Margaret Campbell (politician)

Margaret Campbell
MPP for St. George
In office 1973–1981
Preceded by	Allan Lawrence
Succeeded by	Susan Fish
City Councillor for Ward 2 (Regent Park and Rosedale) with May Birchard
In office 1958–1962
Preceded by	É
Succeeded by	É
Personal details
Born	Margaret Baird 1912 Toronto, Ontario
Died	1999 (aged 86–87)
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Sterling Campbell

Margaret Campbell (1912–1999) was a municipal and provincial politician from Toronto, Canada.

Background

Born Margaret Baird she was raised in Rosedale and attend Bishop Strachan School, University College and then Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the bar in 1937. She married American film maker and aviator Sterling Campbell in 1942. During the Second World War she worked in counter-intelligence for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Her son Sterling Campbell also served a term as a Liberal MPP from Sudbury.

Municipal politics

Sterling ran for city council in the 1956 elections, but was unsuccessful. In the next city elections she ran herself, and was victorious in Ward 2. In the 1960 election she finished first in the ward, entitling her a position on Metro Council in addition to the Toronto seat. In 1966 she became only the second woman to win a seat on the four member Board of Control and became the city's budget chief. In the 1969 election she ran for mayor, attempting to become the first female mayor of the city. Her opponents were the NDP linked incumbent William Dennison and the official Liberal candidate Stephen Clarkson. Campbell had been a member of the Progressive Conservative party for many years. Her mayoral campaign was run on an explicitly reform platform, calling for an end to megaprojects and the adoption of Jane Jacobs styled urbanism as advocated by David Crombie. She finished second to Dennison, losing by some 13,000 votes.

Provincial politics

She briefly left politics to serve as a provincial court judge. When Allan Lawrence retired from the legislature and opened the provincial seat of St. George she resigned her judgeship and ran for the Liberal Party of Ontario, leaving the Tory party. St. George had been a staunchly Tory seat for decades, and Campbell faced a prominent opponent in Roy McMurtry, but she was victorious becoming the first women elected to the Ontario Liberal Party. She represented the district until 1981, advocating on issues related to poverty, and in favour of women's and gay rights. She resigned her seat prior to the 1981 election so that she could spend more time with her ailing husband. In 1984, the Ontario Liberal Party established the Margaret Campbell Fund which supports female candidates who run for the party.^[1]

References

1. ^ Margaret Campbell. Ontario Women's Liberal Commission. [1] Last accessed July 12, 2009.

• Gollom, Mark. "Worked as lawyer, judge, politician, and spy: Fought for gay and women's rights starting in the 1970s." National Post. Don Mills, Ont.: Apr 26, 1999. pg. A.14
• "Obituary Margaret Campbell city councillor, MPP." Alan Barnes. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 21, 1999. pg. 1

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Ontario biography

Persondata
Name	Campbell, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1912
Place of birth	Toronto, Ontario
Date of death	1999
Place of death