Iris Sylvia Evans (born December 31, 1941) is a former Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

and Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations for the Canadian province. From November 25, 2004 to December 15, 2006 she served as Alberta's Minister of Health and Wellness in

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

's cabinet. After

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician who served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently spea ...

assumed the office of Premier, she was named Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry in his cabinet. After the 2008 Alberta provincial election, Premier Stelmach appointed Evans as Minister of Finance and Enterprise. She was moved over to Intergovernmental Relations in January 2010. A nurse by training, Evans was first elected to the legislature in 1997, representing the riding of

Sherwood Park Sherwood Park is a large hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Strathcona County that is recognized as an urban service area. It is adjacent to the City of Edmonton's eastern boundary. While long confined to generally south of Highway 16 ( Ye ...

for the Progressive Conservatives. She previously held the portfolios of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister of Children's Services. Prior to being elected to the legislature, Evans served as a school board trustee, municipal councillor, and finally as the reeve of

Strathcona County Strathcona County is a Specialized municipalities of Alberta, specialized municipality in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region within Alberta, Canada between Edmonton and Elk Island National Park. It forms part of Division No. 11, Alberta, Census Di ...

Parenting controversy

Evans sparked a controversy when speaking to the Economic Club of Canada in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

on June 17, 2009, when she answered a question by stating that good parenting means sacrificing income to stay at home while children are young, and that her own children, now grown with young children of their own, "understood perfectly well that when you're raising children, you don't both go off to work and leave them for somebody else to raise." In response to accusations that she had insulted working women, she later stated that she had not meant to "harm anybody or slam anybody's views on how they chose to parent or what choices they've made on the involvement in their families and parenting," suggesting that this demonstrated society's concern over parenting, and "So maybe its time for this debate ... maybe frequently we should examine what our choices are as families and see whether our choices are the ones that are working best for the child."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Iris 1941 births Living people Canadian Lutherans Canadian nurses Canadian women nurses Women government ministers of Canada Ministers of finance of Alberta Ministers of health of Alberta Members of the Executive Council of Alberta People from Sherwood Park Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Female finance ministers Women MLAs in Alberta 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta