Joe Cimino

Giuseppe "Joe" Cimino (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from June to November 2014. He resigned five months after being elected for health reasons. Prior to his provincial role he was a city councillor in the Greater Sudbury City Council from 2006 to 2014.

Background Cimino was born in Sudbury, and holds bachelor's degrees in political science from Laurentian University and education from Nipissing University. He worked as an elementary school teacher. Cimino and his wife Luisa live in Sudbury, Ontario with their two daughters.

Politics Cimino first ran for a seat on Greater Sudbury City Council in the 2000 municipal election, but was not elected; he ran a second time in the 2003 municipal election, and was again unsuccessful. He was elected in the 2006 municipal election, He took an unpaid leave of absence from his council seat once the 2014 provincial election was called. During the election campaign, he garnered some press across Ontario for his purported physical resemblance to controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

On election day, he defeated Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier by 980 votes.

He was the party's critic for transportation issues, and had identified the continued freeway conversion of Highway 69, a project which had faced significant delays in recent years, as one of his key priorities. Following his resignation, he faced some controversy when it was revealed that he qualified for a $58,000 severance package, representing six months of an MPP's annual salary, but he announced that he would not accept the payout.

Electoral record