Barbara Jane Sparrow (born July 11, 1935) is a retired

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician.

Political career

Sparrow, a

Registered Nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a healthcare professional who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized ...

and businessperson, was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the 1984 federal election as Member of Parliament for the

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

riding of Calgary South. That election brought the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; ) was a Centrism, centre to centre-right List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 unti ...

to power under the leadership of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

. In that election she won the biggest plurality in Canadian history up to that time with 47,763 more votes than second place runner-up Harold Millican from the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

. Redistribution of federal ridings by

Elections Canada Elections Canada () is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering elections in Canada, Canadian federal elections and Referendums in Canada, referendums. History Elections Canada is an agency of the Parliament of Canada, and reports ...

prior to the 1988 federal election abolished Sparrow's riding; in 1988, she ran and won in the new riding of

Calgary Southwest Calgary Southwest was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2015. The district was in the southwest part of the city of Calgary, south of Glenmore Trail and west of ...

. In 1991, she was named parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Health and Welfare. When

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

in 1993, she brought Sparrow into the Cabinet as

Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources The minister of energy and natural resources () is the minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government' ...

and Minister of Forestry. Both Sparrow and the Campbell government were defeated in the subsequent 1993 federal election that reduced the Tories to only two seats in the House of Commons. Sparrow lost her seat to Reform Party leader

Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a retired Canadian politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tu ...

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Bobbie 1935 births 20th-century Canadian women politicians Living people Members of the 25th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Members of the Junior League Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Calgary Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Women government ministers of Canada Women in Alberta politics Women members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada