Lyn McLeod served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 2003.
21 Facts About Lyn McLeod
1.
2.
Lyn McLeod graduated from the University of Manitoba and received a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Lakehead University, in the Northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay.
3.
Lyn McLeod was trustee on the Lakehead Board of Education for seventeen years and its chair for seven.
4.
Lyn McLeod was appointed to the Board of Governors of Lakehead University in 1986.
5.
Lyn McLeod was married to the late Neil McLeod, a prominent Thunder Bay family physician.
6.
Lyn McLeod was elected for the riding of Fort William in the provincial election of 1987, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Michael Hennessy by 1,463 votes.
7.
Lyn McLeod was appointed Minister of Colleges and Universities on September 29,1987.
8.
The Liberals were upset by the New Democratic Party in the provincial election of 1990, although Lyn McLeod was able to retain her riding against a strong challenge from NDP candidate Dan Hutsul, winning by 1,345 votes.
9.
Unlike most other Liberal candidates in this election, Lyn McLeod was supported by prominent members from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation in her region.
10.
Lyn McLeod was one of six candidates for the position, and was widely regarded as the main challenger to frontrunner Murray Elston.
11.
Lyn McLeod finished a strong second on the first ballot, and overtook Elston on the third with support from Steve Mahoney's delegates.
12.
Lyn McLeod's people had made a deal with second-tier leadership contender Charles Beer.
13.
The Elston camp had an unexpectedly large lead on the first ballot, as Lyn McLeod lent Beer some of her delegates to give him a respectable showing, and Elston's margin dropped significantly when the eliminated Beer threw his full support behind Lyn McLeod.
14.
Lyn McLeod finally defeated Elston by nine votes on the fifth ballot, becoming the first woman to lead a major party in Ontario.
15.
The most notable of these occurred when Lyn McLeod withdrew Liberal support for the proposed Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act, which would have granted same-sex couples most of the same rights as opposite-sex common law couples, introduced by the NDP government of Bob Rae in 1994.
16.
Lyn McLeod offended some immigrant voters, an electorally important group for Liberals, by criticizing the Rae government's handling of Somali refugee claims.
17.
Lyn McLeod's intent was to draw attention to criminal gangs that were forcing Somalis to move to Ontario and defraud the provincial welfare system.
18.
Lyn McLeod remained a prominent Liberal MPP under new leader Dalton McGuinty, serving as education critic from 1996 to 1999.
19.
Lyn McLeod was generally regarded as successful in this role, and proved an able opponent of Education Minister John Snobelen's restructuring policies.
20.
The Tories won the election with a reduced majority, and Lyn McLeod swapped shadow cabinet portfolios with Gerard Kennedy to serve as her party's health critic in the legislature that followed.
21.
Lyn McLeod was named as the first chancellor of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in June 2004, and is a vice-chair of the board of governors at Confederation College in Thunder Bay.