Canepa was a leading member of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights. He was a candidate for election for the first time in the 1972 elections, winning a seat and thus becoming Minister for Labour and Social Security. During his time in this ministry, he led a wide-ranging review of the social security system. He later served in government as Minister for Economic Development and Trade, a ministry he held until he succeeded Hassan as Chief Minister. During Hassan's last term in government Canepa also served as Deputy Chief Minister. He was perhaps Hassan's closest political colleague and became his right-hand man at meetings in London with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Dockyard Agreement and also accompanied him as his Deputy to meetings leading up to the Brussels Agreement in the early eighties.
Canepa succeeded Alfred Vasquez as Mayor of Gibraltar between 1976 and 1978. He was later succeeded by Horace Zammit.
Chief Minister of Gibraltar
Hassan resigned without completing his term as Chief Minister in 1987 after an :s:Gibraltar Airport Agreement|agreement on the shared use of Gibraltar Airport was signed by Spain and the United Kingdom, citing personal reasons. Being Deputy at the time, Canepa succeeded him as Chief Minister and leader of the AACR. However, Canepa lost the 1988 elections to Joe Bossano of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, with Canepa obtaining 4,422 votes, while Bossano polled 8,128 votes. Canepa then become Leader of the Opposition until he announced his resignation just prior to the 1992 elections. Canepa also announced his resignation as leader of the AACR and his retirement from politics altogether. The AACR disbanded shortly after.
Later work
Since his official retirement from politics, Canepa has assisted successive Governments of Gibraltar as a consultant, advising them by means of his experience and expertise on legislative and constitutional matters. He served in Peter Caruana’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, supporting the Chief Minister in the lobbying campaign and subsequent referendum which led to the derailing of the joint sovereignty proposals in 2002, and later in the Constitutional Reform Group which led to Gibraltar’s current constitution. For the last fifteen years he has worked in the Legislative Unit, the prime function of which is to scrutinise all European Union documents and determine how they might affect Gibraltar. In October 2012, Canepa was appointed the Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament and currently holds the post.
