Diane Ablonczy (née Broadway; ; born May 6, 1949) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

who served in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

. Ablonczy represented

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

ridings from 1993 to 2015, sitting first with the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...

, then with the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

, and finally with 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 served as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) from January 4, 2011 to July 15, 2013. She was previously appointed

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

(Seniors) on January 19, 2010. She held the position of

(Small Business and Tourism) from October 30, 2008, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism) from August 14, 2007, and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from February 2006. Previously, Ablonczy served as Chief Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration,

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, and

Human Resources Development Training and development involve improving the effectiveness of organizations and the individuals and teams within them. Training may be viewed as related to immediate changes in organizational effectiveness via organized instruction, while devel ...

. Ablonczy was first elected to the House of Commons in 1993 as the Reform Party Member of Parliament (MP) for

Calgary North Calgary North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1997. This riding was created in 1952 from parts of the Bow River, Calgary West and East Calgary ridings. The e ...

. In the riding redistribution of 1996, the riding of Calgary North ceased to exist and Ablonczy was re-elected as MP for Calgary—Nose Hill in 1997 (Reform Party), 2000 (

), 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011 (Conservative Party). On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced she would not seek re-election in the 2015 federal election.

Background

Diane Broadway was born in 1949 in Peoria,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States, as the oldest of six children. A year later the family moved to

Three Hills Three Hills is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the three somewhat-larger-than-normal hills to its north. History Three Hills post office dates from 1904. Three Hills was incorporated as a village in 1912, the year ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and Ablonczy grew up in a variety of places in rural Alberta. In 1967 she graduated from high school in Lac La Biche. In 1973 she received her Education degree from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

and subsequently taught English, creative writing, and other subjects. She married Tom Ablonczy, a well site engineer and refugee of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. They had one daughter. They ran a barley-growing operation, and in 1980 Diane earned her law degree from the

. The family moved to

where she had her general law practice from 1981–1991. She was widowed in 1984 and is now married to Ron Sauer. She has one daughter, four stepchildren, and eight grandchildren.

Political career

Ablonczy's first political involvement was in 1982, when she briefly belonged to the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canada, Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories ...

party, but left to join the Provincial Rights Association (PRA) a few months later. Since the PRA was formed too late to gain official political party status, she ran as an independent candidate in

Calgary-Mountain View Calgary-Mountain View is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district was created in 1971 and i ...

in the 1982 Alberta provincial election.Daniel Schwartz, "Diane Ablonczy", ''The National, CBC Television website'', Updated March 13, 2002, retrieved March 30, 2002 In early 1987, Ablonczy joined the Reform Association of Canada, and later that year became a founding member of the

. She was elected as the first Party Chairman and served two terms in this role. As Chair she was active in developing the Party's organization, administration, and communications structure, acting as a senior Party spokesperson and encouraging the growth of the Party's membership. In 1991, she set aside her law practice and went on staff for the Party as a special assistant to Reform Party Leader

Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...

, with responsibility for Party communications and strategic planning. In the 1993 federal election, Ablonczy was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as the Reform Party candidate for the federal riding of

. In the following years, she continued to participate in Party affairs as a member of the Reform Party Strategy Committee. She also was a member of the Reform Party Expansion Committee, and she chaired the Reform Party Task Force on the Reform of Social Programs. In 1998 and 1999, Ablonczy promoted the

United Alternative The Unite the Right movement was a successful Canadian political movement which existed from around the mid-1990s to 2003. The movement came into being when it became clear that neither of Canada's two main right-of-centre political parties, the ...

process to create a new federal political party on the political right. As co-chair of the UA policy committee, she took part in developing a comprehensive draft policy document and guiding it through a series of public consultations across the country. The resulting Declaration of Policy was approved as official Party Policy by members at the Founding Convention of the

on March 25, 2000. The Reform Party was dissolved, and the

was created. Ablonczy was re-elected under the new party's banner in the 2000 federal election. In December 2001, Ablonczy entered the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership contest on a platform of promoting "a process to combine the Canadian Alliance, the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

, and other interested partners into an effective, unified opposition party before the next election." She placed third with 3.8% of the vote. In late 2003, the Progressive Conservative Party merged with the Canadian Alliance to create the new

. On November 18, 2002, Ablonczy posed a question in the House of Commons concerning the government's system of "screening and security checks" as related to

Maher Arar Maher Arar ( ar, ماهر عرار) (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Septem ...

, a dual Canadian and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n citizen who had recently been deported from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to Syria as a terror suspect. Based on newly released information Ablonczy asked what the government "is doing to protect Canadian security" and why "the U.S. could uncover this man's background so quickly" when the Canadian government failed to find what she described as "his al-Qaeda links". Ablonczy also criticized the Chrétien government for "chastising the U.S. for sending Arar back to Syria where he is also a citizen". Arar was imprisoned for over a year in Syria and was repeatedly tortured by Syrian authorities. The RCMP later confirmed that Arar has no ties to any terrorist organizations. On July 6, 2009, Conservative Member of Parliament

Brad Trost Bradley Ryan Trost (born May 15, 1974) is a former Canadian politician who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the ridings of Saskatoon—Humboldt from 2004 to 2015 and Saskatoon—Univ ...

indicated that several Conservative parliamentarians were surprised by Ablonczy's decision to provide funding for the Toronto Pride Week Festival. Ablonczy later lost authority over such funding projects to another cabinet minister. This was denied by government spokesman Darren Cunningham, as reported in the national media. In a cabinet shuffle on January 19, 2010, Diane Ablonczy changed portfolios to become the Minister of State for Seniors. The move was widely seen as a demotion in response to her decision to provide funding to the Toronto Pride Week Festival; a move which resulted in backlash among some of her supporters. On January 4, 2011, she received a promotion to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs). On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced her retirement from parliament at the next election. In 2015, Ablonczy opposed amendments to Bill C-51 proposed by the Green Party that called for consideration for "rule of law" and "principles of fundamental justice", by using air quotes when saying those two legal principles and because "action would be pretty much at a stalemate."

Parliamentary career

35th Parliament (1993–1997)

Diane Ablonczy was first elected to the House of Commons on October 25, 1993. She won as candidate for the Reform Party in

, with a 52.5% majority. The Reform Party catapulted from 1 to 52 seats. Ablonczy served in the following positions: *

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

for the Reform Caucus (elected by her colleagues and the first woman of any party to hold that position.) * Member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs * Member of the Reform Caucus Committee on Immigration. * Reform Party Critic for

* Member of the

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

. * Deputy Critic for

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

* Critic for Atlantic Issues * Member of the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. From 1995–1997, she hosted a Calgary Cable bi-weekly live, phone-in TV show called Dial Your MP, which provided Calgarians with an opportunity to ask questions on a variety of federal government issues.

36th Parliament (1997–2000)

On June 2, 1997, after a riding redistribution in 1996 in which

was dissolved, Ablonczy was re-elected as the MP for Calgary—Nose Hill, with a 51.5% majority. The Reform Party won 60 seats and 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 ...

. Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Member of the Reform Party Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for

. * Member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

37th Parliament (2000–2004)

On November 27, 2000, Ablonczy was re-elected as the Calgary-Nose Hill MP for the

, this time with a 60.1% majority. The Alliance won 66 seats and became

. Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Member of the Canadian Alliance Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for

* Member of the

on Health. In the spring of 2001, she embarked on a self-financed fact-finding mission to study health care systems in France, Sweden and the Netherlands. She resigned her Critic position on December 17, 2001 to become a candidate in the Canadian Alliance Leadership Election. * Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. * Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration * Associate Member of the

on Public Accounts that investigated the sponsorship scandal.

38th Parliament (2004–2006)

On June 28, 2004, Ablonczy was once more elected as the MP for Calgary-Nose Hill, this time for the new

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. She won with an increased majority of 64.4%. The Conservative Party won 99 seats, making it the

. Ablonczy held the following positions: * Member of the Conservative Party Shadow Cabinet * Chief Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship & Immigration. * Member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. In 2005, she chaired a series of National Consultations on Canada's Immigration System and developed the Conservative Party's immigration policies.

39th Parliament (2006–2008)

On January 23, 2006, Ablonczy was re-elected with an increased vote percentage of 68.5%. The Conservatives won 124 seats and formed a minority Conservative government. In the first 18 months of the

Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...

Ablonczy served in the following positions: * Parliamentary Secretary to the

. * Canadian Representative at

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

and

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...

meetings * Member of the Standing Committee on Finance. * Member of the historic all-Party Ad Hoc Committee to Review a Nominee for the Supreme Court of Canada that interviewed

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Nominee Judge

Marshall Rothstein Marshall Rothstein (born December 25, 1940) is a former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Early life Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jewish parents who immigrated from Eastern Europe, he received a Bachelor of Commerce in 1962 and an ...

on February 27, 2006, televised live on national news channels. In August 2007, Ablonczy was named to the Federal Cabinet as junior Minister holding the following positions: * Secretary of State responsible for Small Business & Tourism. * Member of the Cabinet Operations Committee * Member of the Cabinet Committee for Economic Growth and Long Term Prosperity.

40th Parliament (2008–2011)

On October 14, 2008, Ablonczy was re-elected with her largest majority ever: 69.6%. The Conservatives won a second minority government with 143 seats. On October 30, 2008, Diane Ablonczy was sworn into Cabinet as

for Small Business & Tourism in the second

. She served in the following Cabinet Committees: *Treasury Board Submissions *Economic Growth and Long Term Prosperity *Environment and Energy Security. Ablonczy oversaw the development and implementation of the following important Ministry initiatives: * Paper Burden Reduction. On March 20, 2009, Ablonczy announced that the federal government had reached its goal of reducing the paperwork required of Canadian small businesses by 20 percent. * BizPal, an online tool to simplify the permit application process for entrepreneurs, was expanded to a rapidly increasing number of governments * Small Business Internship Program – a program designated to help small business by supplying the salaries of student interns to work in their offices. *The Marquee Tourism Events Program – announced in Budget 2009 as a $100 million economic stimulus initiative for tourism. In time for the summer tourist season the MTEP provided funding for a few dozen large and well-established festivals across Canada to help them deliver world-class programs and draw bigger crowds. * Development of a National Tourism Strategy to guide future investments and to bring greater coherence to federal activities in support of tourism. In the cabinet shuffle of January 19, 2010, Diane Ablonczy changed portfolios and became the Minister of State for Seniors. Bill C-40, An Act to establish National Seniors Day, introduced by Minister of State Ablonczy, received Royal Assent on November 18, 2010. Through this legislation, October 1 will now be recognized as National Seniors Day. During 2010 Ablonczy continued to serve as Member of the Treasury Board, and also was Vice Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs. On January 4, 2011, Ablonczy was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the position was expanded to include responsibility for the Americas and Consular Affairs. She became a member of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, and continued to be a member of the Treasury Board.

41st Parliament (2011–2015)

The May 2, 2011 election saw Ablonczy re-elected with 70.2% of the vote. The Conservatives formed a majority government with 166 seats, representing all provinces and the North. Ablonczy was re-appointed Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) in the new cabinet announced on May 18, 2011. During her tenure as Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs) she visited all but three of the 35

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

countries, representing the Canadian government on a variety of occasions, such as: *Attended the inauguration of President Medina of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

*Attended the General Assembly of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

*Accompanied the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

on his Official visit to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

*Attended the

Summit of the Americas The Summit of the Americas (SOA) is an international summit meeting that brings together the leaders of countries in the Organization of American States (OAS). Cuba was expelled from the OAS under pressure from the United States after the Cuban Re ...

with Prime Minister Harper in Cartagena,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

*Participated in a Round table at the

with ambassadors to the OAS representing countries from the

*Worked with consular officials to promote safe travel habits of Canadians travelling abroad In addition to her Cabinet position she served in the following Cabinet Committees: *Legislative Committee on Bill C-18 *Foreign Affairs and Defense *Public Safety and National Security *Government Operations and Estimates *Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development On July 4, 2013, Ablonczy announced she would not seek re-election in the 2015 federal election, confirming the decision in the House of Commons on May 28, 2015.

Electoral history

References

External links

Diane Ablonczy MP
official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ablonczy, Diane 1949 births American emigrants to Canada Canadian Alliance MPs Canadian evangelicals Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Calgary Politicians from Peoria, Illinois Reform Party of Canada MPs University of Calgary alumni Women in Alberta politics Women government ministers of Canada University of Calgary Faculty of Law alumni 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians Canadian people of Hungarian descent