270
| style="text-align:right;" |2.36%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Tom Murray
| style="text-align:right;" |2,881
| style="text-align:right;" |2.08%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#69359C;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Michael Baldasaro
| style="text-align:right;" |2,569
| style="text-align:right;" |1.85%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Matt Jelly
| style="text-align:right;" |510
| style="text-align:right;" |0.37%
| style="text-align:right;" |
|-
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Total votes'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |139,902
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |37.97%
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |
|- 
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |'''Registered voters'''
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |368,480
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |100%
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="6" |<small>Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. <br> Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)<br>and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates.</small>
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="13" |'''Sources:''' [http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/CorporateServices/Clerks/2003_Election_Results.htm City of Hamilton, "2003 Results"]
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Mayors of Hamilton, Ontario}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Ianni, Larry}}
[[Category:Italian emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Mayors of Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament]]
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Canadian educators]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:21st-century mayors of places in Ontario]]