Deborah Cleland Grey, (born July 1, 1952) is a retired

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 ...

member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

for the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...

, the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

, and the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. She was the first female leader of the Opposition in Canadian history. She currently serves on the advisory board of the

Leaders' Debates Commission The Leaders' Debates Commission is the independent Canadian government agency which was charged with organizing two debates, one in English and one in French, between the leaders of eligible political parties during the 2019 Canadian federal elec ...

Before politics

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

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, ...

, Grey pursued studies in sociology, English and education at

Burrard Inlet Bible Institute Burrard may refer to: People * Burrard baronets ** Sir George Burrard, 3rd Baronet (1769–1856) ** Sir George Burrard, 4th Baronet (1805–1870) ** Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Lymington (1755-1813), a British General ** Sir Harry Burrard, ...

Trinity Western College , mottoeng = A Mighty Fortress Is Our God , established = Trinity Junior College (1962–1972), Trinity Western College (1972–1985), Trinity Western University (1986–present) , type = Priva ...

and the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. She then worked as a teacher in a number of rural Alberta communities until 1989.

Political career

Grey's first run for office was in the 1988 election, when she ran as the Reform candidate in Beaver River, a mostly rural riding in northeastern Alberta. She finished a distant fourth behind Progressive Conservative

John Dahmer John Roderick Dahmer (September 5, 1937 – November 26, 1988) was elected a member of the House of Commons of Canada in 1988. His background was in education. A school teacher, guidance councillor, principal, and later involved in adult educa ...

. However, Dahmer died before he could be sworn in. Grey won 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 ...

in March 1989, almost tripling her vote total from the 1988 election to become Reform's first MP. It was only the second time the Progressive Conservatives had lost a seat in Alberta since 1968. Party leader

Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...

immediately named her as Reform's deputy leader. The two were friends for many years; Grey calls him "Misterbrainiola". Her first legislative assistant was a young

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

. Reform elected 52 MPs in the 1993 election, replacing the Progressive Conservatives as the main right-wing party in Canada. Grey won her first full term in this election. In addition to her duties as deputy leader, she also became chairwoman of the enlarged Reform caucus. In 1997, Beaver River was abolished and its territory split into two neighbouring ridings. Grey moved to

Edmonton North Edmonton North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 2004. Demographics Geography The riding consisted of the northern part of the city of Edmonton, Alberta. H ...

at the request of several local conservatives dissatisfied with being represented by a

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 ...

John Loney Edison John Clayton Loney (23 February 1929 – 22 January 2017) was a member of the House of Commons of Canada in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. His career has been in agriculture and business. Loney, a Progressive Conservative for most of ...

(elected in the 1993 landslide). Lomey retired ahead of that year's election, and Grey won handily. She continued to represent this riding for the remainder of her career. Reform became the Official Opposition in that election. Grey served as Reform's deputy leader and caucus chairwoman until March 2000, when the Reform Party was folded into the

. When Manning stepped down as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

to contest the Alliance leadership race, Grey was appointed interim leader of the Alliance, and hence Leader of the Opposition. She was the first female Leader of the Opposition in Canadian history. She held the post until new Alliance leader Stockwell Day was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in September 2000. He appointed Grey as deputy leader and caucus chairwoman once again. Grey resigned those posts on April 24, 2001, in protest against Day's leadership. In July of that year, Grey quit the Canadian Alliance and joined 10 other Alliance dissidents in the "Independent Alliance Caucus". While

Chuck Strahl Charles Richard "Chuck" Strahl (born February 25, 1957) is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that ...

eventually emerged as the dissidents' leader, Grey lent the group instant credibility since she had been Reform/Alliance's matriarch as well as the deputy leader. When Day offered an amnesty to the dissidents, Grey was one of seven who turned it down and formed the

Democratic Representative Caucus The Democratic Representative Caucus, also called the Democratic Representative Association, was a parliamentary group in the 37th Canadian Parliament consisting of Members of Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against t ...

(DRC), led by Strahl with Grey as deputy leader. In September 2001, the DRC formed a coalition caucus with the Progressive Conservatives, and Grey served as chairwoman of the PC-DRC caucus. She later said that she lost confidence in Day after seeing him attack his staffers after a public gaffe. In April 2002, after Harper defeated Day in the race to be the Alliance leader, Grey and all but two of the DRC MPs rejoined the Alliance caucus, and in December 2003, the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives ratified an agreement to merge into the Conservative Party of Canada. Grey was co-chair, with former PC leader

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

, of the new party's first leadership convention in March 2004. Grey was not shy about tossing verbal barbs at the governing Liberals. She called

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

"the Shawinigan Strangler",

Don Boudria Donald Boudria, (born August 30, 1949) is a former Canadian politician. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien. M ...

"Binder Boy", Jane Stewart "Miss Management" and

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 ...

"Captain Whirlybird". Deborah Grey is also well known for refusing to join the lucrative MP Pension Plan and ridiculing other "MP porkers" for feeding at the public trough. Later she bought her way back into the pension plan resulting in former Prime Minister Joe Clark labeling her the "high priestess of hypocrisy". Grey's riding of

was abolished for the 2004 federal election, and Grey retired from politics rather than attempting nomination in another. She was Western chairwoman of the Conservative campaign in the 2006 election, in which Harper became

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...

Retirement

Shortly after retiring, she published her autobiography, '' Never Retreat, Never Explain, Never Apologize: My Life and My Politics.'' In 2007, she was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. On April 22, 2013, she was appointed to the

Security Intelligence Review Committee The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC; french: Comité de surveillance des activités de renseignement de sécurité) was a committee of Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the o ...

, and along with that appointment, was made a Privy Councillor, giving her the title, "The Honourable". It was announced that Grey was stepping down from the Security Intelligence Review Committee on May 1, 2015, in a press release from the Prime Minister's Office.

Personal life

Grey has been married to Lewis Larson since August 7, 1993; they have no children together. They are grandparents through Lewis' children by his first marriage.

Election results

, - ,

, Jim Jacuta , align="right", 14,786 , align="right", 34.32% , align="right", , align="right", $28,846 ,

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 ...

, Laurie Lang , align="right", 3,216 , align="right", 7.46% , align="right", , align="right", $815 , Progressive Conservative , Dean Sanduga , align="right", 3,010 , align="right", 6.98% , align="right", , align="right", $9,842 , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total valid votes !align="right", 43,075 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total rejected ballots !align="right", 174 !align="right", 0.40% !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Turnout !align="right", 43,249 !align="right", 57.20% !align="right", , - ,

, Jonathan Murphy , align="right", 11,820 , align="right", 32.47% , , align="right", $46,517 ,

, Ray Martin , align="right", 5,413 , align="right", 14.87% , , align="right", $60,286 , Progressive Conservative , Mitch Panciuk , align="right", 2,811 , align="right", 7.72% , , align="right", $51,169 ,

Natural Law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

, Ric Johnsen , align="right", 226 , align="right", 0.62% , align="right", , align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total valid votes !align="right", 36,394 !align="right", 100.00% ! , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total rejected ballots !align="right", 99 !align="right", 0.27% ! , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Turnout !align="right", 36,493 !align="right", 55.63% !

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Deborah 1952 births Living people Canadian Alliance MPs Canadian autobiographers Canadian women non-fiction writers Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Female Canadian political party leaders Leaders of the Opposition (Canada) Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Officers of the Order of Canada Politicians from Vancouver Reform Party of Canada candidates in the 1988 Canadian federal election Reform Party of Canada MPs Trinity Western University alumni University of Alberta alumni Women autobiographers Women in Alberta politics Writers from Vancouver 20th-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women opposition leaders