22 Facts About Catherine McKenna

Catherine Mary McKenna was born on August 5,1971 and is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021.

Catherine McKenna was the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre from 2015 to 2021, but decided not to seek reelection in the 2021 federal election.

Catherine McKenna was born on August 5,1971, in Hamilton, Ontario.

Catherine McKenna is the eldest of four children of Dr John McKenna, an Irish dentist and his Quebec-born wife Pat McKenna, who lived in the southwest part of Hamilton.

Catherine McKenna earned her undergraduate degree in French and international relations from the University of Toronto.

Catherine McKenna was the captain of the university's swim team, won three of the four Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union she attended with her team, and reached the Canadian Olympics trials for swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Catherine McKenna earned a master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics.

Between 1996 and 1999, Catherine McKenna studied law at McGill University before beginning her legal career in Jakarta, Indonesia at the firm, SSEK where she focused on international trade, investment and constitutional issues.

Catherine McKenna returned to Canada in 2002, where she joined Stikeman Elliott LLP, working in the areas of competition, trade, and constitutional law.

In 2005, Catherine McKenna co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad - Avocats Canadiens a l'etranger, now called Level Justice, a University of Ottawa-based charity that helps Canadian law students and law firms do pro bono legal work in developing countries.

Catherine McKenna remains a member of the bars of Ontario and New York State.

Catherine McKenna said that she knocked on 100,000 doors during her 522 days as a candidate.

Catherine McKenna was elected with 43 per cent of the votes compared to Dewar's 38 per cent, and had campaigned on issues such as reforming the National Capital Commission, funding for a new main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, and opposing the proposed Memorial to the Victims of Communism.

Catherine McKenna was one of 50 women elected to the Liberal caucus in the 2015 election.

Catherine McKenna led efforts to phase out coal, reduce plastics in oceans and waterways, and doubled the amount of nature protected in Canada in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.

In November 2018, in response to the Government of Ontario's decision to cancel all climate action projects supported through the federal Low Carbon Economy Fund, Catherine McKenna announced that the Government of Canada would work directly with businesses to re-invest the $200-million remaining in the province's Low Carbon Economy Fund.

In 2017, Catherine McKenna was named in a lawsuit by environmental groups, including Ecojustice and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, for her ministry's decision not to pursue charges against Volkswagen Canada in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

In 2019, Catherine McKenna was provided with an Royal Canadian Mounted Police security detail over verbal harassment issues.

In late June 2021, Catherine McKenna announced she would not seek re-election to her seat in Parliament.

Catherine McKenna joined Columbia University's Centre on Global Energy Policy and Climate School.

In June 2023, Catherine McKenna was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour for her contributions to negotiating the Paris Agreement and other climate change diplomacy.

Catherine McKenna was married to entrepreneur and writer Scott Gilmore, with whom she moved to The Glebe, Ottawa in 2002, until separating in 2019.