Margaret Mary Burgoyne-Howse Scrivener (c. 1922 – September 11, 1997) was 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 Progressive Conservative Party 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 1971 to 1985 who represented the downtown

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

riding of St. David. She was the second woman in Canada to hold a cabinet position, serving as a minister in the government of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

Background

Scrivener was born in

and was educated at St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School. She worked for the ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...

'' newspaper during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and covered

Marilyn Bell Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio (born October 19, 1937) is a Canadian retired Long-distance swimming, long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Perso ...

's historic swims across

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. She was also active in several Rosedale community groups, and was a prominent figure in the struggle to preserve the ravines from development. She served as chair of the Ontario Planning Association, and was a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Board. From 1962 to 1970, she and her husband owned a 120-hectare dairy farm near Keswick, Ontario. Scrivener was a skilled

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and listed

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and Chopin as being among her favourite composers. She died in 1997, at age 75.

Politics

In the 1971 provincial election she ran as the Progressive Conservative in the downtown

riding of St. David. She defeated NDP candidate Giles Endicott by 2,603 votes. She was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

before entering the legislature, but did not share this information with her colleagues. She served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

supporter of

's government, and was named a

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 ...

in 1974. She was re-elected in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

by a smaller margin over NDP contender Jim Lemon and Liberal candidate

June Rowlands June Rowlands (née Pendock; May 14, 1924 – December 21, 2017) was a Canadian politician who was the 60th mayor of Toronto from 1991 to 1994. She was the first woman to serve as Toronto's mayor. Rowlands also served as a city councillor and wa ...

. On October 7, 1975 she was appointed to cabinet by Premier

as Minister of Government Services. After a cabinet shuffle on February 3, 1977, she was named Minister of Revenue. In the 1977 provincial election, Scrivener defeated

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

challenger

Gordon Cressy Gordon Cressy (born 1943) is a former Canadian politician, who served on Toronto City Council from 1978 to 1982."Gordon Cressy fonds", City of Toronto Archives. Background Cressy was born in 1943 in Toronto, and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate ...

by 836 votes. She was dropped from cabinet on January 21, 1978, and spent the remainder of her legislative career as a backbencher. In the 1981 provincial election, she defeated future

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 ...

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Ian Scott by 1,022 votes. She did not campaign in the 1985 election. Shortly before his official retirement as premier, Davis appointed Scrivener as chair of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Although many considered her to be a moderate Tory, in January 1985 Scrivener endorsed

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on Daredevil (Marvel Comics ser ...

as a candidate to succeed Davis as the leader of the Progressive Conservative party.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scrivener, Margaret 1922 births 1997 deaths Women government ministers of Canada Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Women MPPs in Ontario 20th-century Canadian women politicians