Janice Laking, (née McCuaig; ) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as mayor of

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

from 1988 to 2000. The daughter of former Simcoe North federal Member of Parliament Duncan Fletcher McCuaig, Laking was first elected to

Barrie City Council Barrie City Council is the governing body for the City of Barrie, in Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the Mayor of Barrie and ten councillors, who represent the ten wards of the city. The council postagendasfor council meetings. There are ...

in 1972. She was nominated in 1978 as the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

's candidate in Simcoe South in the 1979 federal election, but later withdrew to mount a campaign for mayor against incumbent Ross Archer. She lost that election, but was re-elected to a council seat in 1980 and served for another eight years before being elected mayor in 1988. In 1991, she won her second term in office by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

. She was the Liberal candidate for

Simcoe Centre Simcoe Centre was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from parts of Grey—Simcoe, Simcoe Sou ...

in the 1993 federal election, losing by a margin of 182 votes to Reform Party candidate Ed Harper. This was the only riding in the entire province not won by a Liberal in that election, and media generally credited Harper's victory to the fact that Laking was such a popular mayor that the voters didn't want her to leave the mayor's chair. She won reelection to the mayoralty in 1994 and 1997. She was defeated by Jim Perri in 2000, and subsequently served as a

citizenship judge The Citizenship Commission is an administrative tribunal within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The overall mandate of the Commission is to assess referred applications to ensure they meet the physical-presence requirements ...

. She is also an honorary colonel of

CFB Borden Canadian Forces Base Borden (also CFB Borden, French: Base des Forces canadiennes Borden or BFC Borden), formerly RCAF Station Camp Borden, is a large Canadian Forces base located in Ontario. The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Forc ...

's 16 Wing unit."Laking left a legacy as mayor of Barrie"
''Barrie Advance'', October 19, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laking, Janice 1930s births Mayors of Barrie Candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election Women mayors of places in Ontario Canadian citizenship judges Living people 20th-century Canadian women politicians Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)