Joan Beatty is a Canadian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. She was the

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s. Th ...

(NDP) member of the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, in the na ...

for the constituency of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. On January 3, 2008 she was appointed the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

's candidate for 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 ...

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River (french: Desnethé—Missinippi—Rivière Churchill; formerly known as Churchill River) is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canad ...

for the March 17, 2008 by-election."Former Sask. NDP cabinet minister will run as Liberal in federal byelection"
''Canadian Press'', January 3, 2008 However, she lost the federal by-election to

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate

Rob Clarke Robert G. Clarke (born March 2, 1967) is a politician and career Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. He was the Conservative Party of Canada's candidate in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River for the March 17, 2008 federal by-election ...

Provincial career

A former CBC journalist, Beatty became the first Aboriginal woman and first

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

person elected to the Saskatchewan legislature when she was elected on November 5, 2003. She was appointed to cabinet a month later as Minister of Culture Youth and Recreation and Provincial Secretary. Beatty was re-elected in the 2007 general election that defeated the NDP government and sat as Opposition Critic for Women's Issues and Northern Affairs.

Federal politics

In 2007 she was approached by both the federal NDP and the federal Liberal party to run in the Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River by-election. Beatty told the press that she would decide by January 2008 whether she will run federally and for which party. On January 3, 2008 Beatty was selected as the Liberal candidate for the riding. She accepted the Liberals' offer and was appointed the party's candidate by leader

Stéphane Dion Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of ...

on January 3. Beatty defended her decision to switch from the provincial NDP to the federal Liberals saying that the Liberals have a better chance of taking power and "the one thing that I have found out sthat you have to be in government to have say when it comes to policy or budget decisions or raising issues at that level." She said she was initially approached by the federal Liberals in the summer of 2007 but decided to run provincially in hopes that the

Lorne Calvert Lorne Albert Calvert (born December 24, 1952) was the 13th premier of Saskatchewan, from 2001 to 2007. Calvert served as leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 2001 to June 6, 2009, when he was succeeded by Dwain Lingenfelter. Ear ...

-led Saskatchewan NDP government would be returned to office. Beatty's appointment as the Liberal candidate angered supporters of anti-

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

activist

David Orchard David Orchard (born June 28, 1950) is a Canadian author and political figure, member of the Liberal Party of Canada, who was the Liberal Party candidate for the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in the 2008 federal ...

who had earlier announced his candidacy for the Liberal nomination.

Metis Metis or Métis may refer to: Ethnic groups * Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...

leader Jim Durocher wrote a letter to Dion complaining about his decision to appoint a candidate rather than allow for party members to vote in a nomination meeting. He argued that "the people of this riding resent, and I personally resent mightily, the attitude of certain southerners that they know what's best for our riding." Durocher, a former Liberal candidate and Orchard supporter, also told Dion "If you impose Joan Beatty, the Liberals will lose this riding.""Rift opens in Liberal party over appointment of NDP MLA to run in Saskatchewan", ''Canadian Press'', January 4, 2008 National Liberal campaign co-chair David Smith defended Beatty's appointment by saying that Dion had made getting more women into politics a priority, saying that the party is "prepared to bite the bullet to demonstrate that our commitment to increasing our number of women candidates - particularly well-qualified ones - is very real." Beatty ultimately lost the ensuing byelection by a substantial margin. Nonetheless, she sought the Liberal nomination again for the forthcoming

40th Canadian federal election The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the 39th Canadian Parliament, previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General of ...

, this time in an open vote of the Liberal riding association with Orchard also a candidate. Orchard won the nomination."David Orchard wins Saskatchewan Liberal nomination,"
Canwest News Service, August 15, 2008.

Electoral record

, - ,

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 Deve ...

, Joan Beatty , align="right", 3,124 , align="right", 65.96% , align="right", -3.04% , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 4,736 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - ,

, Joan Beatty , align="right", 3,268 , align="right", 69.00% , align="right", , Progressive Conservative , Ari Avivi , align="right", 53 , align="right", 1.12% , align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 4,736 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right",

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatty, Joan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLAs Women MLAs in Saskatchewan Candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election First Nations women in politics Saskatchewan candidates for Member of Parliament 21st-century Canadian women politicians Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons