Canadian politician (born 1971)
Catherine McKenna
|
---|
McKenna in 2016
|
|
|
In office
November 20, 2019 ? October 26, 2021
|
Prime Minister
| Justin Trudeau
|
---|
Preceded by
| Francois-Philippe Champagne
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Dominic LeBlanc
(as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities)
|
---|
|
In office
November 4, 2015 ? November 20, 2019
|
Prime Minister
| Justin Trudeau
|
---|
Preceded by
| Leona Aglukkaq
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Jonathan Wilkinson
|
---|
|
In office
October 19, 2015 ? September 20, 2021
|
Preceded by
| Paul Dewar
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Yasir Naqvi
|
---|
|
|
Born
| Catherine Mary McKenna
(
1971-08-05
)
August 5, 1971
(age 52)
Hamilton, Ontario
, Canada
|
---|
Political party
| Liberal
|
---|
Spouse
|
|
---|
Children
| 3
|
---|
Residence(s)
| The Glebe
, Ottawa
|
---|
Alma mater
| |
---|
Profession
| Lawyer
|
---|
Website
| climateandnature
.com
|
---|
|
Catherine Mary McKenna
PC
(born August 5, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the
Liberal Party
, McKenna was the
minister of environment and climate change
from 2015 to 2019 and
minister of infrastructure and communities
from 2019 to 2021. She was the
member of Parliament
(MP) for
Ottawa Centre
from 2015 to 2021, but decided not to seek reelection in the
2021 federal election
.
After leaving politics, McKenna founded the Climate and Nature Solutions advisory firm, became a
visiting fellow
at
Columbia University
, and served as the chair of the
United Nations
High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
McKenna was born on August 5, 1971, in
Hamilton, Ontario
.
[1]
[2]
She is the eldest of four children of Dr. John McKenna, an
Irish
dentist
and his
Quebec
-born wife Pat McKenna, who lived in the southwest part of Hamilton.
[1]
[3]
[4]
After graduating from Ecole elementaire catholique Notre-Dame (her father insisted that all his children be
bilingual
despite not knowing any
French
himself),
[1]
McKenna attended
Saint Mary Catholic Secondary School
.
[3]
McKenna earned her undergraduate degree in French and
international relations
from the
University of Toronto
. She was the captain of the university's swim team, won three of the four
Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union
she attended with her team, and reached the Canadian Olympics trials for
swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics
.
[3]
After graduating from the University of Toronto, she travelled through south-east Asia and co-produced a travel documentary with her friend, Steve Hulford.
[5]
[6]
McKenna earned a
master's degree
in international relations from the
London School of Economics
.
[3]
Legal career
[
edit
]
Between 1996 and 1999, McKenna studied law at
McGill University
before beginning her legal career in Jakarta, Indonesia at the firm, SSEK where she focused on international trade, investment and constitutional issues.
[7]
In 2001, she moved to
East Timor
where she spent a year as a senior negotiator with the
United Nations peacekeeping
mission in East Timor which culminated in the
Timor Sea Treaty
providing for the joint exploitation of petroleum resources in a part of the Timor Sea.
[8]
She returned to Canada in 2002, where she joined
Stikeman Elliott
LLP
, working in the areas of competition, trade, and constitutional law.
[9]
During this time she was senior counsel on the review of Canada's military justice system, headed by
Antonio Lamer
, former chief justice of Canada.
[10]
In 2005, McKenna co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad - Avocats Canadiens a l'etranger (CLA-ACE), now called Level Justice,
[11]
a
University of Ottawa
-based charity that helps Canadian law students and law firms do
pro bono
legal work in developing countries.
[7]
[12]
Level Justice works to reduce barriers to justice by uniting the power of people, education and law will lead to create a more equitable and just society.
[13]
She remains a member of the
bars of Ontario
and
New York State
.
[3]
Political career
[
edit
]
In the
2015 federal election
, McKenna defeated longtime
New Democratic Party
(NDP) MP
Paul Dewar
in the riding of
Ottawa Centre
.
[14]
McKenna said that she knocked on 100,000 doors during her 522 days as a candidate.
[15]
McKenna was elected with 43 per cent of the votes compared to Dewar's 38 per cent,
[16]
and had campaigned on issues such as reforming the
National Capital Commission
, funding for a new main branch of the
Ottawa Public Library
, and opposing the proposed
Memorial to the Victims of Communism
.
[14]
McKenna was one of 50 women elected to the Liberal caucus in the 2015 election.
[15]
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
[
edit
]
As Canada’s former
Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
she was a lead negotiator of the 2015
Paris Agreement
(in particular Article 6 concerning carbon markets). In 2016, she announced the
Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
with the provinces, territories and Indigenous communities. In 2018, the carbon pricing scheme was implemented by the
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
, which was upheld at the
Supreme Court in 2021
.
[11]
She also led efforts to phase out coal, reduce plastics in oceans and waterways, and doubled the amount of nature protected in Canada in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.
While in government, she helped establish the
Powering Past Coal Alliance
(with Canada, the UK and Bloomberg Philanthropies), the Ministerial on Climate Action (with Canada, the UK and China), the Women Kicking it on Climate Summit and the Nature Champions Summit, was Co-Chair of the
World Bank's
Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, and helped develop the Ocean Plastics Charter adopted at the
G7 hosted by Canada in 2018
.
[17]
Rebel News
derisively nicknamed her "Climate
Barbie
", a label McKenna considers a sexist insult.
[11]
[18]
Conservative MP
Gerry Ritz
caused controversy in September 2017 when he tweeted a link to a news story stating no industrialized nations were on pace to meet Paris Agreement carbon emission targets with the comment "Has anyone told our climate Barbie! [
sic
]" (referring to McKenna).
[19]
Ritz eventually deleted the original post, afterward posted another message stating: "I apologize for the use of Barbie, it is not reflective of the role the Minister plays".
[20]
Conservative leader
Andrew Scheer
condemned Ritz's comment later in the day and stated he would reach out to McKenna personally to "assure the minister that this type of behavior has no place in the Conservative caucus".
[21]
In May 2018, the Trudeau government's decision to buy the
Trans Mountain pipeline
for $4.5 billion was criticized by environmental activists as contrary to its climate change plans.
[11]
In November 2018, in response to the
Government of Ontario
's decision to cancel all climate action projects supported through the federal Low Carbon Economy Fund, McKenna announced that the Government of Canada would work directly with businesses to re-invest the $200-million remaining in the province's Low Carbon Economy Fund.
[22]
[23]
[24]
Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
[
edit
]
After the
2019 federal election
, McKenna was appointed as the
minister of infrastructure and communities
in November 2019.
[25]
[26]
The same month, she was the keynote speaker at the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
conference.
[11]
As Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, she made historic investments in public transit and green infrastructure, leveraged private sector investment through the
Canada Infrastructure Bank
, and led the development of Canada’s first National Infrastructure Assessment to drive to net-zero emissions by 2050.
[17]
In 2019, McKenna was provided with an
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
security detail over verbal harassment issues. On October 24, 2019, her office was defaced with a misogynistic slur.
[11]
In late June 2021, McKenna announced she would not seek re-election to her seat in Parliament.
[27]
[28]
Following the
2021 federal election
, she was succeeded as MP by
Yasir Naqvi
, a Liberal who served as the
attorney general of Ontario
in the provincial government of
Kathleen Wynne
.
[29]
Post-political career
[
edit
]
After leaving politics, McKenna founded Climate and Nature Solutions, an advisory firm that works with governments, corporations, foundations and universities to scale practical climate and nature-based solutions.
[30]
She also joined
Columbia University
's Centre on Global Energy Policy and Climate School.
[31]
In 2022, she chaired the United Nations High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities which issued the landmark report,
Integrity Matters: Net Zero Commitments by Businesses, Financial Institutions, Cities and Regions
, in November 2022.
[32]
[33]
In June 2023, McKenna was made a Chevalier of the French
Legion of Honour
for her contributions to negotiating the Paris Agreement and other climate change diplomacy.
[34]
Personal life
[
edit
]
McKenna was married to entrepreneur and writer
Scott Gilmore
, with whom she moved to
The Glebe, Ottawa
in 2002, until separating in 2019. Together, they have three children. McKenna still swims for fun. In 2015, she competed as part of the National Capital YMCA Masters Swim Team.
[1]
[11]
Electoral record
[
edit
]
2019 Canadian federal election
:
Ottawa Centre
|
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
|
Expenditures
|
|
Liberal
|
Catherine McKenna
|
38,391
|
48.66
|
+5.99
|
$113,154.09
|
|
New Democratic
|
Emilie Taman
|
22,916
|
29.04
|
-9.50
|
$119,073.61
|
|
Conservative
|
Carol Clemenhagen
|
9,920
|
12.57
|
-1.92
|
$63,743.89
|
|
Green
|
Angela Keller-Herzog
|
5,837
|
7.40
|
+4.42
|
none listed
|
|
People's
|
Merylee Sevilla
|
720
|
0.91
|
–
|
$2,536.21
|
|
Libertarian
|
Coreen Corcoran
|
360
|
0.46
|
-0.27
|
$1,030.86
|
|
Animal Protection
|
Shelby Bertrand
|
207
|
0.26
|
–
|
none listed
|
|
Christian Heritage
|
Marie-Chantal Leriche
|
198
|
0.25
|
–
|
none listed
|
|
Independent
|
Chris G. Jones
|
177
|
0.22
|
–
|
$3,526.62
|
|
Communist
|
Stuart Ryan
|
111
|
0.14
|
-0.02
|
$496.90
|
|
Independent
|
Giang Ha Thu Vo
|
65
|
0.08
|
–
|
none listed
|
Total valid votes/expense limit
|
78,902
|
99.39
|
Total rejected ballots
|
482
|
0.61
|
+0.10
|
Turnout
|
79,384
|
78.43
|
-1.57
|
Eligible voters
|
101,219
|
|
Liberal
hold
|
Swing
|
+7.74
|
Source:
Elections Canada
[35]
[36]
|
2015 Canadian federal election
:
Ottawa Centre
|
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
|
Expenditures
|
|
Liberal
|
Catherine McKenna
|
32,111
|
42.66
|
+22.54
|
$192,865.14
|
|
New Democratic
|
Paul Dewar
|
29,098
|
38.54
|
?13.62
|
$196,692.80
|
|
Conservative
|
Damian Konstantinakos
|
10,943
|
14.49
|
?7.14
|
$74,191.60
|
|
Green
|
Tom Milroy
|
2,246
|
2.97
|
?2.06
|
$5,564.56
|
|
Libertarian
|
Dean T. Harris
|
551
|
0.73
|
?
|
?
|
|
Rhinoceros
|
Conrad Lukawski
|
167
|
0.22
|
?
|
$2.96
|
|
Marijuana
|
John Andrew Omowole Akpata
|
160
|
0.21
|
?
|
?
|
|
Communist
|
Stuart Ryan
|
124
|
0.16
|
?
|
?
|
Total valid votes/Expense limit
|
75,500
|
100.00
|
|
$233,540.54
|
Total rejected ballots
|
386
|
0.51
|
?
|
Turnout
|
75,886
|
82.82
|
?
|
Eligible voters
|
91,625
|
|
Liberal
gain
from
New Democratic
|
Swing
|
+18.08
|
Source:
Elections Canada
[37]
[38]
[39]
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
McKercher, Ian (April 9, 2015).
"Catherine McKenna and the future we want for our children"
.
The Glebe Report
. Archived from
the original
on November 17, 2015
. Retrieved
November 15,
2015
.
- ^
Milnes, Arthur (August 5, 2021).
"Today in Canada's Political History: Birthday of the Honourable Catherine McKenna"
.
National Newswatch
. Retrieved
February 6,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Peters, Ken (November 4, 2015).
"Hamilton women who packed some political punch"
.
Hamilton Spectator
. Retrieved
May 18,
2021
.
- ^
Catherine McKenna [@cathmckenna] (October 19, 2015).
"Tomorrow's a big day. Thankful that I have my mom & dad in town. I owe so much to them. #RealChangeStartsAtHome #lpc"
(
Tweet
) – via
Twitter
.
- ^
"
Real Travels: 60 days in Indonesia.
"
- ^
Sibley, Robert (October 20, 2015).
"McKenna upsets Dewar in Ottawa Centre"
.
Ottawa Citizen
. Retrieved
November 4,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Wood, Michael (August 15, 2015).
"Ottawa Centre profile: Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna"
.
Metro News
. Archived from
the original
on March 13, 2018
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Catherine McKenna bio"
.
Government of Canada
. Archived from
the original
on January 26, 2021
. Retrieved
March 17,
2016
.
- ^
"Catherine McKenna ? Master of Global Affairs"
.
Master of Global Affairs
. Archived from
the original
on March 4, 2016
. Retrieved
November 16,
2015
.
- ^
Toolkit, Web Experience.
"The Honourable Catherine McKenna"
.
Prime Minister of Canada
. Retrieved
November 16,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Guly, Christopher (July 14, 2021).
"McKenna set to dive into new, post-politics pool to combat climate change"
.
The Hill Times
. Retrieved
February 5,
2023
.
- ^
Taylor-Vaisey, Nick (October 3, 2014).
"An escalator pitch from Catherine McKenna on Canada in 2020"
.
Maclean's
. Retrieved
October 27,
2015
.
- ^
Level.
"About Level"
.
Level
. Archived from
the original
on November 13, 2015
. Retrieved
November 16,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Helmer, Aedan (October 20, 2015).
"Catherine McKenna scores huge victory in NDP stronghold"
.
Ottawa Sun
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Blanchfield, Mike.
"Chief, mayors, refugees: rookie Liberals bring diverse job experience to caucus"
. The Canadian Press. Archived from
the original
on November 17, 2015
. Retrieved
November 16,
2015
.
- ^
"CBC News: Election 2015 roundup"
. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
. Retrieved
November 16,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"About"
.
Climate and Nature Solutions
. Retrieved
January 15,
2023
.
- ^
DiManno, Rosie (November 7, 2017).
"On 'Climate Barbie' and the art of the insult"
.
Toronto Star
. Retrieved
July 5,
2018
.
- ^
"Canada MP sorry for Catherine McKenna 'climate Barbie' remark"
.
BBC News
. September 20, 2017
. Retrieved
September 20,
2017
.
- ^
"Gerry Ritz apologizes for calling Catherine McKenna 'climate Barbie'
"
. CBC News. September 20, 2017
. Retrieved
September 20,
2017
.
- ^
Campion-Smith, Bruce (September 20, 2017).
"Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer condemns 'Barbie' insult by his own MP"
.
Toronto Star
. Retrieved
September 20,
2017
.
- ^
"Canada announces new Energy Savings Rebate program to help Ontarians save money and fight climate change"
. Government of Canada. August 27, 2019
. Retrieved
November 26,
2019
.
- ^
"Catherine McKenna avoids Ont. government, imposes climate change agenda through municipalities, corporations"
. Retrieved
February 7,
2019
.
- ^
Canada, Environment and Climate Change (November 8, 2018).
"Government of Canada to support energy efficiency and climate action in Ontario"
.
gcnws
. Retrieved
February 7,
2019
.
- ^
Blewett, Taylor (November 21, 2019).
"Catherine McKenna out of environment, Mona Fortier into cabinet after shuffle"
.
ottawacitizen.com
.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2020.
- ^
"Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Mandate Letter"
.
pm.gc.ca
(Press release).
PMO
. December 13, 2019.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2020.
- ^
"
'I've got another chapter in me': McKenna leaves federal politics, looks forward"
.
Kitchissippi times
. September 9, 2021
. Retrieved
October 7,
2021
.
- ^
Bryden, Joan (June 27, 2021).
"Catherine McKenna retiring from politics, will not run in next election"
.
CTVNews
. Retrieved
October 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Yasir Naqvi elected as MP for Ottawa Centre"
.
Kitchissippi times
. October 7, 2021
. Retrieved
October 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Climate and Nature Solutions"
.
Climate and Nature Solutions
. Retrieved
January 15,
2023
.
- ^
"Columbia | SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy | Catherine McKenna"
.
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu
. Retrieved
January 15,
2023
.
- ^
"High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities"
. Retrieved
September 21,
2022
.
- ^
INTEGRITY MATTERS: NET ZERO COMMITMENTS BY BUSINESSES, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, CITIES AND REGIONS
(PDF)
(Report). High?Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities. November 18, 2022
. Retrieved
February 5,
2023
.
- ^
Woodside, John (June 22, 2023).
"Catherine McKenna awarded French Legion of Honour"
.
National Observer
. Retrieved
June 23,
2023
.
- ^
"List of confirmed candidates"
.
Elections Canada
. Retrieved
October 3,
2019
.
- ^
"Official Voting Results"
.
Elections Canada
. Retrieved
August 9,
2021
.
- ^
"Voter Information Service - Who are the candidates in my electoral district?"
.
elections.ca
.
- ^
Elections Canada ? Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
Archived
August 15, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Canada, ⓒ 2013 - Elections.
"Resultats du soir d'election - Circonscriptions"
.
enr.elections.ca
.
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cite web
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
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)
External links
[
edit
]