Lisa MacLeod

Lisa MacLeod
MPP
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Nepean—Carleton
Assumed office
March 30, 2006
Preceded by John Baird
Personal details
Born (1974-10-29) October 29, 1974
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
Political party Progressive Conservative
Spouse(s) Joseph Varner
Children 1
Residence Ottawa, Ontario
Occupation Executive assistant
Religion Presbyterian

Lisa MacLeod is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in a by-election in 2006. She represents the riding of Nepean—Carleton.

Background

Macleod was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.[1] She went to St. Francis Xavier University where she obtain a degree in political science.[2] She moved to Ottawa in 1998 with a goal of becoming involved in politics.[3] She worked as an assistant to Ottawa City Councillor Jan Harder and as a riding assistant to federal Member of Parliament (MP) Pierre Poilievre.[4][5] She is married to Joseph Varner and they have one daughter, Victoria. Varner was a candidate in the 2003 provincial election but lost to Richard Patten.[4]

Politics

Macleod was elected to the Ontario legislature in a by-election that was held to replace John Baird who resigned to run for the federal House of Commons. She won the election on March 30, 2006, beating her Liberal opponent Brian Ford in the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean—Carleton by a margin of 6,000 votes.[6] She was re-elected in 2007, 2011 and 2014.[7][8][9]

In 2007 MacLeod was satirized by Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella when she was mockingly portrayed in a spoofed picture suggesting she would rather be at home baking cookies than attending a political event with then PC Leader John Tory. Kinsella later removed the posting and apologized to MacLeod. Following the incident MacLeod wrote a cookbook called I'd Rather Be Baking Cookies: A Collection of Recipes from Lisa MacLeod and Friends. Macleod said, "Why not play off that experience, make a cookbook and poke fun at the absurdity of it?" The money raised from the sale of the cookbooks went to her election campaign.[10]

In 2012, she criticized Dalton McGuinty's Bill 13 legislation as being "unfair" to Catholic separate school boards because it forced them to allow Gay Straight Alliances. She labelled the Liberals as "bullies".[11]

In April 2014, Premier Kathleen Wynne launched a libel lawsuit against MacLeod and PC Party Leader Tim Hudak after they said that she "oversaw and possibly ordered the criminal destruction of [gas plant] documents."[12] In July 2015, Wynne, MacLeod and Hudak reached an agreement whereby the lawsuit was dropped. They said in a joint statement, "Politics is not for the thin-skinned. However, our system also requires that politicians act honestly and based on fact, while respecting the views of others... In the lead-up to the last election the debate went beyond differences over our approach and at times became personal. The lawsuit between us, and the comments that led to it, did not reflect our view that the other is in fact a great mother/father, an honourable person and a dedicated public servant." The statement avoided any apology or placement of blame.[13]

MacLeod announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party on October 6, 2014 but withdrew on February 6, 2015 following federal cabinet minister John Baird's announcement that he was resigning from cabinet and would not be running for re-election to the Canadian House of Commons. MacLeod told reporters that she has been “under enormous pressure from my constituents to seek the federal nomination to replace John Baird,” in the new riding of Nepean.[14] MacLeod decided not to seek Baird's seat in the House of Commons, and remained at Queen's Park.[15]

As of July 2014, she is the party's critic for Treasury Board issues.

Electoral record

Ontario general election, 2014: Nepean—Carleton
Party Candidate Votes%∆%
Progressive ConservativeLisa MacLeod 30,901 46.77 −7.71
LiberalJack Uppal 21,974 33.26 +6.29
New DemocraticRic Dagenais 8,628 13.06 −1.71
GreenGordon Kubanek 3,630 5.49 +2.51
LibertarianCoreen Corcoran 940 1.42 +1.01
Total valid votes 66,073 100.0   +20.00
Progressive Conservative hold Swing −7.00
Ontario general election, 2011: Nepean—Carleton
Party Candidate Votes%∆%Expenditures
Progressive ConservativeLisa MacLeod 29,985 54.48 +4.20 $   61,855.47
LiberalDon Dransfield 14,844 26.97 −5.97 20,300.63
New DemocraticRic Dagenais 8,127 14.77 +7.34 18,039.80
GreenGordon Kubanek 1,641 2.98 −5.38 2,855.87
LibertarianRoger Toutant 223 0.41   0.00
FreedomMarco Rossi 217 0.39   0.00
Total valid votes / Expense limit 55,037 100.0   +2.23 $ 131,703.25
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 193 0.35 −0.17
Turnout 55,230 49.91 −4.70
Eligible voters 110,662  +11.69
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +5.09
Ontario general election, 2007: Nepean—Carleton
Party Candidate Votes%∆%Expenditures
Progressive ConservativeLisa MacLeod 27,070 50.28 −7.29 $   58,239.69
LiberalJai Aggarwal 17,731 32.94 +1.50 35,359.08
GreenGordon Kubanek 4,500 8.36 +6.25 3,130.46
New DemocraticTristan Maack 4,000 7.43 −0.84 11,543.93
Family CoalitionSuzanne Fortin 533 0.99   0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit 53,834 100.0  +79.01 $ 107,004.24
Total rejected ballots 277 0.52 +0.20
Turnout 54,111 54.61 +26.09
Eligible voters 99,078   −6.36
Ontario provincial by-election, March 30, 2006: Nepean—Carleton
Party Candidate Votes%∆%Expenditures
Progressive Conservative Lisa MacLeod 17,312 57.57 +3.51 $  89,547.03
LiberalBrian Ford 9,455 31.44 −4.21 58,560.17
New Democratic Laurel Gibbons 2,487 8.27 +1.73 32,687.68
Green Peter V. Tretter 634 2.11 −1.65 852.94
Independent John Turmel 112 0.37   0.00
Freedom Jurgen Vollrath 73 0.24   0.00
Total valid votes/Expense Limit 30,073 100.0  −48.65 $ 114,226.16
Total rejected ballots 97 0.32 −0.13
Turnout 30,170 28.52 −33.71
Eligible voters 105,802  +11.91

References

  1. Brennan, Richard; Benzie, Robert (July 19, 2006). "Backbencher raises ire of Atlantic Canada; Liberal MPP suggests region is an economic underperformer". Toronto Star. p. A14.
  2. Denley, Randall (April 1, 2006). "MacLeod will deliver for city". The Ottawa Citizen. p. E1.
  3. Pearson, Matthew (September 21, 2013). "A political paradox; Depending on who you talk to, Lisa MacLeod is either a hard-working MPP who cares deeply about her community or a partisan attack dog whose loyalty is first to the Progressive Conservative party". The Ottawa Citizen. p. B1.
  4. 1 2 Reevely, David (September 24, 2003). "Varner brings out the big guns: MacKay, Prentice help Ottawa Centre candidate". The Ottawa Citizen. p. A8.
  5. Mohammed, Adam (March 2, 2006). "Ex-police chief seeks Liberal nomination: Byelection called for Nepean-Carleton". The Ottawa Citizen. p. C3.
  6. Lackner, Chris; Pilieci, Vito (March 31, 2006). "Tories' MacLeod posts easy victory in Nepean-Carleton byelection". The Ottawa Citizen. p. F1.
  7. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 10, 2007. p. 9 (xviii). Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  8. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. October 6, 2011. p. 10. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  9. "General Election by District: Nepean—Carleton". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014.
  10. "Conservatives, including PM, share recipes for cookbook". CTV News. 11 September 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  11. "Catholic schools' opposition to gay clubs revives public-funding debate". National Post. 30 May 2012.
  12. "Kathleen Wynne sues Tim Hudak, MPP Lisa MacLeod and PC party". Toronto Star. 4 April 2014.
  13. "Wynne, Hudak, and MacLeod resolve their legal differences". Toronto Star. July 9, 2015.
  14. "Lisa MacLeod to withdraw from Progressive Conservative leadership race". Toronto Star. February 5, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  15. "Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod rules out run for John Baird's federal seat". Toronto Star. February 17, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2015.

External links

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