You meet many people in your life, and for whatever reason, some of them just stick with you. One person in my life is the Honourable Consiglio Di Nino. Sometimes it feels like the forces of the world wanted us to get to know each other. He was in the Senate when I was in kindergarten on the opposite side of the world. As a young activist, full of passion and energy, I was restless to change the world, and he was the wise sage with wisdom and encouragement along the way. He was the first person who told me I should run for office. Years later, I would seek public office—except as an NDP candidate. Even so, he endorsed me, donated to my campaign, and he has always championed me. I would go on to become the MPP for Parkdale–High Park, representing the very neighbourhood he grew up in as a young Italian immigrant boy.

He was a Parkdale kid. He worked at the TD bank at the corner of Jameson and Queen, and he went to school up the street on Roncesvalles, at St. Vincent de Paul.

Inspired by his mentors, he has lived with the motto “Life is about what you give, not what you get.” And he has given so much. He was a volunteer chair of the Harbourfront Corp.; president of the Canadian Italian business association; president of Scouts Canada, Toronto region; a founder of Villa Charities, and so on.

Most important to me, he has been the strongest voice for the Tibetan people in Canada. As someone who enjoyed high-altitude hiking, he went to Tibet and visited the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, the capital. While there, a monk took a big risk and secretly handed him a piece of paper with a message, and the message was to tell the world what was going on in Tibet. And Consiglio Di Nino has carried that message since that day, for over 30 years.

Con—or Uncle Con, as many call him—you’ve changed and shaped lives, including mine. Thank you for everything.