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 was elected to represent the riding of
Kelowna—Lake Country
Kelowna—Lake Country (formerly known as Kelowna) is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
History
This district was created as "Kel ...
in the
House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Common ...
in the
2019 Canadian federal election
The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Member of Parliament (Canada), Members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the Fixed election dates in ...
. Prior to her election in the House of Commons, she was a city councillor for
Kelowna City Council
Kelowna City Council is the governing body of the city of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The council consist of the mayor and eight elected city councillors who represent the city. Municipal elections are held every four years across the Provin ...
.
Business career
Prior to entering public service, Gray had worked extensively in the British Columbia liquor industry. She served in senior managerial capacities at several breweries and wineries in the
Okanagan Valley
The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...
Granville Island Brewing
The Granville Island Brewing Company (GIB) was a brewery originally based on Granville Island in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1984 and calls itself "Canada's first microbrewery". In 1989, it was sold to the wine conglomer ...
. She ran the Retail and Hospitality department at Mission Hill when it was awarded the
International Wine and Spirit Competition
The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by t ...
Avery Trophy for Best
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
in the World.
In 2003, Gray launched a chain of VQA wine stores in the
British Columbia Interior
, settlement_type = Region of British Columbia
, image_skyline =
, nickname = "The Interior"
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivi ...
. Throughout its operation, the chain included the highest ranked wine store in British Columbia in terms of sales, and carried over 800 varieties of local British Columbia wine. Gray has guest lectured at the
University of British Columbia Okanagan
The UBC's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBC Okanagan and UBCO) is University of British Columbia's campus located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
The campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern interior ...
and
Okanagan College
Okanagan College is a public, post-secondary institution with over 120 certificates, diplomas, degrees and programs including apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship trades programs. Its largest campus is located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada ...
about entrepreneurship and has been an advocate and mentor for women in business. Gray hosted a weekly wine lifestyle segment on
Global Okanagan
CHBC-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Leon Avenue (near Water Street) in ...
and has also served as a judge at several international wine competitions.
Gray was a director on the Okanagan Film Commission, an organization which promotes regional economic development in film and animation. She was also a board member for Prospera Credit Union. Gray was on the board when Prospera merged with Westminster Savings, the largest credit union merger in Canadian history, making the new organization the 6th largest credit union in Canada. She also served as a director on the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.
Gray was appointed by British Columbia's cabinet to serve on the Passenger Transportation Board.
Politics
Kelowna City Councillor (2014-2018)
Gray was elected as a
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
City Councillor
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...
following the 2014 municipal election. While on City Council, Gray was also elected as Chair of the
Okanagan Basin Water Board The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) is a water governance body designated to identify and resolve critical water issues for the Okanagan watershed in British Columbia, Canada. It was set up to implement the recommendations of the Okanagan Basin St ...
, and spearheaded the region's flood mitigation strategy and invasive
Quagga mussel
The quagga mussel (''Dreissena rostriformis'', also known as ''Dreissena bugensis'' or ''Dreissena rostriformis bugensis'') is a species (or subspecies) of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. It has an aver ...
prevention campaign. In April 2017, the provincial government responded to the concerns raised by Gray and the Water Board about invasive mussels by hiring more conservation officers and providing funding for two more boat inspection stations in the area. She was also appointed as a Trustee on the
Okanagan Regional Library
The Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) system serves the Okanagan region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its administrative headquarters are in Kelowna. The system covers 59,000 square kilometers of area, and serves 360,000 people thr ...
board.
She also served at the
regional government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
level as a director on the
Central Okanagan Regional District
The Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, representing the metropolitan area of Greater Kelowna, which comprises the City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna and their s ...
board.
Federal Politics (2018-present)
On September 6, 2018, Gray announced she would seek the federal
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
nomination for the electoral district of
Kelowna—Lake Country
Kelowna—Lake Country (formerly known as Kelowna) is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
History
This district was created as "Kel ...
, stating she felt compelled to run following the
Liberal government Liberal government may refer to:
Australia
In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia:
* Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...
's proposed small business tax changes. She won the contested nomination on April 6, 2019. Gray was elected as the
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 of ...
for the riding on
October 21
Events Pre-1600
*1096 – A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fights off the People's Crusade.
*1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of A ...
, defeating
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 ...
incumbent Stephen Fuhr. She is the first woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament for the riding.
Gray was named to the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet in November 2019 as Shadow Minister for Interprovincial Trade. Following the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
of
Erin O'Toole
Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Durham since 2012. A member of the Conservative Party, O'Toole served as the party's leader and the leader of the Official ...
as Conservative party leader, in September 2020 Gray became Shadow Minister for Export Promotion and International Trade. In her capacity as Shadow Minister for International Trade, Gray moved and passed a motion in the House of Commons to establish the Special Committee on the Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States, composed of members from recognized parties to study trade issues between the two countries.
She was re-elected for a second term in September 2021. Following the election, Gray was re-appointed to Shadow Cabinet in a new role as Shadow Minister for Small Business Recovery and Growth.
Gray voted against a bill that would prohibit compelling people to undergo
conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cli ...
intended to alter their sexual orientations.
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) is a Canadian abortion rights organization which was founded in 2005. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, it is currently the only political group in Canada which is engaged in pro-abortion ...
has identified Gray as anti-abortion. Gray voted in support of Bill C-233 - An Act to amend the ''Criminal Code'' (
sex-selective abortion
Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...
) which would make it an indictable offence for a medical practitioner to knowingly perform an abortion solely on the grounds of the child's genetic sex.
Gray is married with one adult son. She was born in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
and grew up in
Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
, moving to
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
in 1989. She is a graduate of the
Haskayne School of Business
The Haskayne School of Business is the University of Calgary's business school, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is named after Richard F. Haskayne, who gave one of the largest endowments to a business school in Canada. The school offers ...
at the
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
.
In her free time, Gray enjoys skiing and used to sing in a volunteer community rock band composed of elected officials in the Kelowna-area.
Awards and recognition
In 2006, Gray was named RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.
In 2008, she was named by the Women's Enterprise Centre as one of 100 'New Pioneers' in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
involved in entrepreneurship.
In 2015, she was named as a 'Woman to Watch' by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and Kelowna Capital News for her work in the local wine industry and on city council.