Bonnie Mitchelson (born November 28, 1947) is a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Manitoba legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

from 1986 to 2014, and served as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the government of

Gary Filmon Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is Canadian politician from Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the 19th premier of Manitoba from 1988 to 1999. Political care ...

from 1988 to 1999. She also served as interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2000, following Filmon's resignation.

Early life and history

Born Bonnie Bester, the daughter of Henry Bester and Millie Leslie, she was educated at the Health Sciences Centre School of Nursing and practiced as a

Registered Nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

. In 1969, she married Don Mitchelson, who has been a politician, having served as a city councillor in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Political career

She was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, defeating incumbent New Democrat Phil Eyler in the northeast Winnipeg riding of River East. She was re-elected by a wider margin in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, as Filmon's Tories won a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

. On May 9, 1988, Mitchelson was appointed Minister of Culture, Heritage and Recreation (later renamed Culture, Heritage and Citizenship), with responsibility for the Manitoba Lotteries Foundation Act. On February 5, 1991, she was also named Minister of Multiculturalism with responsibility for Status of Women. As Minister of Culture, Mitchelson made the controversial decision to establish a review commission for Manitoba's arts policy that was made up entirely of non-artists. After a cabinet shuffle on September 10, 1993, she was named Minister of Family Services, and retained the position until the Filmon government was defeated in 1999. Prior to the election of 1999, she proposed a series of

workfare Workfare is a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training. Many countries around the world have adopted workfare (sometimes implemented as "work-first" policies) to ...

measures as part of a policy of welfare reform. Mitchelson was re-elected by a comfortable margin in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, and again in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. She was chosen as interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party on May 29, 2000, and held the position until Stuart Murray was acclaimed as party leader in November. She was then named as the party's Deputy Leader. She was the first woman chosen to lead the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party, and only the third female party leader in Manitoba's history. In the general election of 2003, Mitchelson defeated

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Doug Longstaffe, 4,935 votes to 4,402. She was the only Progressive Conservative MLA to hold a seat in the north of Winnipeg. She was a supporter of

Hugh McFadyen Hugh Daniel McFadyen (born 31 May 1967) is a lawyer and politician in Manitoba, Canada. From 2006 to 2012, he was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, and Leader of the Opposition in the Manitoba legislature. Followin ...

's campaign to succeed Stuart Murray as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, and was narrowly re-elected in the 2007 provincial election.

Retirement

Bonnie Mitchelson announced her retirement from provincial politics in October 2014.

Electoral results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchelson, Bonnie 1947 births Living people Women government ministers of Canada Female Canadian political party leaders Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba Politicians from Winnipeg Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women MLAs in Manitoba