Ellen MacKinnon

Ellen MacKinnon (April 27, 1926 – February 12, 2001) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the southwest Ontario riding of Lambton from 1990 to 1995.

Ellen MacKinnon
Ontario MPP
In office
1990–1995
Preceded byDavid Smith
Succeeded byMarcel Beaubien
ConstituencyLambton
Personal details
Born(1926-04-27)April 27, 1926
farm near Sarnia, Ontario
DiedFebruary 10, 2001(2001-02-10) (aged 74)
Political partyNew Democrat
Spouse(s)William
Children7
OccupationFarmer

Background

MacKinnon was born near Sarnia, Ontario to a farming family. Due to the depression she was forced to quit school after Grade 8. She worked as waitress, house servant and in a factory during World War II. She was married near the end of the war and she moved to a farm in Lambton County. She raised seven children, two daughters and five sons while tending the farm while her husband was away working for a Sarnia oil company. Her husband died in 1980.[1]

Politics

She was a county councillor for the township of Plympton from 1977 to 1979 and served as a school trustee on the Lambton County public school board from 1988 to 1990.[1]

MacKinnon ran as the New Democratic candidate in the provincial election of 1990 in the south-western Ontario riding of Lambton. During the campaign, MacKinnon spoke out against shipping Toronto area garbage to the Sarnia region. She said, "No garbage. Not here. Not now. Not ever." MacKinnon learned later that many voters appreciated her simple answer to a complex issue.[2] She defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Bob Langstaff by 1,024 votes. The incumbent Liberal David Smith placed third.[3]

MacKinnon was 64 at the time of her win and was the oldest member of the NDP caucus.[4] When she arrived at Queen's Park after the election she was awe-struck by the experience. She said, "I'm wondering what I'll do for an apartment, what you do for furniture and how many clothes do I bring here, and how many do I leave at home."[5] The NDP won a majority government in this election and she served as a backbench supporter of Bob Rae's administration for the next five years.

In 1992, she suffered a tragic loss when one of her daughter's died due to cancer.[6]

In 1994, she voted for the party's bill on benefits for same-sex couples despite receiving death threats. Someone parked a wagon near her constituency office in Petrolia, Ontario with a sign on it that read, "Hey Ellen, it's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." MacKinnon said, "I think that it's a very, very poor reflection on (a) beautiful community."[7][8] The bill was eventually defeated 68-59 on a free vote.[9]

Due to health reasons, she did not seek re-election in 1995.[10]

Death

MacKinnon died February 12, 2001. On April 23 of that year, the Ontario legislature paid her an official tribute. NDP leader Howard Hampton spoke about her and quoted William Irvine:

"I will not acquiesce to that which is. If it must be, I meet it with rebellion. With passion, love and life destroyed, my soul shall stand upon the wreck and challenge all."

Hampton said, "I think that describes Ellen MacKinnon to a T."[11]

gollark: ```Cold Ones (also ice giants, the Finality, Lords of the Last Waste)Mythological beings who dwell at the end of time, during the final blackness of the universe, the last surviving remnants of the war of all-against-all over the universe’s final stocks of extropy, long after the passing of baryonic matter and the death throes of the most ancient black holes. Savage, autocannibalistic beings, stretching their remaining existence across aeons-long slowthoughts powered by the rare quantum fluctuations of the nothingness, these wretched dead gods know nothing but despair, hunger, and envy for those past entities which dwelled in eras rich in energy differentials, information, and ordered states, and would – if they could – feast on any unwary enough to fall into their clutches.Stories of the Cold Ones are, of course, not to be interpreted literally: they are a philosophical and theological metaphor for the pessimal end-state of the universe, to wit, the final triumph of entropy in both a physical and a spiritual sense. Nonetheless, this metaphor has been adopted by both the Flamic church and the archai themselves to describe the potential future which it is their intention to avert.The Cold Ones have also found a place in popular culture, depicted as supreme villains: perhaps best seen in the Ghosts of the Dark Spiral expansion for Mythic Stars, a virtuality game from Nebula 12 ArGaming, ICC, and the Void Cascading InVid series, produced by Dexlyn Vithinios (Sundogs of Delphys, ICC).```
gollark: And it's all just horribly dense spaghetti code.
gollark: There are no docs or comments anywhere. It's ridiculous.
gollark: I think you triggered the end stage of a long process.
gollark: Who pinged *me*?

References
  1. Hall, Joseph (September 21, 1990). "Former farmer finds new career in political field". Toronto Star. p. A12.
  2. Thompson, Catherine (December 31, 1994). "Fun with Premier Bob and the NDP". Kitchener, Ont: The Record. p. D4.
  3. "Ontario election: A riding-by-riding review". The Windsor Star. September 7, 1990. p. A7.
  4. "Mackenzie hedges on retirement MPP promised to quit at 65". The Hamilton Spectator. June 4, 1993. p. B5.
  5. Hall, Joseph (September 13, 1990). "Big NDP winners visit new workplace". Toronto Star. p. A3.
  6. Coyle, Jim (January 23, 1993). "The pain spreads: Cancer claims another MPP". The Ottawa Citizen. p. A6.
  7. "In Brief". Calgary Herald. June 8, 1994. p. A9.
  8. "Supporter of Ont. bill gets death threats over gay son". Edmonton Journal. June 8, 1994. p. A16.
  9. "Ont. says 'no' to same-sex legislation Bill 167 defeated 68-59". The Interim. June 16, 1994.
  10. Brennan, Richard (March 4, 1994). "Whom fortune favors - or flays". The Windsor Star. p. A6.
  11. "Official Records for 23 April 2001". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.