Nancy Ruth | |
---|---|
Senator for Cluny, Ontario | |
In office March 24, 2005 –January 6, 2017 | |
Nominated by | Paul Martin |
Appointed by | Adrienne Clarkson |
Personal details | |
Born | Nancy Ruth Rowell Jackman January 6,1942 Toronto,Ontario,Canada |
Political party | Conservative |
Other political affiliations | Progressive Conservative (until 2006) |
Parent(s) | Harry Jackman Mary Coyne Rowell |
Relatives | Hal Jackman (brother) Newton Rowell (grandfather) |
Nancy Ruth Rowell Jackman CM (born January 6,1942) is a Canadian heiress,activist,philanthropist and former Canadian senator. She was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 24,2005. [1] While initially appointed as a Progressive Conservative,she joined the Conservative caucus on March 28,2006. She was Canada's first openly lesbian senator. [2] She retired from the Senate on January 6,2017,upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.
Nancy Ruth was born in Toronto,Ontario,and is an alumna of Branksome Hall. Before being appointed to the Senate,she was a social activist and philanthropist. She founded several women's organizations in Canada,including the Canadian Women's Foundation and a women's studies chair at Mount Saint Vincent University. She has also been a noted benefactor of hospitals and art galleries throughout Canada,and she was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1994. [3]
She has long battled for women's constitutional rights and thus opposed the Charlottetown Accord in 1992. She is also a vocal opponent of pornography. Her support for tougher child pornography laws made her a controversial figure amongst other gay rights activists,who saw the legislation as dangerously ambiguous in its definitions and broad in scope.
She was born Nancy Ruth Rowell Jackman and is the sister of former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Hal Jackman,the daughter of former Member of Parliament Harry Jackman and the granddaughter of former MP and Ontario Liberal Party leader Newton Rowell. She changed her name in the mid-1990s;she does not use "Ruth" as a last name,instead using both her names as given names with no last name,and therefore preferred to be known as "Senator Nancy Ruth" instead of "Senator Ruth." [4] She was alphabetized under "N," not "R",on the Senate website. [5]
A Red Tory,she stood as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on two occasions in the early 1990s,when she was known as Nancy Jackman. The first was in the 1990 provincial election,when she lost to New Democratic Party candidate Zanana Akande by fewer than 1,000 votes in the riding of St. Andrew—St. Patrick. On April 1,1993,she lost to Liberal Tim Murphy by over 2,000 votes in a by-election held in St. George—St. David. In 1997,she was the recipient of the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. [6]
Nancy Ruth crossed party lines to endorse Kathleen Wynne in her bid to win the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in 2013;she donated $10,000 to the Liberal MPP's campaign. [7]
In 2010,Nancy Ruth took credit for the Throne Speech's including a proposal to study changing the line of "O Canada" from "all thy sons command" to "thou dost in us command",the original wording. Intense public backlash caused the Prime Minister's Office to announce the issue had been dropped from consideration. [8]
Nancy Ruth sparked controversy on May 3,2010,with comments she made during a meeting with women's equality rights groups on Parliament Hill. The groups were among many who had leveled criticisms at the Conservative government for maintaining their refusal to include funding for abortions in their maternal health plan for the G8,even after finally agreeing to include family planning measures such as contraception. Nancy Ruth fired back at the groups,telling them,"We've got five weeks or whatever left until the G8 starts. Shut the fuck up on this issue," she said. "If you push it,there'll be more backlash. This is now a political football. This is not about women's health in this country". Nancy Ruth also said,"Canada is still a country with free and accessible abortion. Leave it there. Don't make this an election issue." [9]
The next day the Conservative government cut funding to 11 women's groups,some of which support abortion as part of the G8 maternal health initiative. [10]
Nancy Ruth drew media attention again in 2015 when responding to reporters regarding the auditor general's questioning why she claimed separate breakfasts as public expenses when she could have eaten the airline breakfasts included in the price of her airline ticket,which she had also expensed. She is quoted as saying "Well,those breakfasts are pretty awful" and "If you want ice-cold camembert with broken crackers,have it!" [11] The comments drew criticism as evidence of senators feeling entitled to a certain lifestyle at public expense. [12]
The Senate of Canada is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons,they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Conservative Party of Canada,colloquially known as the Tories or simply the Conservatives,is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties,the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance,the latter being the successor of the Western Canadian–based Reform Party. The party sits at the centre-right to the right of the Canadian political spectrum,with their federal rival,the centre-left Liberal Party of Canada,positioned to their left. The Conservatives are defined as a "big tent" party,practising "brokerage politics" and welcoming a broad variety of members,including "Red Tories" and "Blue Tories".
Abortion in Canada is legal throughout pregnancy and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems. However,access to services and resources varies by region. While some restrictions exist,Canada is one of the few nations with no criminal restrictions on abortion. Abortion is subject to provincial healthcare regulatory rules and guidelines for physicians. No jurisdiction offers abortion on request at 24 weeks and beyond,although there are exceptions for certain medical complications.
Henry Newton Rowell "Hal" Jackman is a Canadian billionaire businessman who served as the 25th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1991 to 1997. He is the son of former Member of Parliament Harry Jackman and philanthropist Mary Rowell Jackman. His mother was the daughter of another former Member of Parliament,Newton Rowell. His sister,Nancy Ruth,is a philanthropist who was appointed to the Senate in 2005.
Catherine Sophia Callbeck is a retired Canadian politician and the current and ninth Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island.
Newton Wesley Rowell,was a Canadian lawyer,politician,judge,and lay leader in the Methodist Church. Rowell led the Ontario Liberal Party from 1911 to 1917 and put forward a platform advocating temperance. Rowell's Liberals failed to oppose the Whitney government's passage of Regulation 17 which restricted the teaching of the French language in schools and alienated the province's French-Canadian minority.
Ronalee Ambrose Veitch is a former Canadian politician who was interim leader of the Conservative Party and the leader of the Opposition between 2015 and 2017. She was the Conservative Party member of the House of Commons for Sturgeon River—Parkland between 2015 and 2017,and had previously represented Edmonton—Spruce Grove from 2004 to 2015.
Kathleen O'Day Wynne is a former Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was member of provincial parliament (MPP) for Don Valley West from 2003 to 2022. Wynne is the first female premier of Ontario and the first openly gay premier in Canada.
Liz Sandals is a politician in Ontario,Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Guelph—Wellington and Guelph. She served in cabinet as the President of the Treasury Board until January 17,2018 and previously served for three years as Minister of Education in the government of Kathleen Wynne.
Janis Guðrún Johnson is a retired Canadian politician who served as a senator,representing the province of Manitoba.
Representation by women has been a significant issue in Canadian politics since 1900.
Glenn Edward Thibeault is a former Canadian politician. He was Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2015 to 2018 who represented the riding of Sudbury. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne. From 2008 to 2015,he represented the federal electoral district of Sudbury in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the New Democratic Party.
This article lists some of the controversies in the 2011 Canadian federal election.
Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter is a Canadian politician who represented Scarborough—Guildwood as a member of provincial parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2013 to 2023. A member of the Ontario Liberal Party,Hunter was a provincial cabinet minister from 2014 to 2018 and was the deputy leader of the party from 2022 to 2023. She resigned from the Ontario legislature on May 10,2023,in order to be a candidate for mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election,in which she placed sixth with 2.9% of the vote. She is currently President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation.
The 41st Legislative Assembly of Ontario was a legislature of the government of the province of Ontario,Canada. The membership was set by the 2014 Ontario general election. The 41st parliament of Ontario was dissolved on May 8,2018.
The 2018 Ontario general election was held on June 7,2018,to elect the 124 members of the 42nd Parliament of Ontario. The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario,led by Doug Ford,won 76 of the 124 seats in the legislature and formed a majority government. The Ontario New Democratic Party,led by Andrea Horwath,formed the Official Opposition. The Ontario Liberal Party,led by incumbent Premier Kathleen Wynne,lost official party status in recording both the worst result in the party's 161-year history and the worst result for any incumbent governing party in Ontario. The Green Party of Ontario won a seat for the first time in their history,while the Trillium Party of Ontario lost its single seat gained by a floor-crossing during the 41st Parliament.
Indira Naidoo-Harris is a former Canadian politician and journalist who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2014 provincial election,sitting as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Halton until 2018. A member of the Ontario Liberal Party,Naidoo-Harris was the province's Minister of Education in 2018,Minister of the Status of Women from 2017 to 2018,early years and child care Minister from 2016 to 2018,and Associate Minister of Finance in 2016.
Leslyn Ann Lewis is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Haldimand—Norfolk since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party,Lewis contested the party leadership in the 2020 and 2022,placing third both times. She was the first visible minority woman to run for the federal Conservative Party leadership. She is known for her socially conservative views and has called for Canada to withdraw from the United Nations.