Belinda Stronach
Encyclopedia
Belinda Caroline Stronach, PC
(born May 2, 1966) is a Canadian
businessperson
, philanthropist
and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament
(MP) in the Canadian House of Commons
from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative
, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals
. From May 17, 2005 to February 6, 2006, she was the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
in the government of Paul Martin
. According to Canadian protocol, as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
, she is styled The Honourable Belinda Stronach. After leaving politics, she served executive vice-chairman of Magna International
, Canada's largest automobile parts manufacturer until December 31, 2010, and chair of The Belinda Stronach Foundation, a charitable organization.
, the daughter of Magna International
founder and chairman Frank Stronach
and the former president and chief executive officer
of the company. She graduated from Newmarket High School
and attended York University
in 1985, where she studied business and economics, but dropped out after one year to work at Magna. She speaks English and German fluently.
of Magna from 1988 until 2004. She became a vice-president of the company in 1995 and executive vice-president in 1999, until her appointment as president and chief executive officer. She has chaired the boards of Decoma International Inc., Tesma International Inc., and Intier Automotive Inc., all in the auto parts sector. She was a founding member of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council and served on the Ontario Task Force on Productivity, Competitiveness and Economic Progress. She is a director of the Yves Landry Foundation, which furthers technological education and skills training in the manufacturing sector.
In February 2001, she was appointed chief executive officer of Magna, succeeding Donald J. Walker (who became CEO of Magna spinoff Intier Automotive Inc.), and in January 2002, she also became its president. While CEO, the company added 3,000 jobs in Canada, 1,000 of them being in the Newmarket-Aurora area she would later represent in Parliament. Under her leadership Magna had record sales and profits each year. Though he held no formal operational role during that time, Frank Stronach remained as Chairman of the Board.
As a CEO, Stronach was widely viewed as more conciliatory to organized labour than her father, who was noted for his strong opposition to unions at Magna. While head of Magna, she ceased fighting the United Auto Workers
in a dispute before the National Labor Relations Board
, and the union organized numerous Magna workers in the United States.
named Stronach as the most powerful businesswoman in Canada. In the same year, the World Economic Forum
named her a "Global Leader of Tomorrow". Fortune Magazine ranked her #2 in its list of the world's most powerful women in business in 2002. She was also named one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40". In April 2004, Time Magazine ranked her as one of the world's 100 most influential people.
Stronach is honorary chair of the Southlake Regional Health Centre
fundraising
campaign and a former honorary chair of the Howdown fundraising campaign. In 2003, she received one of Canada's oldest and most distinguished awards, the Beth Shalom Humanitarian Award, presented in recognition of outstanding achievement in humanitarian service.
On November 9, 2006 she co-chaired the Millennium Promise Convention in Montreal with Canadian television personality Rick Mercer
. This event was a national campaign to enlist Canadians to help protect children in Africa from the ravages of malaria. Together, Stronach and Mercer co-founded Spread the Net
, a grassroots organization that raises money to buy insecticide-treated bed nets for families in Africa, reducing the risk of acquiring malaria by mosquito bite. For her efforts, Stronach received an honorary degree
from Brock University
in St. Catharines, Ontario
in 2009.
speed skating
legend Johann Olav Koss
. She has two children from her first marriage, Frank and Nikki.
reported that Stronach had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, a form of breast cancer
, in April 2007, and had undergone a mastectomy
on June 19 in an undisclosed Toronto hospital.
According to a September 14, 2007 article from CTV News
, Stronach travelled to the United States for breast cancer surgery in June 2007. According to the article, Stronach's spokesperson Greg MacEachern said that the hospital in the United States was the best place to have this type of surgery done. The article also says that Stronach paid for the surgery out of her own pocket. Stronach raised over a million dollars in funds for the Belinda Stronach Chair in Breast Cancer Reconstructive Surgery, at the University of Toronto
, following her own breast surgery.
, she supported Preston Manning
. In his memoir Think Big, Manning recalls Stronach at his second-ballot campaign launch in Toronto delivering "a substantive introduction in which she clearly explained why she wanted the Alliance
and my candidacy to succeed", and he later thanked her for "unflagging support" in that campaign.
and the Canadian Alliance
with respect to a merger of those parties. Vote-splitting between the two right-wing parties had enabled the Liberals to dominate Canadian politics for a decade. Meetings between the parties were overseen by a facilitator, who was later revealed to have been Stronach. She was among many who had called for PC leader Peter MacKay and Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper
to undertake the merger talks in the first place.
In 2004, Stronach contested the leadership of the newly formed Conservative Party
. As a candidate for leadership of the new party, she drew a great deal of publicity to the race. However, many in the media saw her first foray into politics as sophomoric. Some critics accused her of being a "manufactured candidate", dependent on a high-priced network of professional campaign staff and Magna associates.
Some of the media reaction to Stronach's candidacy was criticized. Casting Stronach as an "heiress" with a "coddled career" — to the point of joking comparisons to Paris Hilton
— and the attention paid to her physical appearance and personal life, was described by a commentator as patronizing and sexist
. The Canadian media, though generally considered to exercise much greater reserve and discretion about the private lives of public figures than the media of other countries, paid considerable attention to rumours and innuendo about Stronach's personal life.
Supporters touted her youth and style, corporate experience, private life as a "soccer mom
", and her potential to win new and swing vote
rs, especially moderate, socially progressive voters in the province of Ontario.
On February 11, 2004, she declined to participate in a debate between the Conservative party candidates, leaving Tony Clement
and Stephen Harper to debate each other on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
broadcast. She later also skipped a March 14 debate on the Global Television Network
. She argued that she ought only to participate in party-sponsored debates, rather than picking and choosing among those organized by outside sponsors. Critics saw this as her way of avoiding a debate with the other two candidates.
In her major speech at the leadership convention on March 19, 2004, she promised to serve only two terms if she became Prime Minister, and to draw no salary. She made a major gesture of "throwing away the script", but then undercut this when she was seen referring to cue cards. On March 20, 2004, she finished second to Harper with 35% of the vote.
In the 2004 federal election
, she was narrowly elected as the MP for Newmarket—Aurora
by a margin of 689 votes over Liberal Martha Hall Findlay
. She was appointed the International Trade critic
in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet
.
, Stronach represented the socially liberal face of the Conservative Party. Along with Peter MacKay
, she was seen as giving the Conservatives a more progressive image.
Stronach was generally to the left
of her Conservative caucus colleagues, supporting abortion
rights, gun control
and same-sex marriage
. During her Conservative leadership campaign, she called for a free vote in parliament, with votes cast individually and not along party lines, on same-sex marriage. She spoke and voted in favour of same-sex marriage when the issue came to the House of Commons in 2005; a position she re-affirmed as a Liberal in 2006. Social conservative elements in Canada were critical of Stronach, calling her a "Red Tory
". During Stronach's leadership campaign, REAL Women of Canada
said: "If Ms. Stronach is elected as leader of the Conservative Party, social conservatives will no longer have a voice in Canada." Stronach, for her part, promised after the leadership race that she would do her best to keep the party from moving too far to the right
. She cited discomfort with Stephen Harper
and the Conservatives policies as one of her reasons for crossing the floor.
Stronach supported trade with the United States but said she would like to re-examine and review parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) to ensure, in her view, that Canadians can stand on a more equal footing with U.S. competitors. During her leadership campaign she said the country needed to consider changes to the Medicare
system that would respect the principles of the Canada Health Act
"as our standard, not our straitjacket".
damaging to the Liberals. The Tories planned to bring down the government by voting against an amendment to the budget that the Liberals had made to gain New Democratic Party
(NDP) support. Since this would be a loss of supply
, it would have brought down the government.
However, on May 17, 2005, two days before the crucial vote, Stronach announced that she was crossing the floor
and joining the Liberal Party. Her decision to join the Liberals was facilitated by former Ontario Liberal
Premier David Peterson
. Stronach immediately joined the cabinet as minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
and minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
. In the latter portfolio, she was charged with overseeing the implementation of the Gomery Inquiry recommendations, upon their release.
Her decision to quit the Conservative Party came after an uneasy relationship with Stephen Harper. In a press conference after leaving the party, she said that Harper was not sensitive to the needs of all parts of the country, and was jeopardizing national unity by allying himself with the Bloc Québécois
to bring down the government. She also stated that the party was too focused on Western Canada
and "Western alienation
" instead of having a broader and more inclusive focus. Her disdain for Harper was obvious in her press conference with Martin; she never once referred to him by name, only as "the leader of the Conservative Party."
Stronach's move shifted the balance of power in Parliament and allowed Martin's Liberal minority government
to survive for the time being. On May 19, 2005, two crucial confidence motions were voted on in the House of Commons. The first vote, on Bill C-43, the original budget proposal approved by all parties, was passed as expected, with 250 for and 54 against. The second vote was on a new budget amendment (Bill C-48) that included C$4.6 billion in additional spending the Liberals negotiated with NDP leader Jack Layton
, to secure the support of NDP MPs. It was on this amendment that the Conservative/Bloc alliance planned to bring down the government. However, the vote resulted in a 152-152 tie. It then fell to the Speaker
, Peter Milliken
, to cast the deciding vote, which he cast in favour of continuing debate, resulting in the survival of the government. The vote carried with a final count of 153 for and 152 against.
The Liberals used Stronach's defection to paint the Conservative Party as being too extreme for moderate voters in Ontario. The Liberals enjoyed a modest upswing in the polls after earlier being damaged by testimony from Gomery Commission
. Some political pundits suggested that shortly after Stronach's defection would have been the ideal time for the Liberals to call the election, as Stephen Harper had lost some of his momentum after narrowly failing to bring down the government. Instead, the Liberals were forced into an election
when they were brought down by a vote of non-confidence later that year, after revelations from the Gomery Inquiry damaged their popularity. Columnist Andrew Coyne
suggested that while her defection helped the Liberals in the short-run to stay in power, it also made Martin appear as a "grasping conniver willing to do and say anything to hang onto power".
Considerable media attention was paid to Peter MacKay
, MP, and the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, with whom Stronach had a relationship of several months. Interviewed the day after Stronach's departure from his party, he stated that he had learned of her intention to cross the floor mere hours before the public announcement. In an interview conducted at his father's farm, MacKay showed discernible emotion.
The day after Stronach crossed the floor, the reaction in Newmarket—Aurora was mixed. Some of her constituents were upset and expressed a sense of betrayal. Protesters picketed her riding office for several days, demanding a by-election
. However some of her constituents supported her move because they did not want an election and supported the budget.
Stronach's move to the Liberal Party and the speed with which she was given a senior-level cabinet position renewed calls from both parliamentarians and the general public for legislation to prevent such "party-hopping." One month after Stronach crossed the floor, a private member's bill
was tabled that would require a by-election
to be held within thirty-five days of a member of parliament quitting a party. According to this proposed legislation, the MP would have to sit as an independent until the by-election. The legislation never became law.
NDP MP Pat Martin
requested an investigation of Stronach, speculating that she had been promised a senior cabinet post in return for her defection. The Ethics Commissioner of Canada, Dr. Bernard Shapiro
, refused to investigate her floor-crossing, citing that it was a constitutional right of a Prime Minister to appoint opposition members to Cabinet.
The Conservatives targeted Stronach for defeat in the 2006 election
as part of their larger goal of a breakthrough in Ontario, especially in the Toronto suburbs (popularly known as the 905s). However, while the Conservatives won a minority government, Stronach defeated her Conservative challenger, Lois Brown
, by an eight-point margin.
also came under fire. Political scientist Linda Trimble has argued that the reaction to Stronach's defection to the Liberals was "offensive and sexist", referring to the comments of two provincial legislature members PC MPP Bob Runciman
and Alberta
PC Tony Abbott
. Runciman told the Toronto radio station CFRB that, "She sort of defined herself as something of a dipstick, an attractive one, but still a dipstick." He apologized for his comments and later elaborated, saying that Stronach failed to adequately express her reasons for defecting from the Conservative Party. Abbott said that Stronach had "whored herself out for power." He apologized for the statement the next day saying that the term "whoring" had been misunderstood from context, and noting that it could be equally used for men and women.
Women's groups argued that the media also unfairly characterized the transition. The National Post
used the front page headline "Blonde Bombshell", and political cartoonists made reference to Stronach prostituting herself to the Liberal party. Stronach's critics downplayed the sexism of their remarks and accused the Liberals of politicizing the issue in order to legitimize her crossing the floor.
She had defeated Lois Brown
in the Conservative nomination election and barely won her seat in an extremely tight race against Martha Hall Findlay
. Stronach's switch to the Liberals meant that Hall Findlay had to forfeit contesting the nomination process, while Lucienne Robillard
lost one of her portfolios to Stronach.
Since she started her career in politics, Stronach has made several television appearances poking fun at herself. This includes appearances on the CBC
television comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes
and a skate on the Rideau Canal
with Rick Mercer
for his series Rick Mercer Report
. She also played a political reporter in the television mini-series H2O:The Last Prime Minister
. In November 2005 she appeared on an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. At one point in the show, she remarked "You know, I recommended to Stephen [Harper] once that to rise in his polls he should take a little Viagra but the pill got stuck in his throat and all he got was a stiff neck."
, Stronach won re-election as a Liberal candidate by a greater margin than she had in the 2004 election as a Conservative.
Following the Liberal's defeat in the 2006 election, Paul Martin announced that he would be stepping down as party leader. It was widely speculated that Stronach would seek the Liberal leadership at the 2006 leadership convention, having been endorsed by such Liberals as Reg Alcock
and Brigitte Legault, who heads the Quebec party's youth wing.
However, on April 6, 2006, she announced that she would not seek the leadership, citing her objections to the delegate-based selection process. "I could have raised the money, I was working on my French, but I realized that I was not going to be free to speak my mind on party renewal", said Stronach. She said that renewal would involve giving all party members a direct vote on its direction and leadership, among other things. "If there was a one-member, one-vote system, I would run." However, a report by CTV
reporter Robert Fife
suggested that her candidacy was hampered by her weak grasp of French
, one of Canada's two official languages
, and the fact that she believed the Liberals would be defeated in the next election. Several Liberal Party officials had also warned that they would enforce the new rules, which placed limits on donations and spendings by contenders, which would have nullified Stronach's largest advantage over other potential rivals.
. Stronach further cited her wish to spend more time with her growing children, and the creation of a personal foundation to end poverty and disease in Africa
. She retained her seat in Parliament until the federal election in the fall of 2008.
On December 21, 2010, it was reported that Stronach was leaving Magna effective December 31 of that year.
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
(born May 2, 1966) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
businessperson
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. From May 17, 2005 to February 6, 2006, she was the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development (Canada)
The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the federal department that oversees programs such as Employment Insurance and Canada Student Loans...
and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal (Canada)
The Minister for Democratic Reform or Minister of State is a Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet, associated with the Privy Council Office.The position was created by Prime Minister Paul Martin when he succeeded Jean...
in the government of Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
. According to Canadian protocol, as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
, she is styled The Honourable Belinda Stronach. After leaving politics, she served executive vice-chairman of Magna International
Magna International
Magna International Inc. , is an automotive supplier headquartered in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's largest automobile parts manufacturer, and one of the country's largest companies. It owns the Magna Steyr automobile production company of Austria....
, Canada's largest automobile parts manufacturer until December 31, 2010, and chair of The Belinda Stronach Foundation, a charitable organization.
Background
Stronach was born in Newmarket, OntarioNewmarket, Ontario
Newmarket is a town in Southern Ontario located approximately 50 km north of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area and is connected to Toronto by freeway, and is served by three interchanges along Highway 404. It is also connected to Highway 400 via Highway 9...
, the daughter of Magna International
Magna International
Magna International Inc. , is an automotive supplier headquartered in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's largest automobile parts manufacturer, and one of the country's largest companies. It owns the Magna Steyr automobile production company of Austria....
founder and chairman Frank Stronach
Frank Stronach
Frank Stronach, CM is an Austrian-Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp., which specializes in horse-racing entertainment...
and the former president and chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the company. She graduated from Newmarket High School
Newmarket High School
Newmarket High School is an Ontario secondary school located at 505 Pickering Crescent, off Mulock Drive in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It is one of four high schools in Newmarket under the jurisdiction of the York Region District School Board and currently educates approximately 1214 students from...
and attended York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
in 1985, where she studied business and economics, but dropped out after one year to work at Magna. She speaks English and German fluently.
Business and public life
Stronach was a member of the board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Magna from 1988 until 2004. She became a vice-president of the company in 1995 and executive vice-president in 1999, until her appointment as president and chief executive officer. She has chaired the boards of Decoma International Inc., Tesma International Inc., and Intier Automotive Inc., all in the auto parts sector. She was a founding member of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council and served on the Ontario Task Force on Productivity, Competitiveness and Economic Progress. She is a director of the Yves Landry Foundation, which furthers technological education and skills training in the manufacturing sector.
In February 2001, she was appointed chief executive officer of Magna, succeeding Donald J. Walker (who became CEO of Magna spinoff Intier Automotive Inc.), and in January 2002, she also became its president. While CEO, the company added 3,000 jobs in Canada, 1,000 of them being in the Newmarket-Aurora area she would later represent in Parliament. Under her leadership Magna had record sales and profits each year. Though he held no formal operational role during that time, Frank Stronach remained as Chairman of the Board.
As a CEO, Stronach was widely viewed as more conciliatory to organized labour than her father, who was noted for his strong opposition to unions at Magna. While head of Magna, she ceased fighting the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
in a dispute before the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
, and the union organized numerous Magna workers in the United States.
Philanthropy and honours
In 2001, the National PostNational Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
named Stronach as the most powerful businesswoman in Canada. In the same year, the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
named her a "Global Leader of Tomorrow". Fortune Magazine ranked her #2 in its list of the world's most powerful women in business in 2002. She was also named one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40". In April 2004, Time Magazine ranked her as one of the world's 100 most influential people.
Stronach is honorary chair of the Southlake Regional Health Centre
Southlake Regional Health Centre
Southlake Regional Health Centre is a hospital located in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.A private hospital was founded in 1932 and on August 22 the province granted a Charter of Incorporation for the York County Hospital Corporation. In 1924, it became a public hospital. In 1946, the Margaret...
fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
campaign and a former honorary chair of the Howdown fundraising campaign. In 2003, she received one of Canada's oldest and most distinguished awards, the Beth Shalom Humanitarian Award, presented in recognition of outstanding achievement in humanitarian service.
On November 9, 2006 she co-chaired the Millennium Promise Convention in Montreal with Canadian television personality Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer
Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...
. This event was a national campaign to enlist Canadians to help protect children in Africa from the ravages of malaria. Together, Stronach and Mercer co-founded Spread the Net
Spread the Net
Working in collaboration with UNICEF Canada, Spread the Net is a charity organization intent on reducing malaria in the African nations of Liberia and Rwanda. Co-founded by Rick Mercer, a Canadian satirist, and Belinda Stronach, a former Canadian Member of Parliament andphilanthropist, Spread the...
, a grassroots organization that raises money to buy insecticide-treated bed nets for families in Africa, reducing the risk of acquiring malaria by mosquito bite. For her efforts, Stronach received an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Brock University
Brock University
Brock University is a comprehensive university located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Brock offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs that include co-op and other experiential learning opportunities to an enrolment of over 17,000 full-time students.The enabling legislation is...
in St. Catharines, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
in 2009.
Personal life
Stronach is twice divorced; her first husband was current Magna CEO Donald J. Walker and her second was NorwegianNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
speed skating
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
legend Johann Olav Koss
Johann Olav Koss
Johann Olav Koss is a former speed skater from Norway, considered to be one of the best in history, and current assistant coach of Norway's speed skating team.-Biography:...
. She has two children from her first marriage, Frank and Nikki.
Cancer diagnosis
On June 23, 2007, the Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
reported that Stronach had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, a form of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
, in April 2007, and had undergone a mastectomy
Mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer...
on June 19 in an undisclosed Toronto hospital.
According to a September 14, 2007 article from CTV News
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name CTV News is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations , which are closely tied to the national news division...
, Stronach travelled to the United States for breast cancer surgery in June 2007. According to the article, Stronach's spokesperson Greg MacEachern said that the hospital in the United States was the best place to have this type of surgery done. The article also says that Stronach paid for the surgery out of her own pocket. Stronach raised over a million dollars in funds for the Belinda Stronach Chair in Breast Cancer Reconstructive Surgery, at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, following her own breast surgery.
Early political career
In the 2000 Canadian Alliance leadership electionCanadian Alliance leadership elections
The Canadian Alliance, a conservative political party in Canada, held two leadership elections to choose the party's leader. The first was held shortly after the party's founding in 2000, and the second was held in 2002...
, she supported Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...
. In his memoir Think Big, Manning recalls Stronach at his second-ballot campaign launch in Toronto delivering "a substantive introduction in which she clearly explained why she wanted the Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
and my candidacy to succeed", and he later thanked her for "unflagging support" in that campaign.
Conservative leadership bid
Throughout the summer and into the fall of 2003, talks were undertaken by officials of the Progressive ConservativesProgressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
and the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
with respect to a merger of those parties. Vote-splitting between the two right-wing parties had enabled the Liberals to dominate Canadian politics for a decade. Meetings between the parties were overseen by a facilitator, who was later revealed to have been Stronach. She was among many who had called for PC leader Peter MacKay and Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
to undertake the merger talks in the first place.
In 2004, Stronach contested the leadership of the newly formed Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, 2004
The 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election took place on March 20, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, and resulted in the election of Stephen Harper as the first leader of the new Canadian Conservative Party...
. As a candidate for leadership of the new party, she drew a great deal of publicity to the race. However, many in the media saw her first foray into politics as sophomoric. Some critics accused her of being a "manufactured candidate", dependent on a high-priced network of professional campaign staff and Magna associates.
Some of the media reaction to Stronach's candidacy was criticized. Casting Stronach as an "heiress" with a "coddled career" — to the point of joking comparisons to Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
— and the attention paid to her physical appearance and personal life, was described by a commentator as patronizing and sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
. The Canadian media, though generally considered to exercise much greater reserve and discretion about the private lives of public figures than the media of other countries, paid considerable attention to rumours and innuendo about Stronach's personal life.
Supporters touted her youth and style, corporate experience, private life as a "soccer mom
Soccer mom
The phrase soccer mom broadly refers to a middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to their sporting events or other activities. Indices of American magazines and newspapers show relatively little usage of the term until a 1995...
", and her potential to win new and swing vote
Swing vote
Swing vote is a term used to describe a vote that may go to any of a number of candidates in an election, or, in a two-party system, may go to either of the two dominant political parties...
rs, especially moderate, socially progressive voters in the province of Ontario.
On February 11, 2004, she declined to participate in a debate between the Conservative party candidates, leaving Tony Clement
Tony Clement
Tony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
and Stephen Harper to debate each other on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
broadcast. She later also skipped a March 14 debate on the Global Television Network
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
. She argued that she ought only to participate in party-sponsored debates, rather than picking and choosing among those organized by outside sponsors. Critics saw this as her way of avoiding a debate with the other two candidates.
In her major speech at the leadership convention on March 19, 2004, she promised to serve only two terms if she became Prime Minister, and to draw no salary. She made a major gesture of "throwing away the script", but then undercut this when she was seen referring to cue cards. On March 20, 2004, she finished second to Harper with 35% of the vote.
In the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, she was narrowly elected as the MP for Newmarket—Aurora
Newmarket—Aurora
Newmarket—Aurora is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.The district contains the towns of Newmarket and Aurora....
by a margin of 689 votes over Liberal Martha Hall Findlay
Martha Hall Findlay
Martha Hall Findlay is a Canadian lawyer, businesswoman and politician. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate in the Toronto riding of Willowdale in a federal by-election held on March 17, 2008 to fill a vacancy created by former Liberal MP Jim...
. She was appointed the International Trade critic
Minister of International Trade (Canada)
The Minister of International Trade is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet is the head of the federal government's international trade department and the provisions of treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement .The post was first established in 1983 as the Minister...
in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (Canada)
The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 39th Canadian parliament is listed below. Members are drawn from the Liberal Party of Canada, and most are members of their parliamentary caucus...
.
Political positions as an MP
Before crossing the floor of the House of CommonsCanadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
, Stronach represented the socially liberal face of the Conservative Party. Along with Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
, she was seen as giving the Conservatives a more progressive image.
Stronach was generally to the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
of her Conservative caucus colleagues, supporting abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
rights, gun control
Gun politics in Canada
Gun politics in Canada is largely polarized between two groups with opposing views. One group includes those who object to the registration of personal firearms...
and same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
. During her Conservative leadership campaign, she called for a free vote in parliament, with votes cast individually and not along party lines, on same-sex marriage. She spoke and voted in favour of same-sex marriage when the issue came to the House of Commons in 2005; a position she re-affirmed as a Liberal in 2006. Social conservative elements in Canada were critical of Stronach, calling her a "Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
". During Stronach's leadership campaign, REAL Women of Canada
REAL Women of Canada
REAL Women of Canada is a socially conservative lobby group in Canada. The organization was founded in 1983.REAL stands for "Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life". The group believes that the nuclear family is the most important unit in Canadian society, and that the fragmentation of the Canadian...
said: "If Ms. Stronach is elected as leader of the Conservative Party, social conservatives will no longer have a voice in Canada." Stronach, for her part, promised after the leadership race that she would do her best to keep the party from moving too far to the right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
. She cited discomfort with Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
and the Conservatives policies as one of her reasons for crossing the floor.
Stronach supported trade with the United States but said she would like to re-examine and review parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) to ensure, in her view, that Canadians can stand on a more equal footing with U.S. competitors. During her leadership campaign she said the country needed to consider changes to the Medicare
Medicare (Canada)
Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...
system that would respect the principles of the Canada Health Act
Canada Health Act
The Canada Health Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation, adopted in 1984, which specifies the conditions and criteria with which the provincial and territorial health insurance programs must conform in order to receive federal transfer payments under the Canada Health Transfer...
"as our standard, not our straitjacket".
Crossing the floor
In May 2005, Stronach suggested publicly that forcing an early election, especially before passing that year's federal budget, was risky and could backfire on the Tories. Harper wanted to force an early election in the wake of testimony at the Gomery CommissionGomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
damaging to the Liberals. The Tories planned to bring down the government by voting against an amendment to the budget that the Liberals had made to gain New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP) support. Since this would be a loss of supply
Loss of Supply
Loss of supply occurs where a government in a parliamentary democracy using the Westminster System or a system derived from it is denied a supply of treasury or exchequer funds, by whichever house or houses of parliament or head of state is constitutionally entitled to grant and deny supply. A...
, it would have brought down the government.
However, on May 17, 2005, two days before the crucial vote, Stronach announced that she was crossing the floor
Crossing the floor
In politics, crossing the floor has two meanings referring to a change of allegiance in a Westminster system parliament.The term originates from the British House of Commons, which is configured with the Government and Opposition facing each other on rows of benches...
and joining the Liberal Party. Her decision to join the Liberals was facilitated by former Ontario Liberal
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
Premier David Peterson
David Peterson
David Robert Peterson, PC, O.Ont was the 20th Premier of the Province of Ontario, Canada, from June 26, 1985 to October 1, 1990. He was the first Liberal premier of Ontario in 42 years....
. Stronach immediately joined the cabinet as minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development (Canada)
The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the federal department that oversees programs such as Employment Insurance and Canada Student Loans...
and minister responsible for Democratic Renewal
Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal (Canada)
The Minister for Democratic Reform or Minister of State is a Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet, associated with the Privy Council Office.The position was created by Prime Minister Paul Martin when he succeeded Jean...
. In the latter portfolio, she was charged with overseeing the implementation of the Gomery Inquiry recommendations, upon their release.
Her decision to quit the Conservative Party came after an uneasy relationship with Stephen Harper. In a press conference after leaving the party, she said that Harper was not sensitive to the needs of all parts of the country, and was jeopardizing national unity by allying himself with the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
to bring down the government. She also stated that the party was too focused on Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
and "Western alienation
Western Alienation
In Canadian politics, Western alienation is a concept that the Western provinces - British Columbia , Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba - have been alienated, and in extreme cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in favour of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec...
" instead of having a broader and more inclusive focus. Her disdain for Harper was obvious in her press conference with Martin; she never once referred to him by name, only as "the leader of the Conservative Party."
Stronach's move shifted the balance of power in Parliament and allowed Martin's Liberal minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
to survive for the time being. On May 19, 2005, two crucial confidence motions were voted on in the House of Commons. The first vote, on Bill C-43, the original budget proposal approved by all parties, was passed as expected, with 250 for and 54 against. The second vote was on a new budget amendment (Bill C-48) that included C$4.6 billion in additional spending the Liberals negotiated with NDP leader Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
, to secure the support of NDP MPs. It was on this amendment that the Conservative/Bloc alliance planned to bring down the government. However, the vote resulted in a 152-152 tie. It then fell to the Speaker
Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow Members of Parliament...
, Peter Milliken
Peter Milliken
Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken, UE is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 until his retirement in 2011 and served as Speaker of the House for 10 years beginning in 2001. Milliken represented the Ontario riding of Kingston and the Islands as a...
, to cast the deciding vote, which he cast in favour of continuing debate, resulting in the survival of the government. The vote carried with a final count of 153 for and 152 against.
The Liberals used Stronach's defection to paint the Conservative Party as being too extreme for moderate voters in Ontario. The Liberals enjoyed a modest upswing in the polls after earlier being damaged by testimony from Gomery Commission
Gomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
. Some political pundits suggested that shortly after Stronach's defection would have been the ideal time for the Liberals to call the election, as Stephen Harper had lost some of his momentum after narrowly failing to bring down the government. Instead, the Liberals were forced into an election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
when they were brought down by a vote of non-confidence later that year, after revelations from the Gomery Inquiry damaged their popularity. Columnist Andrew Coyne
Andrew Coyne
James Andrew Coyne is the national editor for Maclean's, a weekly national newsmagazine in Canada. Previously, he was a columnist with the National Post and an editor-in-chief of the University of Manitoba's newspaper, The Manitoban.-Background:Coyne was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Hope...
suggested that while her defection helped the Liberals in the short-run to stay in power, it also made Martin appear as a "grasping conniver willing to do and say anything to hang onto power".
Reaction to Stronach's move
Stronach's party switch mere days before the confidence vote made her the target of criticism within the Conservative Party and in the media in general. Many were cynical about her reasons for leaving and believed that her move to the Liberals was motivated more by ambition than by moral or political principles. In a press conference following the announcement, Harper speculated that Stronach had left the party simply to further her own career. At the same time, others praised Stronach for having the courage to leave a party in which she no longer felt comfortable.Considerable media attention was paid to Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP is a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for Central Nova and currently serves as Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet of Canada....
, MP, and the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, with whom Stronach had a relationship of several months. Interviewed the day after Stronach's departure from his party, he stated that he had learned of her intention to cross the floor mere hours before the public announcement. In an interview conducted at his father's farm, MacKay showed discernible emotion.
The day after Stronach crossed the floor, the reaction in Newmarket—Aurora was mixed. Some of her constituents were upset and expressed a sense of betrayal. Protesters picketed her riding office for several days, demanding a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
. However some of her constituents supported her move because they did not want an election and supported the budget.
Stronach's move to the Liberal Party and the speed with which she was given a senior-level cabinet position renewed calls from both parliamentarians and the general public for legislation to prevent such "party-hopping." One month after Stronach crossed the floor, a private member's bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
was tabled that would require a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
to be held within thirty-five days of a member of parliament quitting a party. According to this proposed legislation, the MP would have to sit as an independent until the by-election. The legislation never became law.
NDP MP Pat Martin
Pat Martin
Patrick "Pat" Martin is a Canadian politician. He has been a member of the Canadian House of Commons since 1997, representing the riding of Winnipeg Centre for the New Democratic Party.-Career:...
requested an investigation of Stronach, speculating that she had been promised a senior cabinet post in return for her defection. The Ethics Commissioner of Canada, Dr. Bernard Shapiro
Bernard Shapiro
Bernard Jack Shapiro, is a Canadian academic, civil servant, former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University from 1994 to 2004, and the first Ethics Commissioner of Canada between May 17, 2004 and March 29, 2007.-Biography:...
, refused to investigate her floor-crossing, citing that it was a constitutional right of a Prime Minister to appoint opposition members to Cabinet.
The Conservatives targeted Stronach for defeat in the 2006 election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
as part of their larger goal of a breakthrough in Ontario, especially in the Toronto suburbs (popularly known as the 905s). However, while the Conservatives won a minority government, Stronach defeated her Conservative challenger, Lois Brown
Lois Brown
Lois Brown is a Canadian businesswoman and politician, currently the elected Member of Parliament for Newmarket—Aurora...
, by an eight-point margin.
Characterization in the media
Some of the criticism of Stronach's party switchingParty switching
Party-switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office.In many countries, party-switching takes the form of politicians refusing to support their political parties in coalition governments...
also came under fire. Political scientist Linda Trimble has argued that the reaction to Stronach's defection to the Liberals was "offensive and sexist", referring to the comments of two provincial legislature members PC MPP Bob Runciman
Bob Runciman
Robert William "Bob" Runciman is a veteran Canadian politician and former provincial Leader of the Opposition in the Ontario Legislature. First elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1981, he held the seat continuously for Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario for the next 29 years...
and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
PC Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott (Canadian politician)
Clarke Anthony Abbott is a Canadian politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He represented Drayton Valley-Calmar and sat as a Progressive Conservative from 2001 until 2008.-Early life:...
. Runciman told the Toronto radio station CFRB that, "She sort of defined herself as something of a dipstick, an attractive one, but still a dipstick." He apologized for his comments and later elaborated, saying that Stronach failed to adequately express her reasons for defecting from the Conservative Party. Abbott said that Stronach had "whored herself out for power." He apologized for the statement the next day saying that the term "whoring" had been misunderstood from context, and noting that it could be equally used for men and women.
Women's groups argued that the media also unfairly characterized the transition. The National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
used the front page headline "Blonde Bombshell", and political cartoonists made reference to Stronach prostituting herself to the Liberal party. Stronach's critics downplayed the sexism of their remarks and accused the Liberals of politicizing the issue in order to legitimize her crossing the floor.
She had defeated Lois Brown
Lois Brown
Lois Brown is a Canadian businesswoman and politician, currently the elected Member of Parliament for Newmarket—Aurora...
in the Conservative nomination election and barely won her seat in an extremely tight race against Martha Hall Findlay
Martha Hall Findlay
Martha Hall Findlay is a Canadian lawyer, businesswoman and politician. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate in the Toronto riding of Willowdale in a federal by-election held on March 17, 2008 to fill a vacancy created by former Liberal MP Jim...
. Stronach's switch to the Liberals meant that Hall Findlay had to forfeit contesting the nomination process, while Lucienne Robillard
Lucienne Robillard
Lucienne Robillard, PC is a Canadian politician and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She sat in the Canadian House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie in Montreal....
lost one of her portfolios to Stronach.
Since she started her career in politics, Stronach has made several television appearances poking fun at herself. This includes appearances on the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
television comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical editorials...
and a skate on the Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...
with Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer
Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...
for his series Rick Mercer Report
Rick Mercer Report
Rick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which airs on CBC Television...
. She also played a political reporter in the television mini-series H2O:The Last Prime Minister
H2O (film)
H2O is a Canadian political drama two-part miniseries that first aired on the CBC Television October 31, 2004. It starred Paul Gross and Leslie Hope, with former politician Belinda Stronach making a cameo appearance. Written by Gross and John Krizanc and directed by Charles Binamé, it was nominated...
. In November 2005 she appeared on an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. At one point in the show, she remarked "You know, I recommended to Stephen [Harper] once that to rise in his polls he should take a little Viagra but the pill got stuck in his throat and all he got was a stiff neck."
As a Liberal MP
Although the Liberals lost the 2006 federal electionCanadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
, Stronach won re-election as a Liberal candidate by a greater margin than she had in the 2004 election as a Conservative.
Following the Liberal's defeat in the 2006 election, Paul Martin announced that he would be stepping down as party leader. It was widely speculated that Stronach would seek the Liberal leadership at the 2006 leadership convention, having been endorsed by such Liberals as Reg Alcock
Reg Alcock
Reginald B. Alcock, PC was a Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Winnipeg South in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006 and was a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Alcock was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Early life and...
and Brigitte Legault, who heads the Quebec party's youth wing.
However, on April 6, 2006, she announced that she would not seek the leadership, citing her objections to the delegate-based selection process. "I could have raised the money, I was working on my French, but I realized that I was not going to be free to speak my mind on party renewal", said Stronach. She said that renewal would involve giving all party members a direct vote on its direction and leadership, among other things. "If there was a one-member, one-vote system, I would run." However, a report by CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
reporter Robert Fife
Robert Fife
Robert Fife is a Canadian journalist and author, who has been the CTV News Ottawa bureau chief since February 2005. Fife is also executive producer of CTV's daily political show, Powerplay with Tom Clark, and CTV's Question Period that airs on Sunday. He is a native of Chapleau, Ontario. Fife has...
suggested that her candidacy was hampered by her weak grasp of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, one of Canada's two official languages
Bilingualism in Canada
The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada" according to Canada's constitution...
, and the fact that she believed the Liberals would be defeated in the next election. Several Liberal Party officials had also warned that they would enforce the new rules, which placed limits on donations and spendings by contenders, which would have nullified Stronach's largest advantage over other potential rivals.
Not seeking re-election
On April 11, 2007, Stronach announced that she would not seek re-election, and would instead return to Magna International as Executive Vice-Chairman. This decision came at a time when Magna was in the midst of teaming up with Onex Corporation to consider a bid to buy ChryslerChrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
. Stronach further cited her wish to spend more time with her growing children, and the creation of a personal foundation to end poverty and disease in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. She retained her seat in Parliament until the federal election in the fall of 2008.
On December 21, 2010, it was reported that Stronach was leaving Magna effective December 31 of that year.