Jane Stewart, (born April 25, 1955) is a former

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 ...

who was the

Minister of Human Resources Development The Department of Human Resources Development, also referred to as Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), was a department of the Government of Canada with the responsibility over a wide portfolio of social services. HRDC was based at a gov ...

from 1999 to 2003. She joined

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

in May 2004 and was the Special Representative and Director of the

's office to the United Nations until January 2016.

Life and career

Born in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

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 C ...

, Stewart was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election. She was a friend of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jean Chrétien, and was soon appointed to the important position of minister of National Revenue and subsequently Minister of Indian Affairs. In 1999, she was moved to the Department of Human Resources Development (HRDC), the government department that had the largest budget. These ambitions were put to an end by the so-called "billion-dollar boondoggle" where ineffective accounting practices at HRDC allegedly left millions of dollars unaccounted for. While the problems at HRDC mostly date from the time of her predecessor, Pierre Pettigrew, Stewart took the brunt of the attack but was also the Minister widely viewed to have cleaned up the mess left behind by her predecessor. She did not resign, and Chrétien stood by her throughout the ordeal. She remained minister in charge of HRDC until

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

became Prime Minister on December 12, 2003. She was moved to the

backbenches 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 ...

because of her position as a loyalist to the ousted Chrétien. She retired from politics on February 13, 2004, to become an executive director of the International Labour Organization. In July 2005, she left her job with the ILO to return to Canada and marry businessman Henry Stolp. She later returned to ILO as its executive director, residing in New York City. With the announcement that Martin was stepping down as leader of the Liberal Party, a group called "Liberals for Jane" had hoped to see Stewart seek the party leadership. This was ruled out when Stewart accepted the position of Chief of Staff to acting Leader of the Opposition, Bill Graham. Only weeks later, Stewart stepped down from the post due to family obligations. She was replaced by former cabinet minister Andy Mitchell. From 2006 to May 2007 Stewart was chief negotiator for the province of Ontario in the

Caledonia land dispute The Grand River land dispute, also known as the Caledonia land dispute, is an ongoing dispute between the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Government of Canada. It is focussed on lands along the length of the Grand River in Ontario known ...

. Stewart comes from a family of politicians. Her father Robert Nixon was leader of 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 since August 2022. The party espouses the principles of li ...

, while her grandfather was Ontario premier Harry Nixon.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Jane 1955 births Living people Canadian Ministers of Indian Affairs and Northern Development International Labour Organization Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Politicians from Brantford Trent University alumni Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Women government ministers of Canada Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Women in Ontario politics 21st-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women politicians