Frank Venneri is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He served on the Montreal city council from 1986 to 1990, was re-elected in 1998, and has been returned to council in every election since then. Venneri is an independent councillor.
Private career
Venneri owned a hairstyling salon for over two decades before his election to city council and served as president of the Saint-MichelOptimist Club. He owned a men's hairstyling salon during his time out of council in the 1990s. In 1995, he spoke against a proposed municipal by-law to permit hair salons in private homes.
First council term (1982–86)
Venneri was first elected to council in 1986 municipal election for the east-end François-Perrault division. Running for the progressive Montreal Citizens' Movement, he defeated incumbent councillor Rocco Luccisano of Civic Party of Montreal. The MCM won a landslide victory in this election under Jean Doré's leadership. Venneri was initially a backbench supporter of the Doré administration and served as a city representative on the regional Montreal Urban Community. In 1987, Venneri spoke against Miron Inc.'s plans to continue operating a cement-mixing business near his ward that had long been subject to complaints about noise, pollution, and heavy traffic. Miron's original quarry site had been purchased by the city in 1984 and shut down, but, due to an administrative error, the company later received a permit to build a new factory in the same area. The Montreal executive committee later revoked Miron's permit, but Venneri charged that the company did not immediately comply with this decision. The city was ultimately able to take over the site without incident, and the quarry was demolished a year later. Venneri ran as a Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the 1988 Canadian federal election in the division of Papineau—Saint-Michel. As the MCM's constitution prevented party members from running for other parties, he was required to resign from caucus and sit as an independent councillor. Some political pundits believed that Venneri could win election to the House of Commons of Canada, but he ultimately finished second against Liberal incumbent André Ouellet. Venneri did not rejoin the MCM after the federal election, and he formally severed his ties with that party in November 1989 to join the newly formed Montreal Municipal Party. He ran under the latter party's banner in the 1990 municipal election and was defeated by fellow incumbent Vittorio Capparelli, an MCM councillor whose previous ward had been eliminated by redistribution.
Out of council
The MMP fell victim to internal divisions after the 1990 election, and in 1992 the party leadership announced plans to merge with the Civic Party. The merger never formally took place, but many Municipal Party members later joined the Civic Party as individuals. Venneri was among these, serving as the CPM's vice-president in an unsuccessful attempt to relaunch the in during the buildup to the 1994 municipal election. The CPM was unable to find a mayoral candidate, and in August 1994 Venneri helped merge the venerable organization into the newly formed Montrealers' Party. Venneri himself was the CPM's interim president and de facto leader in the final days of the party's existence. Venneri ran for the Montrealers' Party in the 1994 municipal election and finished third against Vittorio Capparelli, who had by this time joined the VisionMontreal party. The Montrealers' Party dissolved the following year, with Venneri remarking that its questionable financial strategies had doomed it from the start.
Return to council (1998–)
Venneri was re-elected to Montreal city council as a Vision Montreal candidate in the 1998 election in a rematch against Capparelli, who had left Vision Montreal the previous year and rejoined the MCM. Vision Montreal won a council majority, and Venneri served for the next three years as a backbench supporter of Pierre Bourque's administration. He was re-elected in the 2001 election for the redistributed Jean-Rivard division; Gérald Tremblay's Montreal Island Citizens Union won this election, and Venneri served with the official opposition. In December 2003, Venneri and five other Vision Montreal councillors left Bourque's party to join MICU. This allowed Tremblay to consolidate his majority on council, and in January 2004 Venneri was named vice-chair of Montreal's finance committee. He was re-elected as a MICU candidate in the 2005 election, again defeating Capparelli, who had by this time rejoined Vision Montreal. The Jean-Rivard electoral division was renamed as the François-Perrault division for this election, though it had different boundaries from the previous division of that name. Venneri remained vice-chair of Montreal's finance committee after the election and also served on the city's committee on services to residents. He was elected to a fifth term on council in the 2009 municipal election, for Tremblay's renamed Union Montreal party. He resigned from Union Montreal on November 14, 2012, shortly after Tremblay resigned as mayor amid the backdrop of a serious corruption scandal. By virtue of holding his city council seat, he also serves on the Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension borough council.
