- Elsie Wayne
Infobox CanadianMP | name=Elsie Eleanore Wayne
term_start=1993 election
term_end=2004 election
predecessor=Gerald Merrithew
birth_date=birth date and age|1932|4|20
birth_place=Shediac, New Brunswick
successor=Paul Zed
death_date=
death_place=
profession=Businesswoman, community activist, secretary
party=Progressive Conservative (1993-2003)Conservative Party of Canada (2003-)
party colour=Conservative
residence=
riding=Saint John
footnotes=
term_start2=
term_end2=
predecessor2=
successor2=|Elsie Eleanore Wayne (née Fairweather) (born
April 20 ,1932 inShediac, New Brunswick ) is a Canadian politician, and a former Progressive Conservative MP for Saint John.Political career
In 1977, she was elected to the Saint John
municipal council. In 1983, she became the first female mayor of Saint John, and became extremely popular in that city.In the 1993 federal election, she ran as the ruling Progressive Conservative Party's candidate in the riding of Saint John. In this election, the Tories suffered the worst ever defeat for a governing party at the federal level in Canada. Wayne was one of only two Tories elected nationwide, the other being
Jean Charest . She was also the only non-Liberal elected in Atlantic Canada that year. She was elected by only 4,000 votes, but never faced another contest nearly that close. In 1998, when Charest resigned the leadership of the PC party to become leader of theParti libéral du Québec , Wayne was appointed the party'sinterim leader , a post she held until formerPrime Minister Joe Clark was elected party leader later that year.She supported the merger of the Progressive Conservatives (led by
Peter MacKay ) and theCanadian Alliance (led byStephen Harper ) in 2003.Wayne announced her retirement from politics on
February 16 ,2004 and did not run for re-election in the 2004 election to theCanadian House of Commons .Political positions
Politically, she was known as being socially conservative, opposing same-sex marriage,
abortion and decriminalization of marijuana.Fiscally, Wayne was a strong believer in Canada's
social safety net and thewelfare state , which was typical for most Tories from Atlantic Canada. She is also among Canada's most vocal monarchists.Life after leaving parliament
Wayne was rumoured to be considering a run for her old seat in the 2006 election, but these rumours came to nothing. She did, however, serve as chairwoman of the Conservative campaign in Atlantic Canada.
She is married to Richard Wayne and has two sons, Daniel and Stephen.
External links
* [http://www.canpolitics.com Canadian Politics: Riding by Riding - Saint John]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/16/wayne040216 Wayne leaving federal politics]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=289&s=F Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]
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