Marjory LeBreton (born July 4, 1940) is a Canadian former leader of the Government in the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

; a member of the Canadian

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

; and past national chair of

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada ( MADD Canada) and Brazil that seeks to stop driving with any amount of alcohol in the bloodstream, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent un ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She worked with four leaders of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; ) was a Centrism, centre to centre-right List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 unti ...

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...

Robert Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the Progressive Conservative ...

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

and

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

- from 1962 to 1993 before being appointed to the Senate on the advice of Mulroney. She sat as a Progressive Conservative Senator from her appointment until moving with most of her caucus colleagues to the new

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in 2004, of which she was soon elected to

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

. She served as an advisor to then

opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

during the 2006 election, which the Conservative Party won. After the election, she was named to the cabinet position Leader of the Government in the Senate. On July 4, 2013, LeBreton announced she would not continue in the position as of the next

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

, which occurred later that summer. She retired from the Senate upon reaching her 75th birthday on July 4, 2015.

Early and personal life

Marjory LeBreton was born in and completed her elementary and secondary school education in the neighbourhood of City View, in the city of

Nepean, Ontario Nepean ( ) is an area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located west of Ottawa's inner core, it was an independent city until amalgamated with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton in 2001 to become the new city of Ottawa. However, the name ...

, which is today part of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. She was married to Douglas LeBreton (1934–2022), with whom she had two children: Linda and Michael. Linda was killed in an accident involving a drunk driver which led to LeBreton's active involvement in the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization.

Progressive Conservative staffer

LeBreton began working at Progressive Conservative party headquarters in 1962, moving from there to the office of leader

when he became opposition leader following the 1963 election. During her time in the leader's office, she accompanied him on a national whistlestop tour during the 1965 election. Following Diefenbaker's resignation as leader, she continued in the leader's office under

through his three election campaigns -

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. When Stanfield announced his resignation in 1975, she went to work in the PC Party office helping to coordinate the 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. Joe Clark won the 1976 convention and hired LeBreton as his office's tour coordinator, a position she held until Clark won the 1979 federal election. LeBreton later worked in the office of

while he was prime minister, rising to position of Deputy Chief of Staff and Government Appointments Director. She was appointed by Mulroney to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on June 18, 1993, shortly before his retirement from politics.

Senator

LeBreton is generally considered to be a

Red Tory A Red Tory is an adherent of a Centre-right politics, centre-right or Paternalistic conservatism, paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition. It is most predominant in Canada; however, it is also found in the ...

and is progressive on social issues such as

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

. She was also one of the few politicians in the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...

to oppose Bill C-36, Canada's

anti-terrorism legislation Anti-terrorism legislation are laws aimed at fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations. Anti-terrorism legislation usually includes specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its own l ...

in 2001. She was a long-time foe of proposals to merge the Progressive Conservatives with the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

but reluctantly supported the late 2003 proposal to unite the parties and subsequently became a

senator once the merger was completed. Over time, she warmed to the new party, and later served as one of

's top advisors in the 2006 federal election. Senator LeBreton was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in February 2006 and also acquired the role of Secretary of State for Seniors during a cabinet shuffle on January 4, 2007. On July 4, 2013, she announced her resignation from the cabinet after a stormy period of expenses scandals that tarnished the reputation of the Conservatives, but remained a Conservative Senator for Ontario. Senator LeBreton was an important figure during the

Canadian Senate expenses scandal The Canadian Senate expenses scandal, also known as Duffygate, was a political scandal concerning the expense claims of certain Canadians, Canadian senators which began in late 2012. Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, and Pamela Wallin ...

, having ordered the initial audit by

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

of senatorial expenses, after accusations of misappropriation were levelled against Canadian senators, most famously

Mike Duffy Michael Dennis Duffy (born May 27, 1946) is a former Canadian senator and Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house in 2008, he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel. Upon turning 75 on May 27, 2021, Duf ...

, whose name became synonymous with the scandal. While she received a backlash for her role as the government leader at the time of the misappropriations, she was adamant that an investigation needed to proceed. Criticism was levelled at her from both party critics and loyalists, with the former claiming she was involved in a whitewash, and the latter claiming she was underhandedly promoting controversial Senate reform. As the scandals intensified, LeBreton gave a defiant speech to the Senate in which she said Ottawa was "populated by Liberal elites and their media lickspittles". LeBreton was well known for her campaign work where her job was to "assist the media."

Committee assignments

Following her appointment to the Senate, during the

34th Canadian Parliament The 34th Canadian Parliament was in session from December 12, 1988, until September 8, 1993. The membership was set by the 1988 federal election on November 21, 1988, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it w ...

, she sat on the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. During the 35th Parliament, she sat on the Internal Economy committee, Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, as well as the Special Committee on Pearson Airport Agreements. In the 36th Parliament, she sat on the Internal Economy committee, Social Affairs committee, Agriculture and Forestry committee, Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, as well as the Special Committee on Security and Intelligence. In the 37th Parliament, she sat on the Social Affairs committee, the Agriculture and Forestry committee, the Transport and Communications committee, the Standing Committee on Privileges, Standing Rules and Orders, and the Standing Committee on National Finance. In the 38th Parliament, she sat on the Social Affairs committee, the Transport and Communications committee, the Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament, the Standing Committee on Human Rights, and the

Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs () is a defunct committee of the Norwegian Parliament responsible for matters related to foreign policy, development assistance, international agreements, Svalbard and the Norwegian polar regions The pola ...

. In the 39th Parliament, she sat on the Social Affairs committee, the Rules committee, the Human Rights committee and the Foreign Affairs committee. During the 37th, 38th and 39th parliaments, she was vice-chair of the Social Affairs committee. During the 40th Parliament, as government leader, she did not sit formally on any committee, but was an ex-officio member of them all.

References

External links