50 Facts About Nycole Turmel

When Layton subsequently died from complications due to cancer on August 22,2011, Nycole Turmel became Leader of the Official Opposition, the second woman to be so appointed.

Nycole Turmel held both positions until the selection of Thomas Mulcair in the 2012 leadership election on March 24,2012.

Nycole Turmel is a long-time trade unionist and served as president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada from 2000 to 2006.

Nycole Turmel was born to Laval Turmel and Emilia Jacques in Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec, a nearly completely francophone area of Quebec, where she lived until the age of 18.

Nycole Turmel's father ran a dairy in the region, Laiterie Turmel, which produced and delivered milk, cream and ice cream.

Nycole Turmel subsequently had three children and, after separating from her husband, raised them as a single mother.

In 1990, Nycole Turmel left Alma and moved to Gatineau in order to take up a new job with her union.

Nycole Turmel is bilingual, speaking English as a second language, and is married to a British-born Anglophone.

Nycole Turmel has three children and nine grandchildren, as well as a brother who lives in Sainte-Marie.

Nycole Turmel has an abiding interest in outdoor sports, especially cross-country skiing, tennis, and cycling.

In 1977, after she had moved to Alma, Quebec, Nycole Turmel began working as an employment counsellor assistant at the federal government's regional Canada Employment Centre.

Nycole Turmel says that at the time the union was male-dominated and "it wasn't easy for women to participate in the union", noting that she relied on the mentorship of other female members.

Over time, Nycole Turmel held progressively more senior elected positions at the local and regional level of her union, eventually serving as vice president of the CEIU in the late 1980s.

At the time, Nycole Turmel was a single parent with three children: two teenagers and a nine-year-old.

Nycole Turmel says the strike was a huge challenge because of that.

Nycole Turmel later moved on to the district level and then to the regional level of the CEIU.

Nycole Turmel first campaigned to try and save the base and, when it became evident that that was impossible, she lobbied to ensure that displaced employees got a job somewhere else without losing their benefits.

In that role, which she continued in until 1997, Nycole Turmel was responsible for women's equality issues within the union.

Nycole Turmel pushed for change with the employer and within the union.

Nycole Turmel stayed in that role until 2000, while serving briefly as acting national president in late 1999.

Nycole Turmel was elected president of the PSAC on May 5,2000, becoming the first woman to ever assume this role in the 34-year history of the PSAC.

The newspaper writes that Nycole Turmel climbed to the highest ranks of PSAC by championing the cause of pay equity and that she was a key player in the union's $3.6-billion pay equity settlement, which gave her an important power base among women in the public service.

Nycole Turmel served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Labour Congress.

From 1992 onwards, Nycole Turmel acted as one of the PSAC leaders helping to coordinate and officially lend the union's support to the United Way's Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign.

Nycole Turmel was ultimately awarded the Mitchell Sharp Award for Meritorious Service in recognition of her contribution to the campaign.

Nycole Turmel became treasurer of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women in October 2010 and she represented workers on the Management Committee of Financial Assets of the QFL Solidarity Fund.

Nycole Turmel was active on the United Way Retiree Committee.

In November 2009, Nycole Turmel ran in the Gatineau municipal election in the district of Plateau-Manoir-des-Trembles; she lost to opponent Maxime Tremblay by 96 votes out of 4,261.

Nycole Turmel moderated the leadership process that saw Jack Layton elected as NDP leader in 2003.

In December 2006, Nycole Turmel took out a membership in the Bloc Quebecois in support of her friend, Carole Lavallee, who was running for the party.

Nycole Turmel says that she was a Bloc member in her friend's riding and that she refused to transfer her membership to her own riding when asked.

Nycole Turmel allowed her NDP membership to lapse in 2009, something she says was unintentional and attributes to a credit card expiry date issue; she became a paid-up member again in October 2010.

In January 2011, Nycole Turmel cancelled her membership in the Bloc Quebecois and later filed papers to run as a New Democrat candidate.

Nycole Turmel refused a request from former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe to run as a Bloc candidate because of her disagreement with the party on the issue of Quebec sovereignty.

Nycole Turmel says that she joined the party because of a friendship with one of its leaders, Francoise David, and that she renewed her membership card every year.

Nycole Turmel's campaign focused on local issues including getting legislative protection for Gatineau Park, a possible ferry between Aylmer and Kanata, and expanding the Rapibus transit project.

Nycole Turmel picked up key endorsements during the campaign, including from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

Nycole Turmel went on to defeat longstanding Liberal incumbent Marcel Proulx by a shocking 23,000-vote margin.

Nycole Turmel is the first non-Liberal to win the riding in an election since its creation in 1914.

Nycole Turmel began sitting on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on June 2,2011.

On July 25,2011, NDP leader Jack Layton announced at a news conference that he was taking a temporary leave of absence for health reasons and recommended that Nycole Turmel be appointed interim leader for the duration of his absence.

Nycole Turmel only assumed that office upon Jack Layton's death on August 22,2011, and she stands as just the second woman to have held the role, after former Canadian Alliance MP Deborah Grey, who served in 2000 during that party's leadership race.

Nycole Turmel chose not to move into Stornoway, as her home and riding were in the National Capital Region, though she did use Stornoway for entertaining and did sleep over on occasion.

Nycole Turmel yielded her position as interim NDP leader to Thomas Mulcair when he succeeded in the 2012 NDP leadership election on March 24,2012.

Nycole Turmel was appointed as the Opposition Whip in the New Democratic Party's first shadow cabinet.

Nycole Turmel introduced a private member's bill in the House of Commons to protect Gatineau Park on November 8,2012.

Nycole Turmel's bill, including the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Nature Quebec, and the Conseil regional de l'environnement et du developpement durable de l'Outaouais.

Nycole Turmel's bill fell short of meeting basic park protection criteria.

Nycole Turmel's legislation lacks a public-consultation mechanism, disregards the issue of Quebec's territorial integrity, and fails to make conservation the first priority of park management.

In 2006, Nycole Turmel received the Mitchell Sharp Award for Meritorious Service from the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign.