Margaret Birch

Margaret Birch
MPP for Scarborough East
In office 1971–1985
Preceded by	Timothy Reid
Succeeded by	Ed Fulton
Personal details
Born	June 13, 1921 (1921-06-13) (age 90) Leamington, Ontario
Political party	Conservative

Margaret Birch (born June 13, 1921) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis. Birch was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. She is most notable for having been the first female cabinet minister in Ontario history.

Birch was born in Leamington, Ontario, and was educated in the area. She was chair of the Scarborough Board of Health from 1963 to 1971, was on the Mental Health Council from 1967 to 1971, and was vice-chairman of the Social Planners Council from 1967 to 1970. She also served on the Board of Governors for Scarborough Centenary Hospital.

She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating incumbent Liberal Tim Reid by 670 votes in Scarborough East. After a brief period on the government backbenches, she was appointed to cabinet as a minister without portfolio responsible for Youth on September 28, 1972. Birch was promoted to Provincial Secretary for Social Development on February 26, 1974, and retained this position until 1983.

Birch was the first female member of the conservative Albany Club of Toronto, proposed by the then premier, Bill Davis.^[1]

The Social Development secretariat was designed as a "super-ministry", overseeing several different ministries and agencies (e.g., health, social services, education, women's secretariat, youth secretariat, etc.). As such, the 'super minister' had direct authority over the policies and directions of the individual ministries under its jurisdiction. It had few specifically defined responsibilities, however, and ministers who held the position were often marginalized in legislative debates. In his 1985 biography of Davis, right-wing journalist Claire Hoy described Birch as an ineffective minister.^[2]

Birch was re-elected by comfortable majorities in 1975, 1977 and 1981. She resigned from cabinet in 1983, and did not seek re-election in 1985. Birch endorsed Dennis Timbrell to succeed Davis as party leader in February 1985.^[3]

A Margaret Birch Wing was opened at the Centenary Hospital in 1986.^[4]

References

1. ^ TVO, local history programme, 2009 March 27 00:30
2. ^ Claire Hoy, Bill Davis, (Toronto: Methuen Publications, 1985), p.97
3. ^ Sylvia Stead, "Young professionals claim Timbrell as their spokesman", Globe and Mail, 23 January 1985.
4. ^ John Stackhouse, "Margaret Birch wing opens at Centenary", Toronto Star, 24 January 1986.

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Ontario biography

Persondata
Name	Birch, Margaret
Alternative names
Short description	Former politician in Ontario, Canada
Date of birth	June 13, 1921
Place of birth	Leamington
Date of death
Place of death