Penny Collenette (born May 20, 1950, in

Oakville, Ontario Oakville is a town and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. Generally seen as a commuter suburb of Toronto, it is located on Lake ...

) 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 ...

lawyer, adjunct professor and political figure of 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, ...

. The wife of former Liberal Member of Parliament and

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

David Collenette, she sought, and won, the 2008 Liberal nomination over community activist and businessman Scott Bradley for the riding of

Ottawa Centre Ottawa Centre may refer to: *Ottawa Centre (federal electoral district) *Ottawa Centre (provincial electoral district) Ottawa Centre is an urban provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada that has been represen ...

, which was held by

Paul Dewar Paul Wilson Dewar (January 25, 1963 – February 6, 2019) was a Canadian educator and politician from Ottawa, Ontario. He was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Ottawa Centre. Dewar was first elected to ...

of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. She came in second to Dewar in the election. She was vice-chair of the human rights committee for

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

in 1987, and director of volunteers for

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

’s leadership race in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and campaign director in the successful 1990 bid, as well as national director and director of legal services for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1993 election. She was subsequently named Director of Appointments for the Prime Minister's office, making hundreds of appointments over four years on the job.
In 2013, Collenette was admitted to the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

for her work in ethics and human rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collenette, Penny 1950 births Canadian Anglicans Carleton University alumni Candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election Living people Members of the Order of Ontario Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament People from Oakville, Ontario Spouses of Canadian politicians Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Women in Ontario politics 21st-century Canadian women politicians Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons