Carol Skelton, (born December 12, 1945, in

Biggar, Saskatchewan Biggar is a town in central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is on Highway 14, west of Saskatoon. Biggar has become well known for its unusual town slogan, an Olympic athlete, and a world-record deer. The town was featured on American morning newsma ...

) is a

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. She is a member of the

Security Intelligence Review Committee The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC; ) was a committee of Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the operations of the Canadian Security Intellige ...

which oversees the operation of

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; , ''SCRS'') is a Intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service and security agency of the Government of Canada, federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, a ...

. She formerly served as Member of Parliament from 2000 to 2008, and was the Minister of National Revenue from 2006 to 2007. She was first elected in the 2000 federal election by 68 votes over incumbent Dennis Gruending of the

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 ...

in the riding of

Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar (formerly known as Saskatoon—Rosetown) was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015. Geography The district consisted of the ...

, as a member of the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

. She was deputy leader of the Canadian Alliance for six months in 2003 before that party disbanded itself to merge into the new

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

. She was re-elected in the 2004 federal election by over 2,000 votes in a rematch against Gruending. She is the former official opposition critic of Family Issues, Children and Youth, Human Resources Development, the Deputy Prime Minister, Social Economy, Western Economic Diversification, Public Health and Social Development, where she was instrumental in developing the party's child care policies. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, she was re-elected again, defeating NDP candidate Nettie Wiebe by 6.3 percentage points. She was appointed to the federal cabinet on February 6, 2006, by the new

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 ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

, making her the first ever female Canadian federal cabinet minister from the province of Saskatchewan. On May 28, 2007, she announced a new Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and the creation of a Taxpayer's Ombudsman at the Canada Revenue Agency. In January 2007, she lost the portfolio of Minister of Western Economic Diversification when it was transferred to

Rona Ambrose Ronalee Ambrose Veitch ( , Name at birth, née Chapchuk; born March 15, 1969) is a former Canadian politician who served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Official Opposition and Interim leader (Canada), interim Leade ...

in a minor

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

. Skelton announced on August 3, 2007, that she would not run in the 2008 election. Her tenure as Revenue minister ended when Prime Minister Harper again shuffled his cabinet on August 14, 2007.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Carol 1945 births Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan Canadian Alliance MPs Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Living people Women members of the House of Commons of Canada People from Biggar, Saskatchewan Women in Saskatchewan politics Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry Women government ministers of Canada 21st-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada