Martha Hall Findlay | |
|---|---|
 Findlay in 2011 | |
| Member of Parliament forWillowdale | |
| In office 17 March 2008 – 2 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Peterson (2007) |
| Succeeded by | Chungsen Leung |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Martha Hall (1959-08-17)17 August 1959 (age 66) |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Residence(s) | Calgary,Alberta, Canada |
| Profession |
|
Martha Hall Findlay (born 17 August 1959) is aCanadian businesswoman, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician who is now the Director and James S. and Barbara A. Palmer Chair at theSchool of Public Policy (University of Calgary).[1] She previously served as the president and CEO of theCanada West Foundation,[2] a Calgary-based think tank, and as senior vice-president andChief Sustainability Officer with Suncor Energy. Previously, she was elected to theHouse of Commons of Canada as theLiberal Party of Canada's candidate in the Toronto riding ofWillowdale in a federalby-election held on 17 March 2008, to fill a vacancy created by former Liberal MPJim Peterson's resignation. She was re-elected in the2008 general election but lost her seat in the2011 election.
She had previously been the party's candidate forNewmarket—Aurora in the2004 federal election, losing narrowly toConservative candidateBelinda Stronach, and the first declared candidate for theLiberal Party leadership election to succeedPaul Martin in 2006. She was also an unsuccessful candidate in the2013 leadership race.[3]
Born inToronto, Hall Findlay lived inYork Mills, attending theToronto French School until Grade 8 when she was 13 and her parents separated. She moved with her mother to Thornbury, at the base of the Blue Mountains, east of Owen Sound. She skipped three grades (9, 10 and 11) to enter Grade 12 at Georgian Bay Secondary School in Meaford, and graduated from high school at 15.[4]
Hall Findlay was overall silver medallist in the 1976 CanadianSki Championship, and was named to the national training squad before retiring from competition to concentrate on her education. She graduated ininternational relations from theUniversity of Toronto, and in law fromOsgoode Hall Law School atYork University. Through university, she worked as awaitress,carpenter and ski racecoach; while completing law school, she co-owned and operated two retail stores, living above the Yonge St. store.[4]
While in the International Relations Program she married Doug Findlay and, in her second year in 1981, gave birth to her first child, Katie. At Osgoode Hall Law School she had two more children, Everett in 1983 and Patrick in 1985, receiving her LL.B. in 1987. At the same time her mother went back for her university degree at age 60.
In Hall Findlay's professional career she worked for six years practicingcorporate andcommercial law at theToronto offices of international law firmBaker McKenzie (then known as Baker & Mckenzie), served asgeneral counsel and executive forBell Mobility and Mobility Canada, and later served as vice-president and general counsel for The Rider Group. After moving toCollingwood, Ontario in 1996, she founded The General Counsel Group, a legal andmanagement consulting firm working primarily in the high-tech andtelecommunications fields in Canada and Europe. In 2007, she joined the law firm of Gowlings Lafleur Henderson LLP as counsel.[4] After losing her seat in the 2011 election Hall Findlay became the chief legal officer at EnStream LP and an Executive Fellow at theUniversity of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.[5]
In the2004 federal election, the presumptive Liberal Party candidate in theriding ofNewmarket—Aurora bowed out, not wanting to run for the scandal-plagued Liberal Party. Hall Findlay, still residing in Collingwood, wasparachuted into the riding to challengeConservative candidateBelinda Stronach, a wealthy local executive nationally famous for her candidacy in theConservative leadership election earlier that year. While Stronach was thought to have a large lead on election night Hall Findlay came within 687 votes of winning the seat. Hall Findlay was so dedicated to winning the seat in the next election, she moved to the riding and was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for the new election. However, on 17 May 2005, Stronachcrossed the floor to join the Liberal Party caucus, and Hall Findlay stepped down as the candidate to allow Stronach to run under the Liberal banner. With nominations closed in other Toronto area ridings she was not a candidate in the2006 election.[6]
The Liberal Party was defeated in the 2006 election and Paul Martin announced his intentions to step down as leader of the Liberal Party.[7] On 8 February 2006, Hall Findlay became the first declared candidate for theLiberal Party leadership election to succeedPaul Martin.[8] As the lowest profile of the candidates she jokingly referred to herself as "Martha Who Who". Hall Findlay made up for her lack of profile with an ambitious grassroots campaign that also included driving across the country in a motor home, which became known as the "big red bus". She described herself as fiscally conservative, socially progressive and the candidate who could bridge the gap between theJean Chrétien and Paul Martin factions of the party. Political commentatorChantal Hébert wrote that out of the three women vying for the leadership, former cabinet ministersCarolyn Bennett andHedy Fry dropped out mid-campaign, Hall Findlay "is the only one who has the necessary language credentials and the presence that front-line politicians are made of." Her two key issues in the race were the environment and health care. She believed that theKyoto climate change protocol was worth pursuing and favoured private health care, but from a universal, single-tier and publicly funded system.[9][10] Towards the end of the campaign Hall Findlay was endorsed byYork West Member of ParliamentJudy Sgro, she was the only member of the Liberal caucus to endorse Hall Findlay's candidacy.[11] Along withStéphane Dion she also received a newspaper endorsement from theToronto Sun. Hall Findlay finished last on the first ballot with 2.7% of the vote and threw her support behind eventual winner Dion.[12]
On 18 December 2006, Dion appointed Hall Findlay as the party's platform outreach chair. In her role she traveled across the country engaging Canadians on ideas for the party's election platform.[13]
Hall Findlay was appointed as the Liberal candidate in theToronto riding ofWillowdale by Dion in 2007, after Liberal MPJim Peterson announced he would not seek re-election. Willowdale was considered to be one of the Liberal Party's safest seats in the country and Hall Findlay's victory was almost guaranteed.[14] Only months after announcing he would not seek re-election Peterson resigned from parliament, leading to a by-election to be held on 17 March 2008.[15] Findlay faced Conservative candidate Maureen Harquail, NDP candidate Rini Ghosh, and Green Party candidate Lou Carcasole. On by-election night, Hall Findlay won nearly 60 per cent of the popular vote.[16] Later that year she was re-elected in thegeneral election, though her share of the popular vote fell below 49 per cent.[17]
Dion resigned as Liberal leader in October 2008, following the party's poor showing the general election weeks prior. Hall Findlay was mentioned as a potential candidate for the leadership of the party, but announced in November that she would not be seeking the leadership. Outstanding debt from her leadership bid, as well as from the by-election and general election factored into her reason for not seeking the leadership.[18] In December 2008 leadership candidatesDominic LeBlanc andBob Rae dropped out of the race andMichael Ignatieff was acclaimed as party leader.[19] Under Dion and Ignatieff she held several important Critic positions in the Official Opposition: Associate Finance; Transport, Infrastructure and Communities; Public Works and Government Services, and International Trade.[20] With the Liberal Party finishing behind the Conservatives and NDP for the first time in the2011 federal election Hall Findlay was narrowly defeated in her own riding by ConservativeChungsen Leung.[21]
Ignatieff resigned as leader following the party's showing in the 2011 election. Despite her defeat in that election, Hall Findlay made no secret of her interest in seeking the leadership of the party in the 2013 leadership race. However, with outstanding debt from her 2006 leadership bid, Hall Findlay stated that she would not run for leader until that debt was paid off.[22] In October 2012, she announced that she had paid off the remainder of the debt and on 14 November 2012, she announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party.[23][24] WhileJustin Trudeau was widely viewed as the frontrunner in the race, Hall Findlay was considered among the top-tier of candidates.[25] On 14 April 2013, she lost the leadership election to Montreal MPJustin Trudeau.
In June 2012, as an Executive Fellow with the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, Hall Findlay, released a paper that called for an end to thesupply management system in Canada's dairy, poultry and egg sectors.[26][27] At the launch of her leadership bid on 14 November 2012, she stated that with the exception of "some politicians and dairy farmers" the reaction to her proposal to abolish supply management had been "overwhelmingly positive."[28] Hall Findlay also announced she would be releasing policy papers every few weeks of the five month race, her first policy proposal called for a national energy strategy for energy infrastructure.[29]
According toElections Canada, Hall Findlay's campaign brought in $149,877.45 in donations in the fourth quarter of 2012, originally believed to be second only toJustin Trudeau who brought in $673,156.53.[30] However, a discrepancy involving money raised to pay off her leadership debt from the 2006 races appears to have slid her into third behindMarc Garneau.[31] Hall Findlay's campaign was managed by Stephen Carter, who managed the Calgary Mayoral campaign ofNaheed Nenshi and the Alberta PC campaign under leaderAlison Redford.[32]
After her 2011 election loss, Hall Findlay moved toCalgary where she became an Executive Fellow with the School of Public Policy at theUniversity of Calgary. From 2011 to 2016, she was also the chief legal officer atEnStream. From 2016 to 2019, Hall Findlay was president and CEO of theCanada West Foundation think tank.[2] In 2020, she joinedSuncor as Chief Sustainability Officer.[citation needed]
Hall Findlay has served as an executive of theAlberta radio networkCKUA, theCouchiching Institute on Public Affairs, and the Georgian Bay Association. She is a past president of thePointe au Baril Islanders' Association and the Georgian Peaks Club, and was an active member of theYork Region Community Foundation.[citation needed]
| 2011 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Chungsen Leung | 22,206 | 41.7 | +9.2 | ||||
| Liberal | Martha Hall Findlay | 21,245 | 39.9 | -8.8 | ||||
| New Democratic | Mehdi Mollahasani | 9,780 | 18.4 | +8.2 | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 53,259 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 295 | 0.6 | +0.2 | |||||
| Turnout | 53,554 | 58.4 | +6.5 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 91,631 | – | – | |||||
| 2008 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Martha Hall Findlay | 23,889 | 48.7 | −10.6 | $47,844.17 | |||
| Conservative | Jake Karns | 15,931 | 32.5 | +2.4 | $75,479.99 | |||
| New Democratic | Susan Wallace | 5,011 | 10.2 | +5.4 | $8,175.95 | |||
| Green | Lou Carcasole | 3,130 | 6.4 | +0.6 | $4,270.98 | |||
| Progressive Canadian | Bahman Roudgarnia | 864 | 1.8 | – | $4,500 | |||
| Independent | Bernadette Michael | 260 | 0.5 | $421.93 | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 49,085 | 100.0 | $94,573.51 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 203 | 0.4 | ||||||
| Turnout | 49,288 | 51.9 | ||||||
| By-election on17 March 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
| Liberal | Martha Hall Findlay | 13,524 | 59.3 | +7.1 | ||
| Conservative | Maureen Harquail | 6,864 | 30.1 | +0.8 | ||
| Green | Lou Carcasole | 1,325 | 5.8 | +1.7 | ||
| New Democratic | Rini Ghosh | 1,084 | 4.8 | -16.2 | ||
| Total valid votes | 22,797 | 100.0 | $ | |||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +3.1 | ||||
| 2004 Canadian federal election:Newmarket—Aurora | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Conservative | Belinda Stronach | 21,818 | 42.42 | −2.43 | ||||
| Liberal | Martha Hall Findlay | 21,129 | 41.08 | −9.48 | ||||
| New Democratic | Ed Chudak | 5,111 | 9.93 | +6.18 | ||||
| Green | Daryl Wyatt | 2,298 | 4.47 | |||||
| Progressive Canadian | Dorian Baxter | 1,079 | 2.10 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 51,435 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Change is from redistributed 2000 results. Conservative change is from the total of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative votes. | ||||||||