Tascona began his political career at the municipal level, serving on
Barrie City Council from 1991 to 1995 as an
alderman in the City of Barrie's second ward. Tascona was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Barrie Public Library, and the Molson Hockey Centre and helping secure Barrie's waterfront land for public use. In the
provincial election of 1995, he was elected in the riding of
Simcoe Centre, defeating
Liberal Bruce Owen and incumbent
New Democrat Paul Wessenger by a plurality of over 17,000 votes. The Conservatives won the election and Tascona served as a
backbench supporter of the
Mike Harris government for the next four years. In the
1999 provincial election, Tascona was re-elected in the redistributed riding of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, defeating Liberal Maura Bolger by 18,345 votes. During his second term, Tascona was appointed as
Parliamentary assistant to several ministers including the
Minister of Education, the
Solicitor General and the
Minister of Consumer and Business Services. Although the Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the
2003 provincial election, Tascona was re-elected in his riding with a margin of victory of 9,531 votes. He was subsequently appointed opposition critic for the
Attorney General and
Government Service. Tascona was also elected as Second Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole House. In April 2006, he introduced a private member's bill
Restore the Deed Act, calling for the protection of homeowners from title and mortgage fraud and such measures were implemented by the provincial government. In the
2007 provincial election, Tascona was defeated by
Aileen Carroll in the new riding of
Barrie. In 2010, Tascona ran for mayor of Barrie. He was the first to register his name. He lost to Barrie city councilor
Jeff Lehman on October 25. ==References==