Jean Elizabeth Morrison Pigott, OC (May 20, 1924 – January 10, 2012) was a

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 ...

politician and businesswoman. The daughter of Ottawa businessman George Morrison, her family has lived in the

Ottawa Valley The Ottawa Valley is the valley of the Ottawa River, along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, Quebec, Canada. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield. Because of the surroun ...

for four generations. She married Arthur Pigott in 1955. Pigott was president and CEO of her family's business, Morrison-Lamothe Bakery, one of only three women CEOs in Canada in the early 1970s. In 1976, she won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

Ottawa—Carleton Ottawa–Carleton was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1988. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Carleton, Ottawa East and Russell ridings. It initial ...

riding and became a

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 o ...

in the House of Commons of Canada as a Progressive Conservative. In the 1979 federal election, she lost her seat to

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate

Jean-Luc Pépin Jean-Luc Pepin, (November 1, 1924 – September 5, 1995) was a Canadian academic, politician and Cabinet minister. Political biography Pepin was a political science professor at the University of Ottawa when he was first elected to the House o ...

even though the Progressive Conservative Party made enough gains elsewhere in the country to form a minority government. The new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...

, hired Pigott as an advisor. In the 1980 federal election, she was the Tory candidate in

Ottawa Centre Ottawa Centre (french: Ottawa-Centre) is an urban federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. While the riding's boundaries (mainly to the south and west as the north a ...

, where she placed second to Liberal candidate John Evans. Following the Tories' return to power under Brian Mulroney in the 1984 federal election, Pigott was appointed by Mulroney as chair of the

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...

. Pigott was the first woman to sit on the board of directors of

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...

and also sat on the board of

Canadian Tire Corporation Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is a Canadian retail company which operates in the automotive, hardware, sports, leisure and housewares sectors. Its Canadian operations include: Canadian Tire (including Canadian Tire Petroleum gas stations a ...

. She has also served as chair of the board of the

Ottawa Congress Centre The Shaw Centre (formerly the Ottawa Convention Centre) is a convention centre located in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in April 2011. The Centre replaces the Ottawa Congress Centre, which opened in 1983 and is built on t ...

and the Centre for Studies of Children at Risk in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

. In 1995, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

for having "shown leadership and determination in ensuring the use of resources for positive growth and change at all levels of government". Pigott received heart surgery during the 1970s and recovered from two strokes during her late seventies. Jean Pigott died January 10, 2012 in Ottawa.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pigott, Jean 1924 births 2012 deaths Businesspeople from Ottawa Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada Politicians from Ottawa Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Women in Ontario politics Women members of the House of Commons of Canada

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