Deborah Cleland Grey, (born July 1, 1952) is a retired Canadian member of Parliament from Alberta for the Reform Party of Canada, the Canadian Alliance, and the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. She was the first female leader of the Opposition in Canadian history. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Leaders' Debates Commission.

Before politics

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Grey pursued studies in sociology, English and education at

Burrard Inlet Bible Institute Burrard may refer to: People * Burrard baronets ** Sir George Burrard, 3rd Baronet (1769–1856) ** Sir George Burrard, 4th Baronet (1805–1870) ** Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Lymington (1755-1813), a British General ** Sir Harry Burrard, ...

, Trinity Western College and the University of Alberta. She then worked as a teacher in a number of rural Alberta communities until 1989.

Political career

Grey's first run for office was in the 1988 election, when she ran as the Reform candidate in Beaver River, a mostly rural riding in northeastern Alberta. She finished a distant fourth behind Progressive Conservative John Dahmer. However, Dahmer died before he could be sworn in. Grey won a by-election in March 1989, almost tripling her vote total from the 1988 election to become Reform's first MP. It was only the second time the Progressive Conservatives had lost a seat in Alberta since 1968. Party leader Preston Manning immediately named her as Reform's deputy leader. The two were friends for many years; Grey calls him "Misterbrainiola". Her first legislative assistant was a young

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

. Reform elected 52 MPs in the 1993 election, replacing the Progressive Conservatives as the main right-wing party in Canada. Grey won her first full term in this election. In addition to her duties as deputy leader, she also became chairwoman of the enlarged Reform caucus. In 1997, Beaver River was abolished and its territory split into two neighbouring ridings. Grey moved to

Edmonton North Edmonton North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 2004. Demographics Geography The riding consisted of the northern part of the city of Edmonton, Alberta. H ...

at the request of several local conservatives dissatisfied with being represented by a Liberal, John Loney (elected in the 1993 landslide). Lomey retired ahead of that year's election, and Grey won handily. She continued to represent this riding for the remainder of her career. Reform became the

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

in that election. Grey served as Reform's deputy leader and caucus chairwoman until March 2000, when the Reform Party was folded into the Canadian Alliance. When Manning stepped down as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

to contest the Alliance leadership race, Grey was appointed interim leader of the Alliance, and hence Leader of the Opposition. She was the first female Leader of the Opposition in Canadian history. She held the post until new Alliance leader

Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as minister ...

was elected to the House of Commons in September 2000. He appointed Grey as deputy leader and caucus chairwoman once again. Grey resigned those posts on April 24, 2001, in protest against Day's leadership. In July of that year, Grey quit the Canadian Alliance and joined 10 other Alliance dissidents in the "Independent Alliance Caucus". While Chuck Strahl eventually emerged as the dissidents' leader, Grey lent the group instant credibility since she had been Reform/Alliance's matriarch as well as the deputy leader. When Day offered an amnesty to the dissidents, Grey was one of seven who turned it down and formed the Democratic Representative Caucus (DRC), led by Strahl with Grey as deputy leader. In September 2001, the DRC formed a coalition caucus with the Progressive Conservatives, and Grey served as chairwoman of the PC-DRC caucus. She later said that she lost confidence in Day after seeing him attack his staffers after a public gaffe. In April 2002, after Harper defeated Day in the race to be the Alliance leader, Grey and all but two of the DRC MPs rejoined the Alliance caucus, and in December 2003, the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives ratified an agreement to merge into the Conservative Party of Canada. Grey was co-chair, with former PC leader Peter MacKay, of the new party's first leadership convention in March 2004. Grey was not shy about tossing verbal barbs at the governing Liberals. She called

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

"the Shawinigan Strangler", Don Boudria "Binder Boy", Jane Stewart "Miss Management" and Paul Martin "Captain Whirlybird". Deborah Grey is also well known for refusing to join the lucrative MP Pension Plan and ridiculing other "MP porkers" for feeding at the public trough. Later she bought her way back into the pension plan resulting in former Prime Minister Joe Clark labeling her the "high priestess of hypocrisy". Grey's riding of

was abolished for the 2004 federal election, and Grey retired from politics rather than attempting nomination in another. She was Western chairwoman of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election, in which Harper became Prime Minister of Canada.

Retirement

Shortly after retiring, she published her autobiography, '' Never Retreat, Never Explain, Never Apologize: My Life and My Politics.'' In 2007, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. On April 22, 2013, she was appointed to the Security Intelligence Review Committee, and along with that appointment, was made a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

, giving her the title, "The Honourable". It was announced that Grey was stepping down from the Security Intelligence Review Committee on May 1, 2015, in a press release from the Prime Minister's Office.

Personal life

Grey has been married to Lewis Larson since August 7, 1993; they have no children together. They are grandparents through Lewis' children by his first marriage.

Election results

, - , Liberal , Jim Jacuta , align="right", 14,786 , align="right", 34.32% , align="right", , align="right", $28,846 ,

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

, Laurie Lang , align="right", 3,216 , align="right", 7.46% , align="right", , align="right", $815 , Progressive Conservative , Dean Sanduga , align="right", 3,010 , align="right", 6.98% , align="right", , align="right", $9,842 , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total valid votes !align="right", 43,075 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total rejected ballots !align="right", 174 !align="right", 0.40% !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Turnout !align="right", 43,249 !align="right", 57.20% !align="right", , - , Liberal , Jonathan Murphy , align="right", 11,820 , align="right", 32.47% , , align="right", $46,517 ,

, Ray Martin , align="right", 5,413 , align="right", 14.87% , , align="right", $60,286 , Progressive Conservative , Mitch Panciuk , align="right", 2,811 , align="right", 7.72% , , align="right", $51,169 , Natural Law , Ric Johnsen , align="right", 226 , align="right", 0.62% , align="right", , align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total valid votes !align="right", 36,394 !align="right", 100.00% ! , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total rejected ballots !align="right", 99 !align="right", 0.27% ! , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Turnout !align="right", 36,493 !align="right", 55.63% !

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Deborah 1952 births Living people Canadian Alliance MPs Canadian autobiographers Canadian women non-fiction writers Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Female Canadian political party leaders Leaders of the Opposition (Canada) Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Officers of the Order of Canada Politicians from Vancouver Reform Party of Canada candidates in the 1988 Canadian federal election Reform Party of Canada MPs Trinity Western University alumni University of Alberta alumni Women autobiographers Women in Alberta politics Writers from Vancouver 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women opposition leaders