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 (2005–2006) |
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]
There is a Nancy Ruth fonds at Library and Archives Canada. [13] The archival reference number is R442,former archival reference number MG30-D408. [14] The fonds covers the date range 1980 to 2006 and contains:1.85 meters of textual records;79 photographs :col. slides ;35 mm;and 15 photographs :15 col.
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,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 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 provinces offer 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.
Norman Kempton Atkins was a Canadian Senator and a political figure in Canada.
Sharon Carstairs is a Canadian politician and former Senator.
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.
Marjory LeBreton is a Canadian former leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada;a member of the Canadian cabinet;and past national chair of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Canada. She worked with four leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada - John Diefenbaker,Robert Stanfield,Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney - from 1962 to 1993 before being appointed to the Senate on the advice of Mulroney. She sat as a Progressive Conservative Senator from her appointment until moving with most of her caucus colleagues to the new Conservative Party of Canada in 2004,of which she was soon elected to Chief Whip. She served as an advisor to then opposition leader Stephen Harper during the 2006 election,which the Conservative Party won. After the election,she was named to the cabinet position Leader of the Government in the Senate. On July 4,2013,LeBreton announced she would not continue in the position as of the next cabinet shuffle,which occurred later that summer. She retired from the Senate upon reaching her 75th birthday on July 4,2015.
Janis Guðrún Johnson is a retired Canadian politician who served as a senator,representing the province of Manitoba.
Marie-Paule Charette-Poulin was a Canadian senator until resigning in April 2015 and was the president of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2006 to 2008. She is married to international portrait artist Bernard Poulin.
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell is a former Canadian politician,diplomat,lawyer,and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4,1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the final Progressive Conservative (PC) prime minister,she was also the first woman to serve as minister of justice in Canadian history and the first woman to become minister of defence in a NATO member state.
This article covers the history of the Conservative Party of Canada.
This article lists some of the controversies in the 2011 Canadian federal election.
Kerry-Lynne Donna Findlay is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament for South Surrey—White Rock since 2019,and previously represented the electoral district of Delta—Richmond East in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Conservative Party,she had served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice,Associate Minister of National Defence,and Minister of National Revenue while that party was in power under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The Canadian Senators Group is a parliamentary group of senators in the Senate of Canada founded on November 4,2019,by eight senators from the Independent Senators Group,two from the Conservative Party of Canada's Senate caucus,and one non-affiliated senator. Its inaugural and current leader is Scott Tannas.
Leslyn Lewis is a Canadian lawyer and politician 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 leadership election,placing third. She was the first visible minority woman to run for the federal Conservative Party leadership. She is known for her socially conservative views.