Diane Ablonczy (née Broadway; ; born May 6, 1949) is a former

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 ...

Member of Parliament who served in 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 ...

. Ablonczy represented

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

ridings from 1993 to 2015, sitting first with the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...

, then with 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 ...

, and finally with the

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 served as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) from January 4, 2011 to July 15, 2013. She was previously appointed

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

(Seniors) on January 19, 2010. She held the position of

(Small Business and Tourism) from October 30, 2008, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism) from August 14, 2007, and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

from February 2006. Previously, Ablonczy served as Chief Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration,

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, and

Human Resources Development Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

. Ablonczy was first elected to the House of Commons in 1993 as the Reform Party Member of Parliament (MP) for

Calgary North Calgary North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1997. This riding was created in 1952 from parts of the Bow River, Calgary West, and East Calgary ridings. T ...

. In the riding redistribution of 1996, the riding of Calgary North ceased to exist and Ablonczy was re-elected as MP for

Calgary—Nose Hill Calgary Nose Hill (formerly Calgary—Nose Hill) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Geography It consists of the part of the City of Calgary clockwise w ...

in 1997 (Reform Party), 2000 (

), 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011 (Conservative Party). On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced she would not seek re-election in the 2015 federal election.

Background

Diane Broadway was born in 1949 in Peoria,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States, as the oldest of six children. A year later the family moved to

Three Hills Three Hills is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the three somewhat-larger-than-normal hills to its north. History Three Hills post office dates from 1904. Three Hills was incorporated as a village in 1912, the yea ...

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 ...

, and Ablonczy grew up in a variety of places in rural Alberta. In 1967 she graduated from high school in Lac La Biche. In 1973 she received her Education degree from the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

and subsequently taught English, creative writing, and other subjects. She married Tom Ablonczy, a well site engineer and refugee of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. They had one daughter. They ran a barley-growing operation, and in 1980 Diane earned her law degree from the

. The family moved to

where she had her general law practice from 1981–1991. She was widowed in 1984 and is now married to Ron Sauer. She has one daughter, four stepchildren, and eight grandchildren.

Political career

Ablonczy's first political involvement was in 1982, when she briefly belonged to the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1981 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories (which included ...

party, but left to join the Provincial Rights Association (PRA) a few months later. Since the PRA was formed too late to gain official political party status, she ran as an independent candidate in

Calgary-Mountain View Calgary-Mountain View is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district was created in 1971 and ...

in the 1982 Alberta provincial election.Daniel Schwartz, "Diane Ablonczy", ''The National, CBC Television website'', Updated March 13, 2002, retrieved March 30, 2002 In early 1987, Ablonczy joined the Reform Association of Canada, and later that year became a founding member of the

. She was elected as the first Party Chairman and served two terms in this role. As Chair she was active in developing the Party's organization, administration, and communications structure, acting as a senior Party spokesperson and encouraging the growth of the Party's membership. In 1991, she set aside her law practice and went on staff for the Party as a special assistant 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 ...

, with responsibility for Party communications and strategic planning. In the 1993 federal election, Ablonczy was elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as the Reform Party candidate for the federal riding of

. In the following years, she continued to participate in Party affairs as a member of the Reform Party Strategy Committee. She also was a member of the Reform Party Expansion Committee, and she chaired the Reform Party Task Force on the Reform of Social Programs. In 1998 and 1999, Ablonczy promoted the

United Alternative United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

process to create a new federal political party on the political right. As co-chair of the UA policy committee, she took part in developing a comprehensive draft policy document and guiding it through a series of public consultations across the country. The resulting Declaration of Policy was approved as official Party Policy by members at the Founding Convention of the

on March 25, 2000. The Reform Party was dissolved, and the

was created. Ablonczy was re-elected under the new party's banner in the 2000 federal election. In December 2001, Ablonczy entered the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership contest on a platform of promoting "a process to combine the Canadian Alliance, 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 ...

, and other interested partners into an effective, unified opposition party before the next election." She placed third with 3.8% of the vote. In late 2003, the Progressive Conservative Party merged with the Canadian Alliance to create the new

. On November 18, 2002, Ablonczy posed a question in the House of Commons concerning the government's system of "screening and security checks" as related to

Maher Arar Maher Arar () (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way ...

, a dual Canadian and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n citizen who had recently been deported from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to Syria as a terror suspect. Based on newly released information Ablonczy asked what the government "is doing to protect Canadian security" and why "the U.S. could uncover this man's background so quickly" when the Canadian government failed to find what she described as "his al-Qaeda links". Ablonczy also criticized the Chrétien government for "chastising the U.S. for sending Arar back to Syria where he is also a citizen". Arar was imprisoned for over a year in Syria and was repeatedly tortured by Syrian authorities. The RCMP later confirmed that Arar has no ties to any terrorist organizations. On July 6, 2009, Conservative Member of Parliament

Brad Trost Bradley Ryan Trost (born May 15, 1974) is a former Canadian politician who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the ridings of Saskatoon—Humboldt from 2004 to 2015 and Saskatoon—Un ...

indicated that several Conservative parliamentarians were surprised by Ablonczy's decision to provide funding for the Toronto Pride Week Festival. Ablonczy later lost authority over such funding projects to another cabinet minister. This was denied by government spokesman Darren Cunningham, as reported in the national media. In a cabinet shuffle on January 19, 2010, Diane Ablonczy changed portfolios to become the Minister of State for Seniors. The move was widely seen as a demotion in response to her decision to provide funding to the Toronto Pride Week Festival; a move which resulted in backlash among some of her supporters. On January 4, 2011, she received a promotion to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs). On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced her retirement from parliament at the next election. In 2015, Ablonczy opposed amendments to Bill C-51 proposed by the Green Party that called for consideration for "rule of law" and "principles of fundamental justice", by using air quotes when saying those two legal principles and because "action would be pretty much at a stalemate."

Parliamentary career

35th Parliament (1993–1997)

Diane Ablonczy was first elected to the House of Commons on October 25, 1993. She won as candidate for the Reform Party in

, with a 52.5% majority. The Reform Party catapulted from 1 to 52 seats. Ablonczy served in the following positions: *

Whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

for the Reform Caucus (elected by her colleagues and the first woman of any party to hold that position.) * Member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs * Member of the Reform Caucus Committee on Immigration. * Reform Party Critic for

* Member of the

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. * Deputy Critic for

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

* Critic for Atlantic Issues * Member of the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. From 1995–1997, she hosted a Calgary Cable bi-weekly live, phone-in TV show called Dial Your MP, which provided Calgarians with an opportunity to ask questions on a variety of federal government issues.

36th Parliament (1997–2000)

On June 2, 1997, after a riding redistribution in 1996 in which

was dissolved, Ablonczy was re-elected as the MP for

, with a 51.5% majority. The Reform Party won 60 seats and became the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

. Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Member of the Reform Party Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for

. * Member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

37th Parliament (2000–2004)

On November 27, 2000, Ablonczy was re-elected as the Calgary-Nose Hill MP for the

, this time with a 60.1% majority. The Alliance won 66 seats and became

. Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Member of the Canadian Alliance Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for

* Member of the

on Health. In the spring of 2001, she embarked on a self-financed fact-finding mission to study health care systems in France, Sweden and the Netherlands. She resigned her Critic position on December 17, 2001 to become a candidate in the Canadian Alliance Leadership Election. * Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. * Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration * Associate Member of the

on Public Accounts that investigated the sponsorship scandal.

38th Parliament (2004–2006)

On June 28, 2004, Ablonczy was once more elected as the MP for Calgary-Nose Hill, this time for the new Conservative Party. She won with an increased majority of 64.4%. The Conservative Party won 99 seats, making it the

. Ablonczy held the following positions: * Member of the Conservative Party Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship & Immigration. * Member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. In 2005, she chaired a series of National Consultations on Canada's Immigration System and developed the Conservative Party's immigration policies.

39th Parliament (2006–2008)

On January 23, 2006, Ablonczy was re-elected with an increased vote percentage of 68.5%. The Conservatives won 124 seats and formed a minority Conservative government. In the first 18 months of the

Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...

Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Parliamentary Secretary to the

. * Canadian Representative at

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

and

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

meetings * Member of the Standing Committee on Finance. * Member of the historic all-Party Ad Hoc Committee to Review a Nominee for the Supreme Court of Canada that interviewed

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Nominee Judge

Marshall Rothstein Marshall Rothstein (born December 25, 1940) is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Early life Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jewish parents who immigrated from Eastern Europe, he received a Bachelor of Commerce in 1962 and a ...

on February 27, 2006, televised live on national news channels. In August 2007, Ablonczy was named to the Federal Cabinet as junior Minister holding the following positions: * Secretary of State responsible for Small Business & Tourism. * Member of the Cabinet Operations Committee * Member of the Cabinet Committee for Economic Growth and Long Term Prosperity.

40th Parliament (2008–2011)

On October 14, 2008, Ablonczy was re-elected with her largest majority ever: 69.6%. The Conservatives won a second minority government with 143 seats. On October 30, 2008, Diane Ablonczy was sworn into Cabinet as

for Small Business & Tourism in the second

. She served in the following Cabinet Committees: *Treasury Board Submissions *Economic Growth and Long Term Prosperity *Environment and Energy Security. Ablonczy oversaw the development and implementation of the following important Ministry initiatives: * Paper Burden Reduction. On March 20, 2009, Ablonczy announced that the federal government had reached its goal of reducing the paperwork required of Canadian small businesses by 20 percent. * BizPal, an online tool to simplify the permit application process for entrepreneurs, was expanded to a rapidly increasing number of governments * Small Business Internship Program – a program designated to help small business by supplying the salaries of student interns to work in their offices. *The Marquee Tourism Events Program – announced in Budget 2009 as a $100 million economic stimulus initiative for tourism. In time for the summer tourist season the MTEP provided funding for a few dozen large and well-established festivals across Canada to help them deliver world-class programs and draw bigger crowds. * Development of a National Tourism Strategy to guide future investments and to bring greater coherence to federal activities in support of tourism. In the cabinet shuffle of January 19, 2010, Diane Ablonczy changed portfolios and became the Minister of State for Seniors. Bill C-40, An Act to establish National Seniors Day, introduced by Minister of State Ablonczy, received Royal Assent on November 18, 2010. Through this legislation, October 1 will now be recognized as National Seniors Day. During 2010 Ablonczy continued to serve as Member of the Treasury Board, and also was Vice Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs. On January 4, 2011, Ablonczy was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the position was expanded to include responsibility for the Americas and Consular Affairs. She became a member of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, and continued to be a member of the Treasury Board.

41st Parliament (2011–2015)

The May 2, 2011 election saw Ablonczy re-elected with 70.2% of the vote. The Conservatives formed a majority government with 166 seats, representing all provinces and the North. Ablonczy was re-appointed Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) in the new cabinet announced on May 18, 2011. During her tenure as Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) she visited all but three of the 35

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

countries, representing the Canadian government on a variety of occasions, such as: *Attended the inauguration of President Medina of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

*Attended the General Assembly of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

*Accompanied the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

on his Official visit to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

and

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

*Attended the

Summit of the Americas The Summit of the Americas (SOA) are institutionalized gatherings of heads of state and government of the member states of the Western Hemisphere where leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values and commit to concerted actions at th ...

with Prime Minister Harper in Cartagena,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

*Participated in a Round table at the

with ambassadors to the OAS representing countries from the

*Worked with consular officials to promote safe travel habits of Canadians travelling abroad In addition to her Cabinet position she served in the following Cabinet Committees: *Legislative Committee on Bill C-18 *Foreign Affairs and Defense *Public Safety and National Security *Government Operations and Estimates *Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced she would not seek re-election in the 2015 federal election, confirming the decision in the House of Commons on May 28, 2015.

Electoral history

References

External links

Diane Ablonczy MP
official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ablonczy, Diane 1949 births American emigrants to Canada Canadian Alliance MPs Canadian evangelicals Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Calgary Politicians from Peoria, Illinois Reform Party of Canada MPs University of Calgary alumni Women in Alberta politics Women government ministers of Canada University of Calgary Faculty of Law alumni 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada