25 Facts About Kathy Corrigan

Kathy Corrigan is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 39th and 40th Parliament of British Columbia, from 2009 to 2017.

In both parliaments her NDP formed the official opposition and Corrigan acted as their critic on various issues, including 2010 Winter Olympics, women's issues, public safety, the Solicitor General and advanced education.

Kathy Corrigan was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a mother who worked as a physics teacher and a father who worked as an engineer.

Kathy Corrigan graduated from Sentinel Secondary School when she was 16 years old and went on to study at the University of British Columbia.

Kathy Corrigan graduated in 1978 and practiced law before having her first child in 1980, at the age of 26.

Kathy Corrigan decided to focus on raising a family, so she became a full-time mother and had three more children in the next six years.

Derek's enjoyment of being a councillor motivated Kathy Corrigan to seek a public position, so she stood in Burnaby's 1999 school board election.

Kathy Corrigan won a seat on the seven member board, coming in third in total votes.

Kathy Corrigan was re-elected in the 2002 and 2005 elections, coming in first and second in total votes, respectively.

Kathy Corrigan was elected, each year, by the board to be the vice-chair from 2003 to 2006, and then to be the chair of the board in 2007 and 2008.

Kathy Corrigan had a dispute with Burnaby MLA Patty Sahota over what Corrigan believed was political interference and with a fellow board member who attributed good performance at school to specific ethnicities.

Kathy Corrigan graduated from the University of British Columbia Law School in 1978 and married fellow law student Derek Corrigan.

Derek went on to be elected to the Burnaby City Council in 1987 and become mayor in 2002, while Kathy Corrigan was elected to the Burnaby School Board for three terms, between 1999 and 2008, where she served as chair for two years.

The riding was thought to be competitive for both the BC Liberals and NDP, as the boundary re-alignment and the incumbent MLA was believed to favour the BC Liberals, while Kathy Corrigan was considered a star candidate with name recognition from her time on the school board and with her husband winning re-election as mayor in November 2008.

NDP leader Carole James assigned Kathy Corrigan to be the critic for the 2010 Winter Olympics and ActNow BC, opposite Mary McNeil who was Minister of State for the Olympics and ActNow BC.

Kathy Corrigan asked for provincial and federal government advocacy directed at VANOC and the IOC over their decision not to include females in the ski jumping event.

In Fall 2010, as an NDP caucus revolt unfolded, Kathy Corrigan remained loyal to party leader Carole James.

Interim leader Dawn Black reassigned Kathy Corrigan to be their critic on Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Kathy Corrigan linked an $8 million cut to the court system in 2011, with the $6 million payment for legal fees to defend Dave Basi and Bob Virk in the BC Rail corruption case.

Kathy Corrigan advocated that the province should cover the full costs of the 2011 Stanley Cup riot review, rather than cost-sharing with the Metro Vancouver municipalities and sought to have the Legislative Assembly join Ontario and Quebec in lobbying the federal government for funds to implement the proposed Safe Streets and Communities Act.

Kathy Corrigan challenged the Minister of Social Development, and Burnaby-Lougheed MLA, Harry Bloy over cuts to Community Living BC after a Burnaby family, with a son living with autism and Down syndrome, who had their support withdrawn sought help from Kathy Corrigan's office.

Kathy Corrigan had a dispute with Christy Clark who had referred to a female NDP MLA as part of the NDP's "women's auxiliary", in reference to Clark's belief that the party did not allow women to speak on substantive issues in the Legislative Assembly, but which Corrigan found to be disrespectful towards the women in the NDP caucus.

Kathy Corrigan was challenged by medical doctor Shian Gu for the BC Liberals and school teacher Rick McGowan for the BC Greens but was projected to easily win the riding.

Once Horgan became leader he re-assigned Kathy Corrigan to be the critic on advanced education.

In 2016, the 62-year old Kathy Corrigan announced that she would not be seeking reelection in upcoming 2017 provincial election.