Diane Finley (born October 3, 1957) is a former Canadian politician. From 2006 through 2015, she served in the cabinet of Prime Minister

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 ...

. Her ministerial portfolios included Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development,

Minister of Public Works and Government Services The minister of government transformation, public services and procurement () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's "common service organization" ( Public Services and ...

, Minister Responsible for

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC; , SCHL) is Canada's federal crown corporation responsible for administering the ''National Housing Act'', with the mandate to improve housing and living conditions in the country.McAfee, Ann. 2013 ...

, or CMHC, and

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. She was a member of the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Haldimand—Norfolk for the Conservative Party from 2004 to 2021. In August 2020, she announced that she would not be running in the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The Writ of election, writs of election were issued by Governor General of ...

. She resigned from office on May 11, 2021.

Personal life

Diane Finley was raised in Port Dover and Charlotteville in

Norfolk County, Ontario Norfolk County ( ) is a rural single-tier municipality on the north shore of Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario, Canada with a 2023 population of 73,015. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all municipal services are hand ...

, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree and a

Masters in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. After graduation, she became the administrator of Western's French Immersion School. She then worked in a series of private and public sector jobs, in a variety of fields. She was named "one of Canada's future leaders" by the Governor-General's Study Conference 2000. As a child, she participated in

Girl Guides of Canada Girl Guides of Canada (GGC; ) is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1928. Histo ...

youth programs. Her husband was Doug Finley, a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from Ontario and former campaign manager and director of political operations for 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 ...

. The pair met while Diane was working as a summer hire at Rolls-Royce where Doug was an executive. In 2006, Finley announced that she has

Graves' disease Graves' disease, also known as toxic diffuse goiter or Basedow's disease, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyro ...

, a non-life-threatening

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

condition that causes increased sensitivity to bright lights and forces her to wear tinted glasses.

Political career

Long involved in politics of the Conservative Party and its predecessors, Finley first ran for public office in the 2004 federal election in the riding of Haldimand—Norfolk. She defeated

Bob Speller Robert Speller, (February 29, 1956 – December 16, 2021) was a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Speller was elected to the House of Commons of Canada four times from 1988 to 2000. He was defeated in 2004 by a 20,9 ...

, a Liberal

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 ...

, by 1,645 votes. After being re-elected in the 2006 election, she was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. An

Order in Council An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom, this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' ...

transferred authority for

Social Development Canada The Department of Social Development, also referred to as Social Development Canada, was from Dec. 2003 to Feb. 2006 the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for developing and implementing social policies involving families ...

to her as well, and accordingly, she served under the

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

''Minister of Human Resources and Social Development''. She was shuffled from the

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC; ; )''Employment and Social Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Employment and Social Development (). is a department of t ...

to the

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC; )Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program since 2015; the legal title is Department of Citizenship and Immigration (). is the depart ...

portfolio on January 4, 2007. The following year, Finley allegedly received

threat A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation f ...

s from

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...

officials in relation to her support of Bill C-17, which sought to allow

immigration officer An immigration officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to ensure that immigration legislation is enforced. This can cover the rules of entry for visa applicants, foreign nationals or those seeking asylum at the border, detecting ...

s to deny temporary

visas Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

to prospective

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

s if they were suspected to be sex trafficking victims. Tim Lambrinos of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada (AEAC) said that "it's not plausible" that any of the AEAC strip clubs were responsible for the threats. Finley was re-elected in the 2008 election and resumed her former post as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.About Diane Finley
, official page. Accessed January 19, 2012. She was re-elected in the 2011 election with 50.9% of the vote in her riding. In March 2015, a parliamentary ethics report on an affair linked to disgraced prime ministerial aide Nigel Wright found that Finley had breached conflict of interest rules in her capacity as minister by diverting funding to a favoured project in

Markham Markham may refer to: Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * Markham's grass mouse (''Abrothrix olivaceus markhami''), a rodent subspecies found on Wellington Island and the ne ...

whose promoter had close ties to the Conservative Party. After winning her seat once more in the 2015 federal election, Finley announced that she would be running for the position of interim leader of the Conservative Party, after

's resignation from the post. She was passed over for interim leader and subsequently placed in Rona Ambrose's shadow cabinet. She was re-elected in the 2019 federal election. On August 23, 2020, she announced that she would not seek re-election in the 2021 federal election. She resigned from the House of Commons on May 11, 2021.

Leslyn Lewis Leslyn Ann Lewis (born December 2, 1970) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Haldimand—Norfolk since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, Lewis contested the party leadership in th ...

was the Conservative candidate elected to succeed Finley in the 2021 federal election.

Political views

Finley has promoted increased private-sector involvement in health services. She was the founder of Canada's largest publicly funded ambulance service company, Canadian Medical Response, and has been active in the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships.

Electoral record

References

External links

Official site
*
Hansard: Diane Finley's announcement of her Graves' disease diagnosis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finley, Diane 1957 births 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 Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Norfolk County, Ontario Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni Women in Ontario politics Women government ministers of Canada 21st-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada