Anne McGrath (born ) is the National Director of the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada. Prior to this, she most recently served as principal secretary to former

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Premier

Rachel Notley Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019, and has been the leader of the Opposition since 2019. She sits as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for ...

and as Notley's deputy chief of staff. McGrath was president of the New Democratic Party from 2006 to 2009.

Background

McGrath was born in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

, England to

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

parents. Her family moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

when she was a child and later to Ottawa. Her father was a school principal and her mother was a teacher. She studied English literature at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

and in 1979–80 she was President of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. After graduating, she moved to Edmonton to work as a field organizer for the Alberta Federation of Students while studying for an education degree at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

and became politically active. She graduated with a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta and began her career as a teacher. She then held a variety of positions with not-for-profit organizations including working as Canadian Programme Officer for Oxfam-Canada and Community Development Team Leader and senior education officer for the Canadian Mental Health Association. She has a master's degree in communications studies. She has also served as a board member and social issues chair of the Elizabeth Fry Society, Vice-President of National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and a member of the Steering Committee for the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action: Beijing and Beyond. McGrath is a frequent commentator on national media broadcasts and has been identified as one of the 100 most influential people in government and politics in Ottawa. She has been an activist in the labour, student and women's movements and had been employed by

CUPE The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

National as Director of Equality and as executive assistant to CUPE's national president

Judy Darcy Judy Darcy (born 1950) is a Canadian health care advocate, trade unionist, and former politician. Darcy was the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions of British Columbia. She was the fourth National President of the Canadian Union of P ...

, and by Oxfam Canada.

Politics

In the 1984 federal election, while a student, she ran as candidate for the Communist Party of Canada in Edmonton—Strathcona, placing seventh. Of her involvement with the Communist Party she says "I was young, probably naïve, interested in talking about politics. And very influenced by friends and teachers.". At a debate at the Calgary Varsity Centre in April 2019, McGrath apologised for her past involvement with the Communist Party saying she was no longer a Communist stating, "Four decades ago when I was a young student, I was a member f the Communist Partyand I deeply regret that. It was a mistake and I'm very sorry." In 1993, McGrath was the

Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Alberta), commonly shortened to Alberta's NDP, is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. It is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Demo ...

's candidate in Calgary-Bow. In 1995 she was its candidate in a provincial

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

Calgary-McCall Calgary-Bhullar-McCall is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It was created in 1971, and was named after Frederick McCall and the McCall Industrial Park. As of the 2010 redistricting, the industrial ...

and came in third place. In 1995, she unsuccessfully challenged Ross Harvey for the leadership of the

. McGrath was president of the New Democratic Party from 2006 to 2009; she was elected on September 10, 2006, at the party's convention in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

and her term ended on August 16, 2009 when Peggy Nash was elected president at the party's convention in Halifax. Before that, she had been director of operations for the NDP federal caucus. As Chief of Staff to Jack Layton (2008–2011), she is credited with professionalizing caucus operations and with helping organize the party's historic breakthrough to Official Opposition status. She stayed on as chief of staff to interim party leader Nycole Turmel and the federal NDP Caucus, during Turmel's interim leadership. McGrath also served as the National Director of the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada (2014-2015). McGrath served as principal secretary to former

Premier

and as Notley's deputy chief of staff. McGrath was the NDP candidate in

Calgary-Varsity Calgary-Varsity is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and returns a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It comprises the communities of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwoo ...

in the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

. She was portrayed by

Wendy Crewson Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film ''The Doctor (1991 film), The Doctor''. Crewson has appeared in ma ...

in the 2013 CBC Television film ''

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

''.

Electoral record

2019 Alberta general election - Calgary-Varsity

1995 Alberta NDP leadership challenge

(Held on November 11, 1995)Edmonton Journal, November 13, 1995 * Ross Harvey 177 *Anne McGrath 118 * Joe Weykowich 30 * Lawrence Dubrofsky 3

1995 Calgary provincial by-election

1993 general election Calgary-Bow

In 1993, McGrath was the Alberta New Democratic Party's candidate in Calgary-Bow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Anne Canadian political consultants Living people Alberta New Democratic Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections Women in Alberta politics Presidents of the New Democratic Party of Canada Political chiefs of staff 1958 births English emigrants to Canada University of Ottawa alumni Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) politicians People from Aldershot Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian communists Canadian socialist feminists Oxfam people Canadian Union of Public Employees people University of Alberta alumni