50 Facts About Barbara Greene

Barbara Greene was born on 1 September 1945 and is a former Canadian politician.

Barbara Greene served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Barbara Greene was previously a municipal politician in North York, and campaigned for mayor of the city in 1985.

Barbara Greene is a Red Tory, and holds progressive views on most social issues.

Barbara Greene's parents were Alfred Greene and Mary Margaret Greene of Toronto.

Barbara Greene's parents returned to Toronto following the war, and she attended St Monica's Separate School in North Toronto.

Barbara Greene graduated from St Michael's College, University of Toronto in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from the College of Education in 1967 with qualifications in English and Theatre Arts.

Barbara Greene taught English at Victoria Park Secondary School for the North York Board of Education from September 1967 until she was elected to office in 1972.

Barbara Greene was first elected to the North York Council in December 1972, winning a position on the city's Board of Control, the first woman elected to the body.

Barbara Greene's first campaign was centred primarily around a zoning issue: she opposed a municipal bylaw restricting cohabitation by people unless they were related or one person was an owner.

Barbara Greene argued that she would speak for the rights of women, single persons, tenants and salaried workers.

Barbara Greene fought a "one woman war" which resulted in the amalgamation of ambulances services in Metropolitan Toronto and the establishment of the Toronto Ambulance Service.

Barbara Greene was re-elected to the Board of Control in 1974,1976 and 1978 before standing down in 1980.

Barbara Greene ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1975 provincial election, losing to New Democrat Odoardo Di Santo in Downsview.

Barbara Greene favoured market-value assessment reforms for Metro Toronto properties, and criticized provincial Treasurer Darcy McKeough for backing away from this proposal in 1978.

Barbara Greene supported electoral reforms, including the abolition of regional Boards of Control and the direct election of the Metro Chair.

Barbara Greene considered running against Lastman for Mayor of North York in 1980, but declined on the grounds that she did not have the financial resources to conduct a successful campaign.

Barbara Greene did not seek re-election to the Board of Control, and instead announced that she would enrol in a Master of Public Administration program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Barbara Greene sought a prominent civil service position after returning to Toronto, but was unsuccessful and returned to teaching high-school English.

Barbara Greene returned to municipal politics in 1982, winning election to the second position on North York's Board of Control and receiving an automatic position on Metro's executive committee.

Barbara Greene argued for cutbacks to the Toronto Transit Commission's budget, arguing that it had become "out of control" by 1984.

Barbara Greene supported the direct election of Metro Councillors, on the grounds that indirectly elected council members were not sufficiently accountable.

Barbara Greene resumed her previous role as a prominent critic of Mel Lastman, arguing that his style of politics favoured backroom deals and often removed councillors from the decision-making process.

Barbara Greene called for the resignation of city planning commissioner Bruce Davidson in August 1983, arguing that his $265,000 debt to a major developer created a serious conflict-of-interest situation.

Barbara Greene was one of only four councillors to oppose significant cutbacks to North York's public health department in June 1984, and was the only City Controller to support an affirmative action program for city.

Barbara Greene challenged Mel Lastman for Mayor of North York in 1985, promising a more open government and arguing that Lastman had "den[ied] North York residents the right to participate in planning their neighborhoods".

Barbara Greene was defeated by a significant margin, in a contest marked by undisguised animosity between the candidates.

Barbara Greene returned to teaching after the election, teaching Media Studies, English and Dramatic Arts with the North York Board of Education.

Barbara Greene returned to political life again in 1988, narrowly winning the federal Progressive Conservative nomination for Don Valley North over Peter Ayre Phillips.

Barbara Greene subsequently won the riding in the 1988 federal election, defeating Liberal Sarkis Assadourian by a close margin.

Barbara Greene encouraged the Progressive Conservative government to change a section of the Immigration Act in 1989, saying that it discriminated against disabled people.

Barbara Greene argued that Canadian copyright laws should be adjusted to permit teachers to copy and reproduce material for classroom analysis.

Barbara Greene protested against her own government's cutbacks to multicultural organizations in 1990.

Barbara Greene chaired the parliamentary standing committee on Health, Welfare, Social Affairs, Seniors and Status of Women and two subcommittees on Child Poverty and the Status of women.

Barbara Greene supported stricter firearms controls, and announced plans to introduce a bill creating a national firearms registry in late 1991.

Barbara Greene argued that existing benefits favoured wealthier families over the poor, and that the balance needed to be changed.

Barbara Greene tried to convince her government to re-establish the program later in the year, without success.

Barbara Greene sought to create a national standard for social assistance to eliminate the wide disparities between the provinces.

Barbara Greene called for an adequate income and programs to assist social assistance recipients to become independent as an alternative to food banks, which she argued were creating an unwanted culture of dependence.

Barbara Greene did not call for food banks to be shut down, despite some reports to the contrary.

Barbara Greene argued that poverty had become a poorly defined concept in Canada, as the Low Income Cut Offs used to determine poverty levels in Canada did not include other subsidies.

Barbara Greene argued that many people listed as being below the poverty line in Canada were not actually poor, while some of the real poor were not being assisted.

Barbara Greene argued that breast cancer was becoming a problem of epidemic proportions in 1992, and argued that the federal Department of Health had become too dependent on information from drug manufacturers in regulating its treatment.

Barbara Greene supported the creation of a new arms-length agency to approve drugs and other biomedical products.

Barbara Greene supported Kim Campbell's 1993 bid to succeed Mulroney as Progressive Conservative leader and prime minister, arguing that Campbell's ideology was fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

Barbara Greene was not, although she was appointed as parliamentary secretary to the President of the Treasury Board on 1 September 1993.

The Progressive Conservatives were resoundingly defeated in the 1993 federal election, and Barbara Greene lost to Liberal candidate Sarkis Assadourian by a significant margin in a rematch from 1988.

Barbara Greene returned to her teaching career after leaving federal politics.

Barbara Greene attempted a political comeback as a provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in a 1997 by-election, but was defeated by Liberal David Caplan in the North York riding of Oriole.

Barbara Greene is likely the first unmarried Canadian politician to give birth while in office.