Sophia Aggelonitis

{{Short description|Canadian businesswoman and former politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Sophia Aggelonitis

| honorific-suffix = ECO

| image = Sophia Aggelonitis, MPP.JPG

| alt =

| caption =

| office = Ontario MPP

| term_start = 2007

| term_end = 2011

| predecessor = Marie Bountrogianni

| successor = Monique Taylor

| constituency = Hamilton Mountain

| party = Ontario Liberal

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1968}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| residence = Toronto

| occupation = {{hlist|Entrepreneur|politician}}

}}

Sophia Aggelonitis (born {{circa|1968}}) is a Canadian businesswoman and former politician. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the riding of Hamilton Mountain from 2007 to 2011. She served as the province's Minister of Revenue and Minister Responsible for Seniors in the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Background

Agglenotis was born in Toronto and raised in Welland, Ontario. She is the daughter of Greek immigrants who came from Sparta, Greece in the 1960s. She went to school at Eastdale High School and Brock University where she obtained a degree in politics and psychology.{{cite news |title=Our 'Sophia from Hamilton'; MPP, businesswoman and booster faces her 40th (happily) and focuses on future |last=Bourret |first=Suzanne |work=The Spectator |date=March 6, 2008 |page=G7}} She has worked as a consultant specializing in special events and environmental auditing. Her most recent venture was one called "Sauces by Sophia" selling a brand of tzatziki to supermarkets and specialty food stores in Southern Ontario. In March 2007 she became president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.{{cite news |title=Talking with... Sophia Aggelonitis, newly installed president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce |work=The Spectator |date=March 9, 2007 |page=A17}} However, she resigned three months later to pursue the Liberal nomination after Marie Bountrogianni announced that she would not seek another term in office.{{cite news |title=Chamber president resigns to seek Liberal nomination |last=Dreschel |first=Andrew |work=The Spectator |date=June 27, 2007 |page=A12}}

Politics

Aggelonitis ran as the Liberal candidate in the 2007 provincial election, defeating the NDP candidate by 2,334 votes. Following the election she was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Harinder Takhar, the Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.{{cite news |title=McGuinty Government Consults With Business Community In Chatham |work=Canada NewsWire |date=December 13, 2007}}

She later served as Parliamentary Assistant to Ted McMeekin, Minister of Consumer Services, and Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade. She was also named chair of the Small Business Agency of Ontario to encourage better communication between government and small business.{{cite news |title=Premier raises profile of MPP Aggelonitis |last=Nolan |first=Daniel |work=The Spectator |date=December 3, 2009 |page=A4}}

In 2009, Aggelonitis introduced a private member's bill called An Act to proclaim Mental Health Awareness Day,{{cite web |title=An Act to proclaim Mental Health Awareness Day |url=http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2224&isCurrent=false&ParlSessionID=39%3A1 |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Ontario}} calling for the last day of Mental Health Week each year to be proclaimed Mental Health Awareness Day.

On January 18, 2010, Aggelonitis was named Minister of Consumer Services.{{cite web |date=January 18, 2010|title=New Decade, New Challenges, New Cabinet |url=http://www.news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2010/01/new-decade-new-challenges-new-cabinet.html |publisher=Government of Ontario}} On August 18, 2010, she was named Minister of Revenue and Minister Responsible for Seniors.{{cite web |date=August 18, 2010 |title=Economy, Health Care And Education The Focus Of New Cabinet |url=http://www.news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2010/08/economy-health-care-and-education-the-focus-of-new-cabinet.html |publisher=Government of Ontario}} In those capacities she presided over legislation to combat contraband tobacco and the implementation of stronger protections for retirement home residents.{{cite web |title=A Stronger Smoke-Free Ontario |url=http://news.ontario.ca/rev/en/2011/06/a-stronger-smoke-free-ontario.html |publisher=Government of Ontario |date=June 1, 2011}}{{cite web |title=Stronger Protections for Ontario's Retirement Home Residents |url=http://news.ontario.ca/oss/en/2011/02/stronger-protections-for-seniors-in-retirement-homes.html |publisher=Government of Ontario |date=February 22, 2011}}

She ran for re-election in the 2011 provincial election, but was defeated by New Democrat Monique Taylor by 5,798 votes.{{cite news |title=Prominent candidates elected or defeated in the Ontario election: Prominent candidates elected or defeated |last=Jones |first=Allison |work=The Canadian Press |date=October 7, 2011}}

=Cabinet posts=

{{Canadian cabinet member navigational box header |ministry=Dalton_McGuinty}}

{{ministry box cabinet posts

| post2preceded = John Wilkinson

| post2 = Minister of Revenue

| post2years = 2010–2011

| post2note = Also Responsible for Seniors

| post2followed = Dwight Duncan
Revenue merged into Ministry of Finance after 2011 election.

| post1preceded = Ted McMeekin

| post1 = Minister of Consumer Services

| post1years = 2010 (January–August)

| post1note =

| post1followed = Margarett Best

}}

=Electoral record=

After politics

In September 2012, Aggelonitis was named as president of the Ontario Liberal Fund, a body that will co-ordinate fundraising activities for the party on the province.{{cite news |title=Liberals tap Aggelonitis for top job: Former Hamilton MPP named president of Ontario Liberal Fund |last=Dreschel |first=Andrew |work=The Spectator |date=September 7, 2012 |page=A17}} She also serves as a judge on a local entrepreneurship contest called the "Lion's Lair" which awards cash and business resources to the winners of the contest.{{cite news |title=Facing the Lions: New crop of entrepreneurs ready to enter the 'lair' |work=The Spectator |date=September 12, 2012 |page=HB19}}