Elinor Caplan | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forThornhill | |
| In office 1997–2004 | |
| Preceded by | New riding |
| Succeeded by | Susan Kadis |
| Ontario MPP | |
| In office 1985–1997 | |
| Preceded by | John Reesor Williams |
| Succeeded by | David Caplan |
| Constituency | Oriole |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elinor Hershorn (1944-05-20)May 20, 1944 (age 81) |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Mayer Wilfred Caplan (b. 1935, m. 1963) |
| Children | David Caplan (1964-2019), Mark Caplan, Meredith,Zane Caplansky |
| Profession | Civil servant |
Elinor CaplanPC (born May 20, 1944) is a businesswoman and former politician in Ontario,Canada. She served in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1997, and was aMember of Parliament in theHouse of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004. ALiberal, she served as acabinet minister in the provincial government ofDavid Peterson and the federal government ofJean Chrétien.
She was born in Toronto to Samuel S. Hershorn, a textile manufacturer, and his wife Thelma (Goodman) Hershorn, both of whose families had come to Canada from Russian Poland.[1] Caplan attendedOakwood Collegiate Institute in Toronto,[2] and thenCentennial College. She then worked in real estate heading Elinor Caplan and Associates from 1973 to 1978. Her husband, Wilfred, sought election to the provincial legislature in the1977 election, but was defeated.[3] Caplan isJewish, and is a longtime member of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO, a women'sZionist organization.
She ran for office in 1978, when she was elected to theNorth York municipal council as an alderman.[1][4]
She ran for the provincial legislature in the1981 election, but lost toProgressive ConservativeDavid Rotenberg in the constituency ofWilson Heights.[5]
She was elected to the Ontario legislature in the1985 election, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbentJohn Williams by over 4,000 votes in theNorth York riding ofOriole.[6] The Liberal Party formed aminority government after this election, and Caplan was appointed asChair of the Management Board of Cabinet on June 26, 1985. She resigned her portfolio on June 16, 1986, following accusations of a conflict of interest relating to her husband's business dealings; while protesting her innocence, she claimed she had lost the confidence of the house. Caplan was subsequently exonerated by a parliamentary commission.
Caplan won a landslide re-election victory in theprovincial election of 1987,[7] She was reappointed to Peterson's cabinet on September 29, 1987, asMinister of Health. She held this position until the Liberals were defeated by theOntario New Democratic Party in the1990 election. Caplan defeated NDP candidate Lennox Farrell by just over 2,000 votes in the 1990 campaign, and remained a prominent figure in the official opposition, serving as Deputy House Leader in 1994–95.[8]
In the1995 election, Caplan narrowly retained her seat against a challenge from Progressive Conservative Paul Sutherland.[9] She served as Chief OppositionWhip from 1995 to 1996, and retired from the legislature on May 1, 1997. (She was succeeded as the MPP for Oriole by her son,David Caplan, who went on to serve as a cabinet minister in the government ofDalton McGuinty.) In 1996, she supportedJoseph Cordiano for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.
| Peterson ministry,Province of Ontario (1985-1990) | ||
| Cabinet post (1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Murray Elston | Minister of Health 1987–1990 | Evelyn Gigantes |
| Special Cabinet Responsibilities | ||
| Predecessor | Title | Successor |
| George Ashe | Chair of Management Board 1985–1986 | Robert Nixon |
Caplan was elected to the federal House of Commons in the1997 election, defeating her closest opponent by more than 14,000 votes in the riding ofThornhill.[10] She served asparliamentary secretary to theMinister of Health in 1998–99, and was appointed to cabinet asMinister of Citizenship and Immigration on August 3, 1999.
In the2000 federal election, Caplan faced an inexperienced opponent from theCanadian Alliance and was easily re-elected.[11] After a cabinet shuffle on January 15, 2002, Caplan was appointedMinister of National Revenue. She was dropped from cabinet whenPaul Martin replaced Chrétien asPrime Minister in December 2003. She did not seek re-election in the2004 election.
| Parliament of Canada | ||
|---|---|---|
| 26th Canadian Ministry (1993-2003) – Cabinet ofJean Chrétien | ||
| Cabinet posts (2) | ||
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| Martin Cauchon | Minister of National Revenue 2002–2003 | Stan Keyes |
| Lucienne Robillard | Minister of Citizenship and Immigration 1999–2002 | Denis Coderre |
In late 2004, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty appointed Caplan to lead a provincial inquiry into the state of home-care medical services.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
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