a Conservative and that Fantino was "leaning" toward doing so. A federal by-election had been made necessary after the resignation of Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua. Fantino was acclaimed as Conservative Party's candidate on October 14 and the by-election was called for November 29, 2010. During the campaign, he was dogged by a group called "Conservatives Against Fantino" led by Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas, two activists critical of Fantino's role in the Caledonia controversy. The group picketed Fantino's campaign office and events, and became registered as a third party with Elections Canada under the name "Against Fantino" (after their use of the term "Conservatives" had been disallowed by the agency) in order to be permitted to spend money on printing and distributing 60,000 anti-Fantino pamphlets. Fantino was elected to the House of Commons of Canada on November 29, 2010 by narrowly defeating Liberal candidate Tony Genco. The Globe and Mail noted that Fantino had "beat the Liberals out of one of their safest seats in Ontario, one they had held for 22 years." On January 4, 2011, Fantino was named as Minister of State for Seniors. In Prime Minister Harper's cabinet shuffle following the 2011 federal election Fantino was promoted to Associate Minister of National Defence. Following the departure of Bev Oda, Harper named Fantino the new Minister for International Cooperation portfolio on July 4, 2012, replacing him at National Defence with Bernard Valcourt. On July 15, 2013, Fantino was shuffled to the position of Minister of Veterans' Affairs. Several months later, the veterans ombudsman reported that the government provides veterans with insufficient compensation for pain and suffering and criticized the government, saying that some would be near poverty because of cuts to pensions and benefits. In the same year, the department announced the closure of eight local offices servicing veterans. In January 2014, Fantino arrived late for a meeting with veterans about the closures and engaged in an angry confrontation with one of the veterans, resulting in accusations that Fantino was inept, rude and insensitive. In May, he was filmed ignoring and walking away from the angry wife of a veteran as she asked questions of him. Fantino was criticized for his department's difficulties in delivering help and benefits to veterans and for spending $4 million on advertising to explain the government's position while allowing more than $1 billion allocated for benefits to lapse. On January 5, 2015, after