Elayne Brenzinger (born 1951, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

) was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, serving as a member of the

British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 Br ...

from 2001-2005. She was a key figure in the formation of the

Democratic Reform British Columbia Democratic Reform British Columbia (Democratic Reform BC or DRBC) was a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Formation of the party The party was brought together by Tom Morino as an attempt to recr ...

Party and was its first MLA.

Career

She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the 2001 provincial election for the riding of

Surrey-Whalley Surrey-Whalley is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. The riding's name was resurrected from a former riding in the same area, with similar but not identical boundaries. The newly created ri ...

. Brenzinger defeated cabinet minister and long time

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

MLA,

Joan Smallwood Joan Kathleen Smallwood (born August 15, 1950) is a Canadian former politician from British Columbia. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), she represented Surrey-Guildford-Whalley from 1986 to 1991 and Surrey-Whalley from 1991 to 2001 i ...

, winning 45.73 percent of the vote. Aside from Brenzinger's term in office, Surrey-Whalley has been a predominantly NDP riding. She resigned from the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent in March 2004 because of a dispute with the party leadership, including over concerns with the sale of

BC Rail BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

to CN. She claimed then-

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

and party leader

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

humiliated her at a caucus meeting in 2003, cursing and yelling at her. In March 2004, following her departure from the party, she made public allegations of improper conduct against liberal MLA

Richard Stewart Richard Stewart (born 1959) is the mayor for the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. He was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2005, and became mayor in 2008. Personal life He was married in 1983 to Anna Rosa, they have four children. Stewa ...

, claiming he had groped her at a night club in Victoria. Stewart was suspended from office, though Brenzinger later retracted the allegations and issued a formal apology. Stewart retracted his defamation lawsuit after the apology. She was a key force in the creation of the Democratic Reform BC party, which was officially founded on January 15, 2005, and became its first MLA four days later. On May 17, 2005, Brenzinger was defeated by New Democratic candidate

Bruce Ralston Bruce Ralston is a Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing the riding of Surrey-Whalley since 2005, and member of the New Democratic Party (NDP). He has served in the cabinets of Pre ...

in her Surrey-Whalley riding.

Election results

, - , - ,

, align="right", 4,536 , align="right", 30.99% , align="right", , align="right", $42,735

References

External links

Brenzinger's official bio
1951 births Living people Scottish emigrants to Canada British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Women MLAs in British Columbia Democratic Reform British Columbia MLAs People from Surrey, British Columbia 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub