Maurine Karagianis (born August 17, 1950) 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 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 ...

, formerly the

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 ...

MLA for the riding of

Esquimalt-Royal Roads Esquimalt-Royal Roads is a former provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada established by the British Columbia electoral redistribution, 2008, ''Electoral Districts Act, 2008''. It was first contested in the 2009 British Columbia ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

. She was first elected in the 2005 election to the constituency of Esquimalt-Metchosin, garnering almost 50 percent of votes cast and 2,895 more votes than the next closest candidate. She was re-elected in 2009 to the new constituency of Esquimalt-Royal Roads and again in 2013. In August 2007, Karagianis was appointed the Official Opposition Critic for the Ministry of Transportation in New Democrat leader

Carole James Carole Alison James (born December 22, 1957) is a Canadian politician and former public administrator, who represented Victoria-Beacon Hill in the MLA from 2005 to 2020. She is the former Leader of the Opposition in British Columbia and former ...

' shadow cabinet. She had previously served as the Official Opposition Critic for the Ministry Children and Family Development, and, prior to that, the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue. Following the 2009 election, Maurine was again appointed as the Official Opposition Critic for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In January 2011, Maurine was elected as Official Opposition Caucus

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

and served in that position until her retirement. In June 2014, Maurine was appointed as Advocate for Seniors, Women & Childcare & Early Learning. Karagianis retired from provincial politics in May 2017. Prior to serving as an MLA, she was elected as a

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

councillor in

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

in 1996, and re-elected in 1999 and again in 2002. She is currently keeping bees, blogging about that and other topics, and once again doing some work in the affordable housing sector. In August 2018, she was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of the Knowledge Network and retired from that role in 2022. Starting in 1998, she served three years with the provincial government as assistant to three NDP cabinet

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

– first in the Social Services ministry and then in Transportation and Highways. From 2001 to 2005, she ran a consulting company working with non-profit organizations and First Nations to create seniors housing in BC. Prior to entering politics she was an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, opening her own retail fashion store, operating a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

venture and a successful import/export business. She was also a co-founder of the Sunshine Folkfest in Powell River, BC.

Electoral results

References

External links

Maurine Karagianis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karagianis, Maurine British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian people of Greek descent Living people Women MLAs in British Columbia Women municipal councillors in Canada British Columbia municipal councillors 1950 births People from Esquimalt, British Columbia 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians