Indira Naidoo-Harris is a former Canadian politician and journalist who was elected to 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 ...

in the 2014 provincial election, sitting as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Halton until 2018. A member of the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

, Naidoo-Harris was the province's

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

in 2018, Minister of the Status of Women from 2017 to 2018, early years and child care Minister from 2016 to 2018, and Associate Minister of Finance in 2016.

Background

Naidoo-Harris was born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

under apartheid. She immigrated to Canada as a child and grew up in

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 ...

. She graduated from the

University of Lethbridge The University of Lethbridge (also known as uLethbridge, uLeth, and U of L) is a public comprehensive and research university located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with a second campus in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in the liberal arts traditio ...

and moved briefly to the United States in

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where she developed a broadcasting career with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

before returning to Canada in the 1990s, eventually anchoring for CBC Ottawa,

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, CTV National, CBC National, and

Newsworld International Newsworld International (NWI) was an American news-oriented cable and satellite television network that operated from June 1994 to July 2005. The network carried a mix of newscasts from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other internatio ...

. Prior to the election, she was a

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

newsreader and a

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

journalist. She lives in

Milton, Ontario Milton (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census population 132,979) is a town in Southern Ontario, Canada, and part of the Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region in the Greater Toronto Area. Between 2001 and 2011, Milton was the fastest growing m ...

with her husband Randy.

Political career

Naidoo-Harris ran in the 2011 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Halton. She was defeated by Progressive Conservative incumbent

Ted Chudleigh Ted Chudleigh (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014, representing the ridings of Halton North and later Halton. Chudleigh is the gra ...

by 3,148 votes. She ran again in the 2014 election against Chudleigh this time defeating him by 5,726 votes. From 2014 to 2016, she was a

Parliamentary Assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. On June 13, 2016, she was named Associate Minister of Finance Responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. On August 24, 2016 she was transferred from the pension role to a new educational ministerial position responsible for early years and child care. In addition to her role as Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care, in January 2017, Minister Naidoo-Harris was also named Minister of the Status of Women. In January 2018, she was named

and kept her role as Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care. In 2017, Naidoo-Harris was nominated to run for re-election as the Liberal candidate for the newly formed riding of Milton but was defeated in the 2018 election.

After politics

In August 2019, Naidoo-Harris was appointed as the University of Guelph’s Associate Vice-President of Diversity and Human Rights.

Personal life

Her son Galen Naidoo Harris was the Liberal candidate in the

2024 Milton provincial by-election A by-election was held in the provincial riding of Milton (provincial electoral district), Milton in Ontario on May 2, 2024, to elect a new member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario following the resignation of Progressive Conservative Party ...

, in which he was defeated by the Progressive Conservative candidate

Zee Hamid Zee Hamid is a Canadians, Canadian politician who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a by-election on May 2, 2024. He represents the electoral district of Milton (provincial electoral district), Milton as a member of t ...

Electoral history

References

Notes

Citations

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Naidoo-Harris, Indira 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian radio reporters and correspondents Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian women radio journalists Canadian women television journalists CBC Television people Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs People from Milton, Ontario Politicians from Durban South African emigrants to Canada South African people of Indian descent University of Alberta alumni University of Lethbridge alumni Women government ministers of Canada Women MPPs in Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)