Lois Moorcroft (born August 21, 1954) is 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, who represented the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

s of Mount Lorne (1992-2000) and

Copperbelt South Copperbelt South is an electoral district which returns a member (known as an MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon in Canada. It is an amalgamation of the former ridings of Mount Lorne and Copperbelt. It is bordered by the ridings of Riverda ...

(2011-2016) in the

Yukon Legislative Assembly The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada, three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only terri ...

. She is a member of the

Yukon New Democratic Party The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Yukon, political party in the Yukon territory of Canada. The Yukon NDP first formed the gover ...

Early career

Moorcroft was born in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

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 ...

, and grew up in

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census. It ...

. She studied history at

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

where she earned a bachelor's degree. Prior to entering territorial politics, Moorcroft served as a librarian at

Yukon College Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) is a public university in the Canadian territory of Yukon. The university main campus is based in Whitehorse, although the institution also operates 12 campuses throughout the territory. The university c ...

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

campus. She also served on the Yukon Employment Standards Board and has held positions on the boards of the Yukon College Employees' Union and the

Yukon Federation of Labour The Yukon Federation of Labour (YFL) is the Yukon trade union federation of labour chartered by the Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union cen ...

. In the 1980s, Moorcroft was one of the parents involved in successfully lobbying the territorial government for a new school (Golden Horn Elementary School) to be built for families and children living south of Whitehorse.

Political career

28th Legislative Assembly

Moorcroft was narrowly elected in the 1992 Yukon election as the representative for Mount Lorne for

New Democrats New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

. Moorcroft had campaigned on pay equality for women and the importance of the ''

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

''. Still No Pay Equity for Women in Canada
Lois Moorcroft. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
Gunzburger's Politics1 Canada. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
. Yukon Human Rights Commission. Retrieved May 22, 2009. In that election, however, the government of New Democrat leader

Tony Penikett Antony David John "Tony" Penikett (born November 14, 1945) is a mediator and negotiator and former politician in Yukon, Canada, who served as the third premier of Yukon from 1985 to 1992. Early life and political activity Born in Sussex, Engla ...

was defeated and reduced to Official Opposition status by a coalition of

Yukon Party The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It is the successor to the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party. Formation With Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative federal go ...

and Independent MLAs. As an opposition member, Moorcroft served on the Standing Committee on Rules, Elections, and Privileges.

29th Legislative Assembly

Moorcroft was re-elected comfortably in the 1996 Yukon election, defeating Yukon Liberal leader Ken Taylor in her riding of Mount Lorne. The New Democrats, now led by

Piers McDonald Piers McDonald, OC (born August 4, 1955) is a Yukon politician and businessman. Born in Kingston, Ontario, McDonald, originally a miner by profession, is a long-time MLA, Cabinet minister, and the fifth premier of Yukon. He was leader of the Y ...

, formed a majority government.Yukon Votes 2006: Mount Lorne
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 22, 2009. Moorcroft was appointed Minister of Justice, Minister of Education, and Minister responsible for the Women's Directorate in the McDonald government. It was during Moorcroft's tenure as Education minister that the community school in

Old Crow Old Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey distilled by Beam Suntory, which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of whiskey. The current Old Crow product uses the same mash bill and yeast as Jim Beam, but ...

burned down for the second time in 20 years. Moorcroft was defeated in the 2000 Yukon election by Liberal candidate

Cynthia Tucker Cynthia Tucker, born March 13, 1955, is an American journalist whose weekly column is syndicated by Universal Uclick. She received a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2007 for her work at the ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', where she served a ...

, when the Yukon Liberal Party swept the City of Whitehorse to form a majority government.

33rd Legislative Assembly

After a decade outside politics, Moorcroft announced her intent to seek the New Democrat nomination during the 2011 Yukon election in the newly constituted riding of

, which included much of her former riding of Mount Lorne. Moorcroft was narrowly successful, defeating Yukon Party candidate Val Boxall by just three votes. Her victory was confirmed in a recount. Moorcroft joined the New Democrats under leader Liz Hanson in forming Official Opposition during the 33rd Legislative Assembly and served as opposition critic for Justice, Highways and Public Works, and Advanced Education. She was also caucus whip. During the 33rd Legislative Assembly, Moorcroft took a stance against the

Yukon Government {{Infobox legislature , name = Legislature of Yukon , legislature = 34th Yukon Legislative Assembly , house_type = Unicameral , houses = Territorial Council (1898-1978) Legislative Assembly (1978-) , f ...

's proposal to invest $200 million twinning the

Alaska Highway