He represented the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until 2011, when he lost his seat to Conservative candidate Joe Oliver.

Volpe held two senior positions in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Cabinet from 2003 to 2006, and served as transportation critic when his party became the Official Opposition.

[5] Volpe subsequently chaired the sponsoring group of an immigrant counseling agency called Alliance Community Services, which received a controversial $500,000 grant from the federal government in January 1984.

The contest was extremely divisive, with de Corneille alleging that Volpe was "trying to organize a group for his personal advantage" in recruiting new members from the riding's Italian community.

[17] The Progressive Conservatives were re-elected with a majority government in the 1988 election and Volpe sat as a member of the official opposition for the next five years, serving as his party's revenue critic for part of this time.

[18] During the constitutional debates of the early 1990s, he suggested that the Parliament of Canada (as opposed to the executive branch of government) should assume responsibility for reformulating the terms of Canadian Confederation.

He argued that parliament represented a strong cross-section of Canada's population, saying that parliamentary initiative on constitutional reform could save millions of dollars on "needless commissions".

He brought forward a report in late 1998 encouraging the sale of herbal medicines in Canada, and advocating their regulation in a category separate from foods and drugs.

Volpe led a delegation of Canadian doctors to Italy, arguing that they would either expose Di Bella as a fraud or establish the terms for assistance: they concluded there was no evidence to support the validity of his work.

Volpe initially recommended that further research be conducted, arguing the doctor's treatment could lead to an improved quality of life for cancer patients even if it did not actually cure the disease.

He and fellow MP Andrew Telegdi were particularly critical of a section of the bill which allowed cabinet ministers to override the judicial system in rejecting applications from immigrants.

[30] He also collaborated with Toronto-area MPs Derek Lee and John McKay to create a job placement and training program for at-risk youth in Toronto, called Workplace Connections.

[47] During the same period, federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Judy Sgro was criticized for granting a temporary residency permit to Romanian exotic dancer who had worked on her election campaign.

[53] In the same period, Volpe asked his department to work on building cases to revoke the citizenship of five suspected Nazi war criminals living in Canada.

[62] In the same week, Volpe also announced the creation of an "in-Canada" economic class of immigrants, making it easier for people on temporary work permits to apply for citizenship.

[69] Volpe remained active with issues of interest to the Italian community in Toronto, and was a prominent supporter of RAI International's bid to receive a television licence in Canada.

Volpe responded by arguing that he had played a contributory role in creating balanced legislation that protects the rights of both minority groups and religious institutions.

[71] In May 2005, two Conservative MPs were photographed posing with a poster from the Western Standard with the title "The Liberano$", comparing the Liberal Party to the mafia television show The Sopranos.

Volpe argued that the poster was offensive to Canadians of Italian heritage, and commented "These are the same Conservatives who think that every immigrant is a potential terrorist and criminal and everything else", and "Notwithstanding that they don't have their cowl and their cape, the Klan looks like they're still very much alive."

[73] Opposition MPs argued that this figure was excessive, and noted that Volpe's meal expenses were more than three times higher than his predecessor as Immigration Minister, Judy Sgro, during the same period a year earlier.

[77] In early September 2006, Volpe announced that he would break with his party's official position and support a softwood lumber deal negotiated by the Conservative government with the United States of America.

[78] In November of the same year, Volpe was one of fifteen Liberal MPs who voted against a resolution from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that recognized the Québécois as a nation within Canada.

[81] After the party's first all-candidates debate, he accused frontrunner Michael Ignatieff of echoing the foreign policy vision of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

NDP MP Pat Martin accused Volpe of deliberately orchestrating fraudulent donations and asked the Elections Commissioner to investigate whether "individuals may be trying to circumvent campaign fundraising limits".

[95] On October 15, 2006, the Toronto Star reported that the Career Foundation, a federally funded charity serving the unemployed, had paid seven of its clients to work on Volpe's leadership campaign.

A similar sentiment was echoed by former Public Works minister Alfonso Gagliano, banned from the party for being implicated in the Sponsorship scandal, who urged Volpe to stay in the race and fight the allegations.

[104] The Liberal Party imposed a $20,000 fine on Volpe's campaign in late September, having determined that it provided membership forms to cultural groups without ensuring that new members paid their own fees.

Volpe appealed the decision, arguing the fine was imposed "without due process" and was "designed to inflict as much damage as possible on my campaign immediately prior to the delegate selection meetings.

"[101] On October 31, a Liberal Party appeals committee exonerated Volpe of improper membership sales, and withdrew the fine imposed the previous month.

[113] In April 2021, Volpe filed a 30-million dollar defamation suit against Kristyn Wong-Tam and Paul Ainslie, as well as four Toronto Catholic District School Board Trustees and Yahoo Canada.