France Gélinas is a politician in

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 is a New Democratic 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 ...

who was elected in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. She represents the riding of

Nickel Belt Nickel Belt is one of two federal electoral districts serving the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. Geography It consists of: * the part of the Territorial District ...

Background

Gélinas was born and raised in

Shawinigan Shawinigan () is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,349 as of the 2016 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) an ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. She is trained as a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

and has been the executive director of the Community Health Centre of Sudbury, on the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

's Citizens' Advisory Panel, served as president of the Francophone Reference Group of the

Northern Ontario School of Medicine Northern Ontario School of Medicine University (NOSM University; french: Université de l'École de médecine du Nord de l'Ontario) is a public medical university in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is mandated both to educate doctors and t ...

. She lives in the Naughton neighbourhood of Sudbury with her family.

Politics

She ran in the 2007 provincial election as the New Democratic candidate in the riding of

. She defeated

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 ...

candidate Ron Dupuis by 2,762 votes. She was re-elected in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

elections. In May 2008, she joined caucus colleagues

Michael Prue Michael David Prue (born July 14, 1948) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. Prue was mayor of East York, Ontario from 1993 to 1997 and subsequently represented the riding of Beaches—East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2001 to 2 ...

and

Peter Tabuns Peter Charles Tabuns (born October 3, 1951) is a Canadian politician who has served as the interim leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and the leader of the Opposition since June 28, 2022. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of O ...

in calling on the provincial government to crack down on private hydroelectricity marketers. She has been an outspoken critic of competitive bidding in the province's

home care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing ho ...

services, and of layoffs affecting nurses in provincial hospitals. Following the announcement of

Howard Hampton Howard George Hampton (born May 17, 1952) is a politician who was a member of Provincial Parliament for the province of Ontario. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, from 1987 to 1999 in the electoral district of Rainy Ri ...

's retirement as leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, there was some speculation in Sudbury's local media that Gélinas might join the leadership campaign. However, she indicated on June 16, 2008 that as a relatively new MPP, she did not feel that she was ready to become a leadership candidate. She later endorsed

Gilles Bisson Gilles C. Bisson (born May 14, 1957) is a Franco-Ontarian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 until his defeat in the 2022 Ontario general election. From 1999 to 2022 ...

for the leadership, and supported the eventual winner,

Andrea Horwath Andrea Horwath (; born October 24, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the 58th mayor of Hamilton since 2022. Horwath previously served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre from 2004 to 2022, as leader of t ...

, on the final ballot at the convention. In 2009, Gélinas introduced the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Eating bill, a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

which would mandate the provision of nutritional and

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

information on restaurant menus. In 2011, she introduced a private member's bill to have the provincial Commissioner of French Language Services report to the full Legislative Assembly of Ontario, rather than exclusively to the Minister of Francophone Affairs. In 2014 she was re-elected with 62.66% of the vote, the highest percent of any MPP in Ontario that year. In 2015, Gélinas introduced a private member's bill to mandate the creation of a fully independent French-language university in Ontario. She is currently the party's critic for Health and Long-Term Care, and francophone affairs in the NDP's shadow cabinet. She was re-elected at the 2022 Ontario general election.

Electoral record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelinas, France Franco-Ontarian people Living people Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs Politicians from Greater Sudbury Canadian physiotherapists Women MPPs in Ontario 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians People from Shawinigan Year of birth missing (living people)