Laurin Liu
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Laurin Liu (, born November 13, 1990) is a
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 ...
politician who was elected to 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 ...
in the 2011 federal election. She represented the electoral district of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2011 to 2015. Born in Calgary in 1990, she was the youngest female Member of Parliament in Canadian history. She was one of five candidates, alongside Mylène Freeman, Matthew Dubé, Charmaine Borg and Jamie Nicholls, who were
McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
students when elected in the 2011 election following the NDP's unexpected mid-campaign surge in Quebec."McGill 5 head off to House of Commons"
. '' The Gazette'', May 4, 2011.
In the 2015 election, all were defeated with the exception of Dubé. At the time of her election in 2011, she was pursuing a double major in History and Cultural Studies.


Early life

Liu was raised in Pointe-Claire,
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. Prior to attending McGill, she was a student at Royal West Academy and Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf. At Jean-de-Brébeuf, she became politically active by founding the NDP campus club. She later moved on to be co-president of the youth wing of the Quebec section of the NDP. She was active on campus as a board member of CKUT radio, a representative to the CKUT Programming Committee, an employee of McGill University's undergraduate student union, and a staff member of the McGill Daily. Liu, whose parents came to Canada from Guangzhou in the 1980s, is fluent in French, English, and
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
.


MP for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

Liu had not expected to win, and spent most of the campaign helping NDP Quebec lieutenant Tom Mulcair win reelection. She was working in a polling station in Mulcair's Outremont riding as an NDP scrutineer when a friend texted her that she was leading Bloc Québécois incumbent Luc Desnoyers. Ultimately, she defeated Desnoyers by an 11,000-vote margin. By comparison, no NDP candidate had finished higher than fourth since the riding's creation in
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
; nor had any previous NDP challenger managed to garner the 10% necessary for their expenses to be refunded. At the age of 20 years, 196 days, Liu became the youngest woman in Canadian history to be elected to Parliament. She was the second-youngest MP in the 41st Canadian Parliament, after Pierre-Luc Dusseault.


In Parliament

Liu was named deputy critic for the environment. In this capacity, she represented the NDP at the December 2011 conference on
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
in
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, South Africa, where she denounced the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government's environmental policies. In the 2012 NDP leadership race following the death of Jack Layton, Liu supported Peggy Nash. Following the accession of Tom Mulcair as party leader, Liu was named deputy critic for science and technology. She spoke out numerous times in the House of Commons against the "muzzling" of federal scientists by the Conservative government. On June 10, 2012, Liu attended the "Death of Evidence" march on Parliament Hill which was led by groups of scientists following the elimination of the long-form census, the closure of the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area as well as other cuts to environmental and scientific agencies contained in the Conservative Omnibus Bill C-38. In 2015, she was also named deputy critic for industry. She advocated for parliamentary reform. On March 15, 2012, Liu tabled a bill to ensure that low-income seniors eligible for the Guaranteed Income Supplement would receive the retirement income top-up without having to apply. On May 29, 2014, Liu tabled a bill aimed at protecting homeowners from excessive bank penalties for mortgage prepayment. On June 16, 2014, Liu tabled The Intern Protection Act, which was seconded by fellow NDP MP Andrew Cash. This bill sought to provide protection for interns working in federally regulated industries. The bill was updated on November 25, 2014. Liu also tabled a motion for a national strategy on eating disorders.


2015 election and aftermath

In the 2015 election, Liu lost her seat to Liberal Linda Lapointe. Soon afterward, Liu denounced photos of Lapointe wearing an "unacceptable" Halloween costume—an Asian hat and robe—stating, "It's 2015. It's unacceptable to dress up as another culture, on Halloween or any other day." Soon after, Lapointe deleted the photos from her Facebook account.


Post-parliamentary career

After her defeat in the 2015 election, Liu completed a master's degree in
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
at the London School of Economics.


Electoral record


Rivière-des-Mille-Îles


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Laurin 1990 births Canadian people of Hong Kong descent Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Living people McGill University alumni Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec New Democratic Party MPs People from Pointe-Claire People from Saint-Eustache, Quebec Politicians from Laurentides Politicians from Calgary Canadian people of Chinese descent 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century Canadian women politicians