Canavati's political career started in the late 1960s in the Mexico City Metro, where he was an administrative assistant, deputy director general, and comptroller.
[1] He served as mayor of San Nicolás de los Garza (1979–1982), and after a brief stint in the PRI's teaching arm in Nuevo León, he occupied a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the LIII Legislature of the Mexican Congress, which convened from 1985 to 1988.
He defeated PAN candidate Francisco Cantú, and in taking the mayorship of the city, he was replaced in the Senate by his alternate, Rubén Zarazúa Rocha.
[1] Canavati was placed on a proportional representation list again to return to San Lázaro for the LXIII Legislature, this time from the PRI's electoral ally, the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM).
[2] He serves on three commissions—Economy, Finances and Public Credit, and Justice—[1] and additionally was the vice president of the Mesa de Decanos, indicating that his previous tenure was the second longest of all of the deputies of the LXIII Legislature.