Brenda Elliott (born October 27, 1950) is a former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

in Ontario, Canada. She served in 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 ...

as a Progressive Conservative from 1995 to 2003, and was a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

in the governments of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

and

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership up ...

Background

Elliott was born in

Goderich, Ontario Goderich ( or ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by John Galt and William "Tiger" Dunlop of the Canada Company in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after ...

. She went to

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

, and worked as a teacher and librarian. In 1972, she was elected to the Wellington County Board of Education. She became interested in environmental causes during the 1990s, and in November 1989 opened a store in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

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 ...

called For Earth's Sake.

Politics

Elliott was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1995 provincial election, defeating former Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Rick Ferraro and incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Derek Fletcher in the

constituency. The Tories won a majority government in this election under

's leadership, and Elliott was appointed as Minister of Environment and Energy on June 26, 1995. Due to Elliott's background in the

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

, many believed she would be a strong advocate for "green" policies in the Harris cabinet. She was dropped from cabinet on August 16, 1996, and 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 in the legislature for the next three years. Elliott was easily re-elected in the 1999 provincial election for the redistributed riding of Guelph—Wellington by about ten thousand votes. On February 8, 2001, she returned to cabinet as

Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs The minister of Intergovernmental Affairs () is the Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada. T ...

. When

replaced Mike Harris as

Premier of Ontario The premier of Ontario () is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincia ...

in 2002, he named Elliott as his Minister of Community, Family and Children's Services. The Tories were defeated in the 2003 provincial election, and Elliott lost her seat to Liberal candidate

Liz Sandals Liz Sandals (née MacNaughton; born ) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Guelph—Wellington and Guelph. She served in cabinet ...

by 2,800 votes.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Brenda 1950 births Women government ministers of Canada Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Goderich, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Women MPPs in Ontario 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario