Shirley Maheu (October 7, 1931 – February 1, 2006) was 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 resident of

Saint-Laurent, Quebec Saint-Laurent () is a borough of the city of Montreal, Canada, located in the northern part of the island. Although it is no longer an independent city, it is still commonly known as Ville Saint-Laurent (''City of Saint-Laurent'') or by its initi ...

since 1965, where she operated a successful insurance brokerage firm in partnership with her husband Renė Maheu, Senator Maheu was a founding member of the Saint-Laurent Chamber of Commerce and served as its first Vice-President. She was also active in a number of local and national community groups and charities including Boy Scouts of Canada. In addition to business and community work, she was an active municipal and federal politician, and served as a Saint-Laurent Municipal Councillor from 1982 to 1988. In the 1988 federal election in November 1988, she was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the

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 Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Saint-Laurent,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Sitting on the

opposition bench Parliamentary opposition is a form of opposition (politics), political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster system, Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''executive (government), gov ...

, she served as the Liberal Critic for Multiculturalism and Citizenship. In September, 1990 she was also appointed Regional Whip for Quebec. Re-elected in the renamed riding of Saint-Laurent—Cartierville during the 1993 election that brought the Liberals to power under Jean Chrétien, she served as Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole from January 1994 to February 1996, with one of her roles being assistant deputy

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

. In 1996, she was appointed to the Senate of Canada on Chrėtien's recommendation in order to give " star candidate"

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 ...

the opportunity to contest a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to fill the vacancy in the House created by Maheu's appointment. She was active on a number of Senate committees, including serving as Chair of the Standing Committees on Human Rights and that of Privileges, Standing Rules and Orders. In October 2004, she was appointed

Speaker pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

of the Senate of Canada.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maheu, Shirley 1931 births 2006 deaths Canadian senators from Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs Liberal Party of Canada senators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec People from Saint-Laurent, Quebec Politicians from Montreal Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Women members of the Senate of Canada Women in Quebec politics 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians