Geraldine Copps

Geraldine Copps is a veteran political figure in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She is the widow of former mayor Victor Copps and the mother of federal Liberal politician Sheila Copps, and was herself a city councillor from 1985 to 2000

Career to 1985

Geraldine Copps assisted her husband in public events throughout his career, and entered public life in 1976 after he suffered permanent brain damage as the result of a massive heart attack. He had been mayor of the city for fifteen years but did not have a pension, and the family's financial situation was said to have been precarious.

On the advice of Liberal cabinet minister and family friend John Munro, Copps was appointed as a citizenship court judge for the Waterloo region. The appointment was recognized as an act of patronage, but did not meet with any significant opposition under the circumstances ("Toronto Star", 6 March 1988).

She was reappointed in 1977 and 1982, and served until 1985 when the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney declined to renew her contract ("Globe and Mail", 21 February 1985). There was speculation that this decision may have been politically motivated, as Copps's daughter was then a prominent critic of the Mulroney government. Secretary of State Walter McLean appeared to lend credibility to this claim when he was quoted as saying, "You check the record - what her daughter's had to say about the Government." ("G&M", 12 March 1985). He later claimed his words were taken out of context ("G&M", 15 March 1985).

Councillor

After losing her judicial position, Copps campaigned for a seat on city council in late 1985. At the age of sixty, she was elected as one of two representatives for the city's fourth ward. She became one of three councillors to refuse a pay raise mandates by council in 1988 ("G&M", 28 April 1988), and was easily re-elected later in the year. Copps was again returned in 1991, 1994 and 1997, always by significant margins. In the 1990s, she served as chair of the Accessible Transportation Advisory Committee ("Spectator", 8 March 1996).

Copps was a consistent opponent of "one-tier" municipal government, and opposed plans to amalgamate the city with neighbouring suburbs in the 1990s. She argued that the city could lose its distinctive identity under such an arrangement ("Spectator", 24 January 1992). She was also a vocal opponent of the Red Hill Creek Expressway ("Spectator", 1 March 1994), and frequently criticized the policies of Mayor Bob Morrow and Regional Chair Terry Cooke.

Copps was generally seen as a centre-left politician, but has also expressed socially conservative views on several issues. She opposed her daughter's efforts to include gays and lesbians in the Ontario Human Rights Code in 1981 ("Spectator", 11 June 1994), spoke out against an explicit AIDS educational pamphlet in 1988 ("G&M", 23 July 1988), and later questioned the need for a needle-exchange program for drug addicts ("Hamilton Spectator", 10 December 1991).

On another occasion, she spoke against anonymous AIDS testing on the grounds that "the public is entitled to know who they come in contact with" ("Spectator", 11 December 1991). In 2003, she opposed the decriminalization of cannabis ("Spectator", 28 April 2003).

Federal politics

Notwithstanding their disagreements on some issues, Geraldine Copps has consistently supported her daughter's career in the federal arena. She nominated her daughter against Tony Valeri for the 2004 Liberal nomination in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, and was disappointed when riding officials ruled that she was ineligible to cast a ballot (on the grounds that her membership had not been carried over from the former riding of Hamilton East) ("Spectator", 8 March 2004).

Valeri won the nomination under controversial circumstances. In the general election, the elder Copps supported New Democratic Party candidate David Christopherson over another Liberal candidate in the neighbouring riding of Hamilton Centre ("G&M", 27 May 2004).