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Lisa Anne MacLeod (born 1974) is a Canadian politician who has represented Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Elected in 2018, MacLeod is a member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. She previously served as the Ontario minister of children, community and social services from 2018 to 2019 and Ontario minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries from 2019 to 2022.


Background

MacLeod was born on October 29, 1974, in
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,0 ...
. She went to
St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Fra ...
, where she obtained a degree in political science. In 1998, she moved to
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
with a goal of becoming involved in politics. She worked as an assistant to
Ottawa City Council The Ottawa City Council (french: Conseil municipal d'Ottawa) is the governing body of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of 24 city councillors and the mayor. The mayor is elected at large, while each councillor represents war ...
lor Jan Harder and as a riding assistant to federal Member of Parliament (MP)
Pierre Poilievre Pierre Marcel Poilievre ( ; born June 3, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition since 2022. Poilievre has served as a member of Parliament (MP) ...
. She is married to Joseph Varner and they have one daughter, Victoria. Varner was a candidate in the 2003 provincial election but lost to Richard Patten.


Political career


Opposition MPP

MacLeod was elected to the Ontario legislature in a by-election that was held to replace John Baird who resigned to run for the federal House of Commons. She won the election on March 30, 2006, beating her Liberal opponent Brian Ford in the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean—Carleton by a margin of 6,000 votes. She was re-elected in
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...
, 2011, and
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
. In 2007 MacLeod was satirized by Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella when she was mockingly portrayed in a spoofed picture suggesting she would rather be at home baking cookies than attending a political event with then PC Leader John Tory. Kinsella later removed the posting and apologized to MacLeod. Following the incident MacLeod wrote a
cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
called '' I'd Rather Be Baking Cookies: A Collection of Recipes from Lisa MacLeod and Friends''. MacLeod said, "Why not play off that experience, make a cookbook and poke fun at the absurdity of it?" The money raised from the sale of the cookbooks went to her election campaign. In 2019, Kinsella told ''Globe and Mail'' described her as the sister he never had. In 2012, she criticized Dalton McGuinty's Bill 13 legislation as being "unfair" to Catholic separate school boards because it forced them to allow
gay–straight alliance A Gay–Straight Alliance, Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) or Queer–Straight Alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organisation, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the Unit ...
s. She labelled the Liberals as "bullies". In April 2014, Premier
Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the me ...
launched a libel lawsuit against MacLeod and PC Party Leader Tim Hudak after they said that she "oversaw and possibly ordered the criminal destruction of gas plant">Ontario_power_plant_scandal.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Ontario power plant scandal">gas plant/nowiki> documents." In July 2015, Wynne, MacLeod, and Hudak reached an agreement whereby the lawsuit was dropped. They said in a joint statement, The statement avoided any apology or placement of blame. MacLeod announced her candidacy for the 2015 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election">leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party on October 6, 2014, but withdrew on February 6, 2015, following federal cabinet minister John Baird's announcement that he was resigning from cabinet and would not be running for re-election to the House of Commons of Canada. MacLeod told reporters that she has been "under enormous pressure from my constituents to seek the federal nomination to replace John Baird", in the new riding of Nepean (electoral district), Nepean. MacLeod decided not to seek Baird's seat in the House of Commons and remained at Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. In July 2014, MacLeod became the party's critic for Treasury Board issues, and in October of that year, she became the Vice-Chair for the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. She was Critic for Digital Government from June 2016 until February 2017, when she became the party' critic for Ottawa issues and the Anti-Racism Secretariat. In January 2018, after party leader Patrick Brown stepped down and
Vic Fedeli Victor Anthony Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian politician who has been the Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade since 2019 and chair of Cabinet since 2018. He is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) ...
became leader, MacLeod was chosen to replace Fedeli as the party's finance critic.


In government

In the 2018 provincial election, MacLeod won all the polls in Nepean, and won the riding with 45.2 per cent of the vote. NDP candidate Zaff Ansari came in second and Liberal candidate Lovina Srivastsva came in third. On June 29, 2018, it was announced she would be the minister responsible for children, community, and social services, and Minister Responsible for woman's issues. In total she has five portfolios including immigration and anti-racism. As Social Services Minister, MacLeod admitted to breaking a Progressive Conservative election promise by cutting the Ontario Basic Income Pilot Project on July 31, 2018. On February 6, 2019, MacLeod announced sweeping changes to the Ontario Autism Program intended to clear long waitlists by redistributing program funds. No new funds were added to the program budget, and MacLeod and her parliamentary assistant
Amy Fee Amy Fee (born 1981/1982) is a Canadian politician from Ontario. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election and represented the riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler as a member of the Progressive Cons ...
faced immediate backlash from parents and service providers including provincewide protests. On February 13, 2019, the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' reported tha
Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysts (ONTABA)
had received a threatening message from MacLeod's office. In the email, ONTABA was directed to make a public statement in support of the changes to th
Ontario Autism Program
or face "four long years". MacLeod further threatened that if the message of support was not forthcoming, her office would release a press statement labeling ONTABA as "self-interested". Immediate calls from parents of children with autism for MacLeod's resignation were rebuffed by the minister. On October 31, 2019, Warren Kinsella told '' The Globe and Mail'' that his firm provided strategic advice and media training for the government to MacLeod and her political staff in 2018 when dealing with the cuts. MacLeod was shuffled from Minister of Children, Community and Social Services to Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport in 2019. The ministry was later renamed the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Cultural Industries to reflect the significant economic impact the cultural industries such as film, television and the arts have on the province. An internal review of the overhauled autism program by fellow Progressive Conservative MPP
Roman Baber Roman Baber (born 1980) is a Russian-Canadian politician who was the Member of Provincial Parliament (Canada), member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for York Centre (provincial electoral district), York Centre from 2018 to 2022. Baber was elect ...
called for an immediate reset to MacLeod's program, as it would leave families "destitute". In June 2019, at a Rolling Stones concert, MacLeod allegedly publicly said to Eugene Melnyk: "I am your minister and you’re a fucking piece of shit and you're a fucking loser." After a personal complaint by Melnyk to Ontario Premier
Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Cons ...
, she apologized for her "blunt" language but the apology was not accepted. There were calls for her resignation from Ontario Liberals. During the 2022 Ontario election, the NDP revealed that the Conservative riding association of Vanier had paid her $44,000 directly as a housing subsidy. Such payments are highly unusual as MPPs receive $26,000 in a housing allowance above and beyond their salary. Following her re-election during the 2022 Ontario election, MacLeod announced that she would be taking some time off to “address and improve” her health.


Cabinet positions


Electoral record


Notes


References


External links

*
Lisa MacLeod profile at Legislative Assembly of Ontario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Lisa 1975 births 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian people of Scottish descent Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia Politicians from Ottawa Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Women cookbook writers Women government ministers of Canada Women MPPs in Ontario Writers from Nova Scotia Writers from Ottawa