Diane McGifford

Diane McGifford (born March 26, 1945) is a Manitoba politician, and a current member of Premier Greg Selinger's cabinet.

McGifford was born in Manchester, England, and moved to Manitoba at a young age. She was educated at the University of Manitoba, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970, a Master of Arts degree in 1974, and a Ph.D. in English in 1979. She subsequently worked as a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg, and has served as a director of the Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre and Kali-Shiva AIDS Services. McGifford has edited Shafti's Words: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women's Poetry and The Geography of Voice: Canadian Literature of the South Asian Diaspora.

McGifford was elected to the Manitoba assembly in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent Liberal Norma McCormick by almost one thousand votes in the central Winnipeg riding of Osborne. She was easily re-elected in the 1999 election in the redistributed riding of Lord Roberts.

The New Democratic Party won the election of 1999, and McGifford was appointed to Premier Gary Doer's first cabinet as Minister of Culture, Heritage and Tourism on October 5, 1999.

On January 17, 2001, she was transferred to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Training.^[1] On her initial appointment to cabinet, she was also given responsibility for the Status of Women and Seniors, and the administration of the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation Act. She was relieved of the last responsibility on September 25, 2002, and of the first two on November 4, 2003.

In 2003, McGifford supported Bill Blaikie's campaign to become leader of the federal New Democratic Party.

McGifford was easily re-elected in the 2003 provincial election, and again in the 2007 provincial election. She was replaced as Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy by Southdale MLA Erin Selby, in a brief ceremony in March 2011.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Doer shuffles cabinet, splits Education portfolio". CBC News. 17 January 2001. http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2001/01/17/mb-cabinet.html. Retrieved 10 August 2010. 
2. ^ Selby new minister of advanced education. Winnipeg Free Press, March 29, 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.

Political offices
Preceded by Herself as Manitoba Minister of Advanced Education and Training	Manitoba Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy September 21, 2006 – March 28, 2011	Succeeded by Erin Selby
Preceded by James McCrae as Manitoba Minister of Education and Training	Manitoba Minister of Advanced Education and Training January 17, 2001 – September 21, 2006	Succeeded by Herself as Manitoba Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy
		Succeeded by Scott Smith as Manitoba Minister of Competitiveness, Training and Trade
Preceded by Rosemary Vodrey as Manitoba Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship	Manitoba Minister of Culture, Heritage and Tourism October 5, 1999 – January 17, 2001	Succeeded by Ron Lemieux
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
New constituency	Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lord Roberts April 25, 1995 – present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Macgifford, Diane
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Date of birth	March 26, 1945
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