Joy Smith
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Joy Ann Smith (born February 20, 1947) is a Canadian politician. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba between 1999 and 2003, and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 2004.
[edit] Education and business career
Smith was born in Deloraine, Manitoba. She holds a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Manitoba (majoring in Math and Science), and a music degree from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She worked as a teacher for twenty-one years before entering political life, and in 1986 received the Hedley Award for Excellence in Research. During the 1990s, she served as a liaison for private and home-schooling groups.
Smith is also an entrepreneur. She published a best selling book entitled Lies My Kid's Teacher Told Me in 1996, and a follow-up entitled, Tools of the Trade a few years later. She was also the owner of Gem Records for a time. In 1996, she was nominated for Manitoba's Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award.
[edit] Career in Provincial politics
Smith was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1999 provincial election, as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the south-central Winnipeg constituency of Fort Garry. Running under the banner of popular Premier Gary Filmon's PCs, she defeated New Democrat Lawrie Cherniack by thirty votes, in one of the closest constituency races of the campaign. The New Democratic Party won the election, and Smith served as the Progressive Conservative critic for education and justice.
Fort Garry was a top NDP target in the 2003 election, and Smith lost the constituency to New Democrat Kerri Irvin-Ross by eighty-seven votes.
[edit] Career in Federal Politics
In the 2004 federal election, Smith campaigned as a Conservative candidate in the north Winnipeg riding of Kildonan—St. Paul. She had previously been nominated as a candidate of the Canadian Alliance, where she was the Manitoba organizer for Stockwell Day's bid for leadershiip, before that party merged with the Progressive Conservatives in 2003-04.
Smith narrowly defeated Liberal candidate Terry Duguid, 13,582 votes to 13,304. Smith was named Manitoba caucus chair, giving her a seat on the Conservative Party's Planning and Priorities Committee.
In 2006, Smith introduced a private member's bill, asking parliamentarians to condemn human trafficking and come up with a comprehensive plan to combat the problem.
In 2004, Smith was selected to be part of the Canadian delegation assigned to travel to Ukraine and observe a court-ordered repeat of the second round of voting the Ukraine presidential election
She is also a committee member on the Status of Women Group, Ukrainian-Canadian Parliamentary Group, Canada-Israel Parliamentary Group and Canada-USA Relations Parliamentary Group.
In 2002, as justice critic for the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives, she spoke against a bill which provided adoption rights to same-sex couples in that province. Smith argued that her party did not oppose same-sex adoption rights as such, but that the proposed legislation was flawed.[1] In a June 2005 parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage, she stated that, "If (her daughter) decides to get married, she will know that the meaning of marriage is the union of a man and a woman. If she chooses otherwise, it will be her choice." The result of the bill, she said, would be to "cause marriage to just go away with the stroke of a pen". She also claimed the bill was discriminatory against married couples.[2] The Toronto Star reported that Smith broke down in tears during the debate.
Smith defeated Duguid again by a significantly larger plurality in the 2006 federal election, as the Conservatives won a national minority government.
| Preceded by Rosemary Vodrey |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fort Garry 1999-2003 |
Succeeded by Kerri Irvin-Ross |
| Preceded by This electoral district was created in 2003. |
Member of Parliament for Kildonan—St. Paul 2004-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
 |
Manitoba Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament. |
| Senators | Sharon Carstairs (Lib), Maria Chaput (Lib), Janis Gudrun Johnson (Con), Mira Spivak (Ind), Terrance Richard Stratton (Con), Rod Zimmer (Lib) |
| Members of Parliament | Rod Bruinooge (Con), James Bezan (Con), Bill Blaikie (NDP), Tina Keeper (Lib), Steven Fletcher (Con), Inky Mark (Con), Pat Martin (NDP), Anita Neville (Lib), Brian Pallister (Con), Raymond Simard (Lib), Joy Smith (Con), Vic Toews (Con), Merv Tweed (Con), Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP) |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Smith, Joy Ann |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Canadian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 20, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH | living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
