Joy Kathryn MacPhail (born March 6, 1952) is a former Canadian politician in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. A longtime member of the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

, she served as a

member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) from 1991 to 2005 and as a Minister of the Crown from 1993 to 1999, and 2000–2001.

Background

MacPhail was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

. After studying economics at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, MacPhail earned a iplomain

Labour Studies Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employee ...

at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. Prior to her election, MacPhail was a spokesperson for the B.C. Federation of Labour and an executive assistant to the Federation's then-president, Ken Georgetti.

Political career

MLA and Minister

MacPhail was first elected to the British Columbia Legislature in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

as the MLA for Vancouver-Hastings and served in the cabinets of three NDP premiers. Under Premier

Mike Harcourt Michael Franklin Harcourt Officer of the Order of Canada, OC (born January 6, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th List of mayors of Vancouver ...

, she served as Minister of Social Services from 1993 to 1996. Under Premier

Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian retail executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Early life and education Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, na ...

, she briefly remained Minister of Social Services, before a cabinet shuffle moved MacPhail into the position of Minister of Health from 1996 to 1998. MacPhail's final cabinet position in the Clark government was as Minister of Finance from 1998 to her departure in 1999, leaving Clark's cabinet at a time when it was suffering from increasing dissent and scandal. As Finance Minister, MacPhail was tasked with delivering a deficit budget in the aftermath of the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, which caused a brief recession in British Columbia. MacPhail and the NDP opted for a Keynesian approach to the recession, investing in major construction projects like the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre and investment in the SkyTrain network, all of which were criticized by then-opposition leader Gordon Campbell.

Bid for party leadership

Upon Clark's resignation as NDP leader, MacPhail ran for the party's leadership. MacPhail was characterized in the media as a centrist, promising a

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

-style move to the

Third Way The Third Way is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics by advocating a varying synthesis of Right-wing economics, right-wing economic and Left-wing politics, left-wing so ...

and a focus on tax cuts and balanced budgets. As fellow contender

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh (; born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of he ...

consolidated more support, MacPhail withdrew from the race, throwing her support behind Dosanjh to prevent a victory by the Clark-endorsed Gordon Wilson, who was serving as Minister of Education at the time. Wilson, who had jumped from the British Columbia Liberals to the

Progressive Democratic Alliance The Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) was a centrist political party in British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific ...

before joining the NDP, would eventually withdraw from the race and endorse Agriculture Minister Corky Evans, who would lose to Dosanjh on the first ballot. Under Dosanjh, she was the Deputy Premier and served as Minister of Labour and, later, Minister of Education.

Final term

The NDP suffered a massive electoral blow in the May 16, 2001, provincial election. Only MacPhail and then-Minister of the Environment, Jenny Kwan, retained their seats. MacPhail held onto her seat by 409 votes. Media noted that MacPhail's campaign benefited from controversy surrounding her

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

opponent, Ian Gregson, who had written an explicit article for Hustler Magazine in 1997. Exactly one month after the election, MacPhail was appointed as the party's interim leader. She was a harsh critic of the new BC Liberal premier Gordon Campbell. Although the NDP was the only other party in the legislature, it was four seats short of

official party status Official party status refers to the Westminster system, Westminster practice which is used in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures of recognizing Parliamentary group, parliamentary caucuses of political parties. In parliamentar ...

. Despite this, Assembly speaker Claude Richmond ensured that the NDP was resourced as an opposition party and MacPhail was recognized by the speaker as the leader of the Opposition. MacPhail stepped down as leader in 2003 and was succeeded by Carole James. She remained as parliamentary leader of the NDP until her retirement from politics after the 2005 election. In a profile written regarding MacPhail's retirement in 2005, the

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a private, not-for-profit c ...

erroneously reported that MacPhail is the great-granddaughter of

Agnes Macphail Agnes Campbell Macphail (March 24, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1 ...

, the first woman elected to Canada's Parliament and a founder of the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

, when, in fact, the two have no familial relation.

Post-politics

Two months after her retirement from politics, MacPhail married film and television producer James Shavick in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and became a partner in his production firm Shavick Entertainment. In 2006, MacPhail and Shavick purchased OutTV, a Canadian cable television station focused on programming for the

LGBTQ+ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

. MacPhail, a long-time advocate for the community, expressed interest in producing or starring in some of the network's programming, stating: "It's exciting, I must tell you. This is very nice next step for me!" During the 2012 NDP Leadership race, MacPhail endorsed Brian Topp. In July 2017, once the BC NDP formed the provincial government, MacPhail replaced Barry Penner as chair of

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) is a provincial Crown corporation in British Columbia providing vehicle insurance. ICBC was created in 1973 by the NDP government of Premier Dave Barrett. By law, any vehicle registered an ...

. On 29 June 2022 she became chair of the board of directors at

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., Trade name, operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, State-owned enterprise, publicly owned Canadian c ...

. She received membership in the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

on 29 December 2021 and was given the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administe ...

on 1 August 2022.

References

External links

Profile on BC Legislature

2005 archive
Former B.C. politician new owner of OUTtv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macphail, Joy Alumni of the London School of Economics Canadian media executives Deputy premiers of British Columbia Ministers of finance of British Columbia Female Canadian political party leaders Leaders of the British Columbia CCF/NDP Leaders of the opposition (British Columbia) Living people Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Businesspeople from Vancouver Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario Politicians from Vancouver University of Western Ontario alumni Women MLAs in British Columbia 1952 births Ministers of education of British Columbia Ministers of health of British Columbia Film producers from British Columbia Canadian television producers Canadian women film producers Women government ministers of Canada 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian women television producers Members of the Order of Canada Women opposition leaders 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Mass media people from Hamilton, Ontario Mass media people from Vancouver