Margaret Mary Burgoyne-Howse Scrivener (c. 1922 – September 11, 1997) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative Party member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1971 to 1985 who represented the downtown

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

riding of

St. David David (; ; ) was a Welsh Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Mynyw during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life. ...

. She was the second woman in Canada to hold a cabinet position, serving as a minister in the government of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

Background

Scrivener was born in

and was educated at

St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School (commonly referred to as just St. Mildred's and abbreviated to SMLS) is an independent school, independent single-sex education, all-girls school in Oakville, Ontario, Oakville, Ontario, Canada with approximately 55 ...

. She worked for the ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...

'' newspaper during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and covered

Marilyn Bell Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio (born October 19, 1937) is a Canadian retired Long-distance swimming, long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Perso ...

's historic swims across

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. She was also active in several Rosedale community groups, and was a prominent figure in the struggle to preserve the ravines from development. She served as chair of the Ontario Planning Association, and was a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Board. From 1962 to 1970, she and her husband owned a 120-hectare dairy farm near Keswick, Ontario. Scrivener was a skilled

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and listed

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and Chopin as being among her favourite composers. She died in 1997, at age 75. Ralph Day Funeral Home in Toronto handled the arrangements for a well attended service at the Cathedral Church of St.Jame's

Politics

In the 1971 provincial election she ran as the Progressive Conservative in the downtown

riding of

. She defeated NDP candidate Giles Endicott by 2,603 votes. She was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

before entering the legislature, but did not share this information with her colleagues. She served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

supporter of

's government, and was named a

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

in 1974. She was re-elected in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

by a smaller margin over NDP contender Jim Lemon and Liberal candidate

June Rowlands June Rowlands (née Pendock; May 14, 1924 – December 21, 2017) was a Canadian politician who was the 60th mayor of Toronto from 1991 to 1994. She was the first woman to serve as Toronto's mayor. Rowlands also served as a city councillor and w ...

. On October 7, 1975 she was appointed to cabinet by Premier

as Minister of Government Services. After a cabinet shuffle on February 3, 1977, she was named Minister of Revenue. In the 1977 provincial election, Scrivener defeated

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

challenger

Gordon Cressy Gordon Cressy (born 1943) is a former Canadian politician, who served on Toronto City Council from 1978 to 1982."Gordon Cressy fonds", City of Toronto Archives. Background Cressy was born in 1943 in Toronto, and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate ...

by 836 votes. She was dropped from cabinet on January 21, 1978, and spent the remainder of her legislative career as a backbencher. In the 1981 provincial election, she defeated future

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Ian Scott by 1,022 votes. She did not campaign in the 1985 election. Shortly before his official retirement as premier, Davis appointed Scrivener as chair of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Although many considered her to be a moderate Tory, in January 1985 Scrivener endorsed

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

as a candidate to succeed Davis as the leader of the Progressive Conservative party.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scrivener, Margaret 1922 births 1997 deaths Women government ministers of Canada Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Women MPPs in Ontario 20th-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario