Margaret-Ann Blaney (née O'Rourke; born in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

) 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 ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

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 ...

. She was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

from 1999 until May 2012, representing

Rothesay Rothesay ( ; gd, Baile Bhòid ) is the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. It can be reached by ferry from Wemyss Bay, which offers an onward rail ...

(formerly

Saint John-Kings Rothesay is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada. The riding consists of the Town of Rothesay and its surroundings. The district was created in 1994 as Saint John-Kings out of parts of Saint Jo ...

) as member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Early life

An honours graduate with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

, Blaney worked as a reporter for both television and radio from 1982–1993, when she met

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

and became a candidate against Brian Tobin in the

1993 Canadian federal election The 1993 Canadian federal election was held on October 25, 1993, to elect members to the House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's hist ...

, finishing a distant second. Shortly thereafter she married and moved to

Rothesay, New Brunswick Rothesay () is a town located in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is adjacent to the City of Saint John along the Kennebecasis River. Geography Located along the lower Kennebecasis River valley, Rothesay borders the city of Saint John ...

where she managed her husband's

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

practice. In 1994, Ms. Blaney and her husband started their own small business, the Atlantic Veterinary Hospital in Rothesay, N.B. She was active in the business as co-owner / general manager until June 1999. In 1997, she was a candidate for leader of the

Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick is a centre-right, conservative political party in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The party has its origins in the pre-Canadian confederation Conservative Party that opposed the granti ...

, losing to

Bernard Lord Bernard Lord (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer, business executive and former politician. He served as the 30th premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006. Lord was appointed as board chair of Ontario Power Generation in 2014. Early ...

Political career

She was elected to the

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

legislature in the 1999 election and was named to cabinet as

Minister of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

. While minister, her riding executive solicited donations from highway contractors, implying that Blaney would favour those who donated. There was briefly a large amount of controversy surrounding this, however; the

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

Times & Transcript The ''Times & Transcript'' is a newspaper from Moncton, New Brunswick. It serves Greater Moncton and eastern New Brunswick. Its offices and printing facilities are located on Main Street in Downtown Moncton. The paper is published by Brunswick Ne ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

ran an

editorial cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...

with one contractor asking another, while referring to a bulge in his pocket, "Is that Margaret-Ann Blaney in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" This cartoon was derided as

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

and both Blaney and Bernard Lord cried in the legislature when commenting on it. The legislature unanimously passed a motion condemning the cartoon and the controversy soon shifted from Blaney to the paper. In 2001, Blaney was

shuffled Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. __TOC__ Techniques Overha ...

to the Department of Public Safety. She was re-elected in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and became Minister of Training & Employment Development. On February 14, 2006, she was shuffled out of cabinet; she said this was by choice as she wanted to focus more closely on riding issues. She was re-elected in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and sat in

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

to the new

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 ...

government. On October 12, 2010 Blaney became a member of the Executive Council and Environment Minister, Minister Responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women and Minister Responsible for Communications New Brunswick. On March 15, 2012 Blaney became Energy Minister and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

Resignation and appointment to chief executive officer of Efficiency New Brunswick

On May 16, 2012 Blaney announced that she was resigning as a minister and MLA, and had accepted appointment as chief executive officer of Efficiency New Brunswick.

Electoral history

, - , Progressive Conservative , Margaret-Ann Blaney , align="right", 3374 , align="right", 56.57 , align="right", +7.94 , - ,

, Victoria Clarke , align="right", 1694 , align="right", 28.40 , align="right", -18.73 , - ,

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

, Pamela Scichilone , align="right", 535 , align="right", 8.37 , align="right", +4.13 , - , - , Progressive Conservative , Margaret-Ann Blaney , align="right", 2853 , align="right", 48.6 , align="right", +0.6 , - ,

, Paul Barry , align="right", 2765 , align="right", 47.1 , align="right", +10.5 , - ,

, Troy Polchies , align="right", 249 , align="right", 4.2 , align="right", -7.9 , - , Progressive Conservative , Margaret-Ann Blaney , align="right", 3,135 , align="right", 48.0 , align="right", -17.6 , - ,

, Tom Young , align="right", 2,456 , align="right", 37.6 , align="right", +12.6 , - ,

, Jeff Joseph Thibodeau , align="right", 791 , align="right", 12.1 , align="right", +2.6 , - , Progressive Conservative , Margaret-Ann Blaney , align="right", 4,605 , align="right", 65.6 , align="right", +29.6 , - ,

, Zita Longobardi , align="right", 1,752 , align="right", 25.0 , align="right", -19.6 , - ,

, Ken Wilcox , align="right", 664 , align="right", 9.5 , align="right", -2.1 , , style="width: 170px" ,

, style="text-align:right;", 1,390 , style="text-align:right;", 36.6 , - ! } , , style="width: 170px" ,

Norm Betts Norman M. Betts (born April 1, 1954 in Doaktown, New Brunswick) is a Chartered Accountant, university professor, and former provincial politician. Norman Betts graduated from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in 1978 with a Bachelor of Bus ...

, style="text-align:right;", 1,223 , style="text-align:right;", 32.2 , - ! } , , style="width: 170px" , Cleveland Allaby , style="text-align:right;", 663 , style="text-align:right;", 17.4 , - ! } , , style="width: 170px" , Margaret-Ann Blaney , style="text-align:right;", 527 , style="text-align:right;", 13.9 , - style="background:#f6f6f6;" , colspan="4" , Blaney eliminated, Allaby withdrew

References

List of Women MLAs, New Brunswick Legislative Library
(pdf) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaney, Margaret-Ann Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni Members of the Executive Council of New Brunswick People from Corner Brook Women MLAs in New Brunswick Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Women government ministers of Canada Year of birth missing (living people)