Carol Mitchell (born ) is a former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. She was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 2003 to 2011 representing the riding of

Huron—Bruce Huron—Bruce (formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. History The riding was created in 1952 from parts of Hur ...

. She was a cabinet minister in the government of

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearl ...

Background

Mitchell was born in

Clinton, Ontario Clinton is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the municipality of Central Huron. Clinton was established in 1831, when Jonas Gibbings and brothers Peter and Stephen Vanderburg cleared out a small area to start. Clinton s ...

in Huron County and was educated at

Fanshawe College Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology, commonly shortened to Fanshawe College, is a public college in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. One of the largest colleges in Canada, it has campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock w ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. She is a past member of

Girl Guides of Canada Girl Guides of Canada (GGC; french: Guides du Canada) is the national Guiding association of Canada. Guiding in Canada started on September 7, 1910, and GGC was among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (W ...

. She worked in retailing after her graduation, and ran stores selling children's clothes in Clinton and Bayfield.

Politics

She was elected to Clinton's town council in 1993, and became its reeve later in the decade. She also served on the Huron County council, and was elected as the first reeve of the amalgamated municipality of

Central Huron Central Huron is a township in western Ontario, Canada, in Huron County. It is situated on Lake Huron between the Maitland River and the Bayfield River. History The Municipality of Central Huron was formed on January 1, 2001, when the Town of C ...

. She was elected as warden of Huron County in 1999 and 2000. In the 2003 provincial election she ran as the

candidate in the riding of

and defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent

Helen Johns Helen Johns (born April 24, 1953) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003 and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris an ...

, 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’, � ...

, by about 3,000 votes. On October 23, 2003, she was named

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

to Steve Peters, the Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food. In March 2006, Mitchell was named parliamentary assistant to

David Caplan David Richard Caplan (November 15, 1964 – July 24, 2019) was a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the ridings of Oriole and Don Valley East from 1997 to 2011 a ...

, the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. Upon re-election in the fall of 2007, Mitchell was named Government Caucus Chair and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, with a concentration on Municipal Affairs. On January 18, 2010, Mitchell was named Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs as part of a

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

by Premier

. She was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Lisa Thompson in the 2011 election.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Carol 1957 births Women government ministers of Canada Fanshawe College alumni Living people Mayors of places in Ontario Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs People from Goderich, Ontario Women mayors of places in Ontario Women MPPs in Ontario 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians