Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1989–1991) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs/Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of State (Agriculture) (1991–1993) Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment (1993)
Dobbie was a publisher before entering political life,and was a founder of Association Publications Ltd. She was the first woman to serve as president of the WinnipegChamber of Commerce. In 1983,she was named Outstanding Business Citizen of the Year by the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce.
Dobbie was elected to the House of Commons in the 1988 election,defeating Liberal candidate Allan Kaufman by 715 votes to win the federal riding of Winnipeg South,re-created by the federal electoral boundary redistribution of 1987.[4] The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the election,and Dobbie entered parliament as a government backbencher.
She served as parliamentary secretary to seven different ministers between 1989 and 1993,and was a member of fifteen committees.[5] Dobbie acted as Co-Chair,alongside Claude Castonguay,on the Special Joint Committee on a Renewed Canada,and the committee's recommendations on constitutional reform later formed the basis of the government's 1992 Charlottetown Accord,which was defeated in a national referendum.[5][6]
The PC Party was resoundingly defeated in the 1993 election,losing all but two of its parliamentary seats. Dobbie lost her candidate's deposit,receiving 6,432 votes (12.29%) for a third-place finish against Liberal Reg Alcock. During the campaign,she accused the rival Reform Party of being controlled by Christian fundamentalists and criticized her own party for running advertisements that mocked Liberal leader Jean Chrétien's facial deformity (Winnipeg Free Press,17 October 1993). She also called for the abolition of the Senate of Canada (Winnipeg Free Press,18 July 1993).
After Charest's resignation as Progressive Conservative Party leader in 1998,she endorsed former prime minister Joe Clark in his successful bid to succeed him (Toronto Star,29 June 1998).
Dobbie opposed the Progressive Conservative Party's merger with the Canadian Alliance in 2003,citing concern over unclear agendas of the new party,and she later endorsed Glen Murray,the former mayor of Winnipeg who ran as a Liberal candidate in the 2004 federal election in Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia.[7] When Sinclair Stevens,another former Progressive Conservative MP,launched an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit to try to block the merger,Dobbie was one of eleven other party members who openly backed the Affidavit.[8]
Post-political work
Dobbie helped to found Pegasus Publications Inc. in 1996,and still serves as its president. She is now the publisher of Manitoba Gardener,Ontario Gardener and Alberta Gardener magazines,and has written several articles on gardening. With her daughter,Shauna Dobbie,she has written The Book of 10 Neat Things,a book of horticultural advice which has been published in at least two editions.[9]
In 2004,Dobbie was appointed a board member of Tree Canada.[11] After she served as chair from 2008 to 2011,a Tree Canada news release announced that Dobbie was stepping down from the position.[12]
Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from official contributions and expenses provided by Elections Canada.
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