Liz Sandals (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

MacNaughton; born ) 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 was a

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 ...

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 ...

from 2003 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Guelph—Wellington and

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

. She served in cabinet as the

President of the Treasury Board The president of the Treasury Board () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The president is the chair of the Treasury Board of Canada (a committee of Cabinet in the Privy Council) and is the minister responsible for the Treasury B ...

until January 17, 2018 and previously served for three years as Minister of Education in the government of

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

Background

Sandals was born and raised in the

area as Liz MacNaughton. Her father, Earl MacNaughton was the founding dean of the College of Physics at the University of Guelph. She graduated from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute in 1966, and received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

in 1969 as well as a

Master of Mathematics A Master of Mathematics (or MMath) degree is a specific advanced integrated Master's degree for courses in the field of mathematics. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, the MMath is the internationally recognized standard qualification after a f ...

degree from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

in 1971. She taught computer science at the University of Guelph. Sandals lives in Guelph with her husband David where they raised two children.

Politics

School board

Sandals was elected to her local public school board in 1988, and was re-elected four times. From 1998 to 2002, she served as President of the ''Ontario Public School Boards Association''. Sandals was the recipient of the first ''Outstanding Contribution to Education Award'', granted by the ''Ontario Principals' Council''.

Provincial politics

In 2003, she ran for the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

nomination in the riding of Guelph, and defeated two long-time Liberals. While she was a past supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party and worked for the 1995 campaign of rival Tory MPP Brenda Elliott, Sandals defeated Elliott in the Ontario provincial election of 2003 by 2,872 votes in the riding of Guelph—Wellington. During the 2003-2007 session she served as

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

for several portfolios including

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

. After being re-elected in 2007 in the redistributed riding of

, she was again appointed as parliamentary assistant to portfolios including education and transportation. She was re-elected again in the 2011 election. On February 11, 2013, Sandals was appointed as the Minister of Education by Premier Kathleen Wynne. She was re-elected in

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 ...

. On June 13, 2016, she was appointed as

. As Minister of Education, Sandals oversaw the transition to a new collective bargaining system in the education system in Ontario. This new 2-tier collective bargaining structure resulted in new teacher contracts being signed with all of the major teachers' unions in 2015. Sandals also oversaw changes to the sex education curriculum, the first update to the curriculum since the late 1990s. On October 6, 2017, she announced that she would not seek re-election in 2018.

Cabinet positions

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandals, Liz 1947 births 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Living people Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Guelph University of Waterloo alumni University of Guelph faculty University of Guelph alumni Women government ministers of Canada Women MPPs in Ontario