- Brenda Chamberlain
Infobox CanadianMP
honorific-prefix =The Honourable
name = Brenda Kay Chamberlain
honorific-suffix =
PCAn image of Brenda Chamberlain is accessible [http://www.brendachamberlain.parl.gc.ca/images/biogra1.jpghere]
riding = Guelph
parliament = Canadian
term_start = 2004
term_end =April 7 2008
predecessor = "new riding"
successor =
riding2 =Guelph—Wellington
parliament2 = Canadian
term_start2 = 1993
term_end2 = 2004
predecessor2 =Bill Winegard
successor2 = "riding abolished"
birth_date = birth date and age |1952|04|09
birth_place =Toronto ,Ontario
death_date =
death_place =
party = Liberal
spouse = David Chamberlain
profession = Education administrator
residence = Elora,Ontario
religion =Roman Catholic Brenda Kay Chamberlain, PC (born
April 9 1952 in Toronto,Ontario ) was a member of theCanadian House of Commons , representing the riding of Guelph for the Liberal Party from 1993 until her resignation as of April, 2008.Chamberlain was a home daycare owner and operator from 1979 to 1983, and served as the administrative assistant in a family-owned business from 1984 to 1987. She also served as Executive Director of the Wellington County Literacy Council from 1989 to 1993, and of the Guelph-Wellington Career Educational Council from 1992 to 1993. During this time she also served on the Wellington County Board of Education (1985-1993).
Chamberlain sought the federal Liberal nomination in Guelph-Wellington in 1992. Chamberlain's main challenger for the nomination was to be former Liberal Member of Parliament Frank Maine, who represented Guelph in the House of Commons from 1974 to 1979. Maine dropped out of the race after the riding's nomination meeting was scheduled for an early date, arguing that this favoured Chamberlain. Chamberlain went on to win the Liberal nomination by acclamation. Maine later decided to run as an independent candidate against Chamberlain in the 1993 federal election. Chamberlain was elected without difficulty.
Chamberlain was re-elected by greater margins in the elections of 1997 and 2000. For many years, she was known as a strong supporter of
Paul Martin in his bid to succeedJean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party.Chamberlain won another easy victory in the election of 2004, defeating her Conservative opponent by nearly 10,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Guelph.
Chamberlain was elected a fifth time in the election of 2006, in which the Conservative Party won a national
minority government .She was one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus, and was a vocal opponent of her own party's plans to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Chamberlain also voted against her party's
same-sex marriage bill in 2005. She was also involved in legislation which forcedBell Canada to revise its 411 billing policy.Chamberlain served as
parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labour from 1997 to 1999, and was parliamentary secretary to the president of the Queen's Privy Council, with special emphasis on public service reform andMétis and Non-Status Indians, from December 2003 to July 2004.On
March 7 ,2008 , Chamberlain announced her resignation from the House of Commons effectiveApril 7 . [ [http://news.guelphmercury.com/article/303112 "Guelph MP announces resignation"] , "Guelph Mercury ",March 7 ,2008 .] She did not provide a reason for her resignation. However, as early as 2005, Chamberlain had announced her intention to retire. She nonetheless stood for reelection in the 2006 federal election, and was successful. She was thereafter subject to increasing degrees of public criticism for her lack of parliamentary participation. This included an online petition in which she was urged to resign, based on such reasons as "Mrs. Chamberlain has not voted on any legislation in Ottawa since June, 2007". [Online petition in support of Brenda Chamberlain's immediate resignation as a Member of Parliament; www.stepaside.ca.]References
External links
* [http://www.brendachamberlain.parl.gc.ca/ Official site]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=59&s=F&md=1 Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]s-ttl|title=
Member of Parliament fromGuelph—Wellington
years=1993–2004s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament from Guelph
years=2004–2008
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