Peggy Nash
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Peggy A. Nash (born June 28, 1951) is a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
labour official and politician from
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,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada. She was the New Democratic Party (NDP)
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for the
Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It was created during the 1976 electoral boundaries redistribution from parts of Parkdale, Hig ...
electoral district (riding) in Toronto, and was the Official Opposition's Industry Critic. Before becoming a parliamentarian, she worked as a labour official at the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW). In 2005, she became the first woman to negotiate a major contract with one of the Detroit-based automobile corporations. She was first elected as the MP for Parkdale—High Park in the 2006 federal election. In the 2008 federal election, she was defeated in her re-election bid by
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate
Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...
. Following the 2006 election, Nash returned to her previous job as a labour official with the CAW. She was elected to a two-year term as the federal NDP's president on August 15, 2009, at the party's convention in Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. She was a candidate again in the 2011 federal election, and defeated Kennedy, earning 47% of the vote to regain her former seat in the House of Commons of Canada.In 2012, Nash was a candidate for the leadership of the federal NDP. She finished fourth on the second ballot at the party's convention in Toronto on March 24, 2012. In April 2012, she was reappointed as the NDP's Finance Critic by new leader
Thomas Mulcair Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) Thomas is a male given name of Aramaic origins. The English spelling "Thomas" is a transliteration; through Latin "Thomas", of the approximate Greek translite ...
.


Life prior to politics

Nash was born in Toronto, and holds an Honours B.A. in French language and literature from the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
and is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Nash has lived in the Parkdale—High Park electoral district for over twenty years, where she is married with three sons. In the years before she ran for parliament, Nash worked as a ticket agent and union activist with the Canadian Airline Employees Association. When that union merged with the
Canadian Auto Workers The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...
in 1985, she became an assistant to national president Bob White. When he stepped down, she continued in that same capacity with his successor Basil "Buzz" Hargrove. She worked as a labour negotiator in the transportation, service and manufacturing sectors and was the first labour woman responsible for major auto negotiations in North America, when she negotiated the 2005 Ford Canada contract. Nash also wrote articles published in ''Our Times'', '' Canadian Dimension'', '' The Canadian Forum'', and ''Our Schools Our Selves'', and co-authored an article in the ''Canadian Labour Law Journal''.


Member of Parliament


39th Parliament • 2006 to 2008

Nash's initial campaign for electoral office was unsuccessful. She vied for the federal parliamentary seat in the Parkdale–High Park electoral district during the 38th Canadian general election. She lost a close contest to the incumbent
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
Member of Parliament (MP)
Sarmite Bulte Sarmite Drosma "Sam" Bulte, (born September 27, 1953) is a Canadian lawyer, advocate and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, she represented the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park in the House of Commons of Canada through three success ...
on June 28, 2004. Nash ran again in the 39th Canadian general election, in a rematch of the 2004 campaign. Bulte came under heavy criticism as she received campaign donations from entertainment companies, which was considered a conflict of interest given she supported stricter copyright laws. Nash narrowly won the election with a 4.6% margin, or 2,301 votes, on January 23, 2006. Her first term as an MP was during the
39th Canadian Parliament The 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections. The Parliament w ...
. Nash became the NDP's Industry Critic and Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. She introduced a bill to reinstate a national minimum wage of $10 per hour. Other House of Commons issues she advocated for included ones that dealt with water sustainability,
public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
, and the Arts. She brought forward legislation including the "Once in a Lifetime" bill, to reunite new Canadians with their families. She championed several consumer issues such as reducing
credit card interest Credit card interest is a way in which credit card issuers generate revenue. A card issuer is a bank or credit union that gives a consumer (the cardholder) a card or account number that can be used with various payees to make payments and borrow m ...
rates, ATM fees, and payday lender interest rates. As a member of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, Nash was instrumental in stopping the acquisition of
MacDonald Dettwiler MDA Ltd. is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, that provides geointelligence, robotics & space operations, and satellite systems. History MDA (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founde ...
by U.S.-owned Alliant Techsystems. MacDonald Dettwiler is the Canadian space company which produced the
Canadarm Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia ...
and RADARSAT-2 satellite, and impacts the issue of Canadian Arctic sovereignty. Nash argued that the sale would have devastated the Canadian aerospace industry and eliminated Canadian control over a technology developed with the aid of millions of Canadian taxpayers' dollars. Nash has also been active in Parliamentary Friendship Groups for
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,
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and
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
. As the Member of Parliament representing the largest population of Tibetan refugees in Canada, she helped push for a resolution declaring the
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
an honorary Canadian citizen, and also personally introduced a motion calling for negotiations between China and Tibet. Both resolutions received unanimous support in the House of Commons. She was a parliamentary representative on the 2006 Canadian post-war fact-finding mission to Lebanon that was condemned by the Conservative government for its support for the legalization and decriminalization of Hezbollah in Canada.


40th Canadian general election and its aftermath

In the 40th Canadian general election, held on October 14, 2008, she was defeated by
Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...
, the Liberal candidate who formerly represented the electoral district at the provincial level. Nash was subsequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the
Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...
2009 leadership election, although she did not run. After leaving Parliament, she returned to her position as one of the five assistants to CAW president Ken Lewenza. Her new duties within the CAW shifted from transportation to dealing with CAW bargaining units in post-secondary education and airlines. Her responsibilities also included representing the union at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). At the federal party's national convention in
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, she was elected party president on August 15, 2009.


41st Parliament • 2011 to 2015

On January 15, 2010, it was announced on the Parkdale—High Park NDP website that Nash would be running for the nomination to be the electoral district association's candidate in the 41st Canadian general election. She was acclaimed as the NDP candidate in Parkdale—High Park on January 28, 2010, and campaigned until the May 2, 2011 election. In a rematch of the 2008 campaign, Nash defeated Kennedy by 7,313 votes, or 14 percent, to regain her seat in parliament.
Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...
, in his role as
Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition The Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, more commonly referred to as the Leader of the Opposition, is the person who leads the His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, Official Opposition in the United Kingdom. The position is seen as the ...
during the
41st Canadian Parliament The 41st Canadian Parliament was in session from June 2, 2011 to August 2, 2015, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, ...
, appointed Nash as the Finance Critic in his Shadow Cabinet on May 26, 2011. When she became an MP again, she did not re-offer to run for president, and Brian Topp was acclaimed as her replacement at the federal NDP's Vancouver bi-annual convention on June 18, 2011.


Leadership candidacy

With Jack Layton's death on August 22, 2011, the NDP began seeking a new federal leader. On September 9, the NDP's executive decided the rules for the
leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
, the date and place for the convention. Nash expressed interest in running, but appeared hesitant at first to run, because she would have to resign as the Finance Critic. By the last week of October, she sent signals that she intended to run, and announced her candidacy on October 28 at a press conference in Toronto. On March 24, 2012, at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre Metro Toronto Convention Centre (originally and still colloquially Metro Convention Centre, and sometimes MTCC), is a convention complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada along Front Street West in the former Railway Lands in downtown Toronto. ...
, she placed fourth on the second ballot, and was automatically dropped from contention. She did not back any of the remaining candidates, and freed her delegates — that had not already voted in advance — to vote for whomever they wanted. A few weeks later, new NDP leader
Thomas Mulcair Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) Thomas is a male given name of Aramaic origins. The English spelling "Thomas" is a transliteration; through Latin "Thomas", of the approximate Greek translite ...
reappointed her to the Official Opposition's Shadow Cabinet as the Finance Critic on April 19.


42nd Canadian general election

Nash ran for another term in the 2015 federal election, but lost her seat to
Arif Virani Arif Virani (born November 23, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Parkdale—High Park since 2015. Virani represents the riding in the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party. H ...
when the Liberal Party swept all 25 ridings in Toronto, including Parkdale—High Park.


Awards

Nash has been involved with many organizations advancing women's equality. She was a founding member of Equal Voice, an all-party organization which advocates for the election of more women in Canada, and was a recipient of a Certificate of Honour from the City of Toronto for her contribution to women's equality. In 2006, ''
Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'' named Nash the Best MP in Toronto. Before she served in the House of Commons, she was active in foreign-affairs matters including being a Canadian election monitor in the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa in 1994; and, an election monitor in both the 2004 and 2007 Ukrainian elections. She was the recipient of two environmental awards from the Sierra Club of Canada and she helped create the NDP Green Car Strategy with Greenpeace and the Canadian Auto Workers. In February 2009, in recognition for her work as a trailblazer who opened doors for women in the labour movement, and making childcare issues a public priority, Nash became the recipient of the 2009 YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction award, in the Labour category. The YWCA also recognized her contributions for advancing the women's causes in politics, through her involvement with the founding of Equal Voice and becoming an elected member of the House of Commons. She was presented with the award at the 29th Annual YWCA
Women of Distinction Awards The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
Dinner, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on May 13, 2009.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Peggy 1951 births Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario New Democratic Party MPs Women members of the House of Commons of Canada University of Toronto alumni Trade unionists from Ontario Women in Ontario politics Canadian Auto Workers people Politicians from Toronto Presidents of the New Democratic Party of Canada 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian women trade unionists Members of the Order of Canada