33 Facts About Bev Oda

Beverley Joan "Bev" Oda was born on July 27,1944 and is a retired Canadian politician.

Bev Oda was a member of the House of Commons of Canada, as well as the first Japanese-Canadian MP and cabinet minister in Canadian history.

Bev Oda represented the riding of Durham for the Conservative Party of Canada.

Bev Oda was appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women on February 6,2006.

Bev Oda was appointed Minister for International Cooperation on August 14,2007.

On July 3,2012, Oda announced she was resigning her seat in the House of Commons effective at the end of the month following public controversy about her spending habits; she was dropped from Cabinet the following day.

Bev Oda's mother was interned at Bay Farm in 1942, and her father went to southwestern Ontario to work on a sugar beet farm.

Bev Oda moved to Fort William to do millwork and later to Mississauga, Ontario.

Bev Oda has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and studied at Lakeshore Teacher's College.

Bev Oda began her broadcasting career at TVOntario in 1973, and later worked for Citytv and the Global Television Network.

Bev Oda was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in November 2003, and was awarded The Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of work in broadcasting.

Bev Oda has worked as a policy adviser to three Secretaries of State.

Bev Oda was for many years a volunteer with the Progressive Conservative Party.

Bev Oda has argued in favour of allowing more Canadian and foreign programming options in the country.

Bev Oda is not herself Chinese, but is Canada's first parliamentarian of Japanese heritage.

On February 6,2006, Bev Oda was sworn in as Heritage Minister in the cabinet of the newly elected Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Bev Oda is the first Japanese-Canadian cabinet minister in Canadian history.

Bev Oda was appointed the Minister of International Cooperation on August 14,2007.

Bev Oda oversaw the Government's Aid Effectiveness Agenda, which committed to making Canada's international assistance more efficient, focused, and accountable.

Bev Oda was responsible for Canada's contributions to the Muskoka Initiative, a global effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve the health of mothers and children in the world's poorest countries.

Bev Oda was re-elected by a significant margin in the 2008 federal election, and again in the 2011 federal election.

On July 3,2012, Bev Oda announced that she would resign as a cabinet member and MP effective July 31.

In November 2006, Bev Oda planned on holding a fundraising dinner for broadcasting executives, just weeks before a major review of broadcasting rules.

In 2006, Bev Oda paid back $2,200 to taxpayers after the Liberals found that she had incurred nearly $5,500 in limousine rides at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax.

In February 2011, Bev Oda admitted to directing one of her staff to add a handwritten annotation to an already signed Canadian International Development Agency memo in 2009 that resulted in a funding recommendation for KAIROS being ignored.

On March 9,2011, the Speaker of the House made a ruling on the issue of Bev Oda's behaviour, stating that "on its face" Bev Oda's explanation had caused confusion, which still persisted.

Bev Oda replied in the House that she was ready to answer to the confusion, at a House of Commons special committee meeting to be held over three full days the following week.

When Bev Oda resigned in 2012, the Quebec newspaper Le Devoir ran a front-page headline Bev Oda ne demissionne pas, with the ne and pas "scratched out" as if by handwriting, in a reference to the scandal.

Bev Oda instead stayed at the Savoy Hotel at a cost of $665 per night for three nights, ordered orange juice at a cost of $16 and hired a limousine to transport her between her new hotel and the conference.

Bev Oda was charged $250 for smoking in a non-smoking room.

Only after widespread media reports of this misuse of public money emerged approximately ten months after the conference did Bev Oda repay the difference in hotel costs but not the limousine costs incurred by her decision.

On July 3,2012, Bev Oda announced her intention to leave politics effective July 31,2012, ahead of an anticipated cabinet shuffle; Bev Oda gave no reason for her departure.

On March 6,2013, Bev Oda was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Teddy" from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for charging taxpayers on limos, orange juice, an air purifier for her government office so she could smoke indoors and her $52,183 annual pension.