Cheryl Gallant
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Cheryl Gallant, MP (born May 23, 1960 in Sarnia, Ontario) is a Conservative Canadian politician.
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Personal life
Gallant was raised in Blenheim, Ontario. Gallant attended the University of Western Ontario, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. She worked for a major Canadian life insurance company as a group insurance executive. As well, She was an office manager of a family-owned professional practice, prior to becoming a politician. Gallant has been married since 1985, and is the parent of four daughters ranging in age from 12 to 18.Template:Ref She has served as the Chair of the City of Pembroke Downtown Development Commission and as a member of the Economic Advisory Committee for the city.
Political career
She is currently a member of the Conservative Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons. She has represented the riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke since 2000, and was a member of the Canadian Alliance party from 2000 to 2003.
She is a former Deputy House Leader of the Official Opposition, and the Canadian Alliance Deputy House Leader. She has served as CPC Critic for Science, Research and Development, was a member of the Commons Standing Committee on National Defence and Veteran’s Affairs, and the Standing Committee on Industry. She has also served as opposition critic of Canadian Heritage, Amateur Sport, the National Capital Commission, Science, Research and Development, the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, and Small Business. In 2004, she was voted the ideal Conservative leader by staffers of the Liberal and New Democratic parties.
She is largely viewed as one of the strongest social conservatives in the House of Commons, and is a popular figure among the Christian Right, yet has occasionally drawn the ire of opponents. In 2002, she was accused of making anti-gay remarks to then Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham, when during a heated exchange, she kept interrupting "Ask your boyfriend" or "How's your boyfriend?" Graham's sexual orientation has been occasionally the subject of rumours, though he is married to a woman, with children. Gallant later apologized for her remarks.Template:Ref
During the 2004 election, a controversy erupted when Gallant compared abortion to the beheading of Iraq war hostage Nick Berg. The Conservative Party then announced that she was suffering from laryngitis, and after this, she did not appear at some scheduled debates. Her opponents criticized this as a move to avoid criticism of her comments. Due to the socially conservative nature of the riding, it may have actually increased her support, as she won by a wide margin.
Gallant resurfaced in the spotlight on March 17, 2005, when she suggested that Christians were being persecuted by the Liberal Party in a flyer she sent to her constituents. Tory leader Stephen Harper, confronted with the news, said "I'll let Cheryl Gallant explain those remarks herself; I haven't seen them."
Two local Liberal supporters accused Cheryl of obtaining the birthday information from a passport application during the 2006 campaign. Her office regularily sends out greeting cards to constituents when his or her birthday comes.Template:Ref One affected resident told the Ottawa Citizen, "The principle is really bothering me: that my information has been gathered without my knowledge. I don't know how it's going to be used." Two families who received cards have sent letters to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, asking confirmation the MP won't use the collected personal information. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has no jurisdiction in investigating such matters. Gallant's aide says the Member receives many requests for birthday and anniversary cards, and the office is unsure how the information was put on the listTemplate:Ref. It is believed that the residents of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke considered the birthday card complaint a jokeTemplate:Ref, since Gallant receives thousands of requests for salutations and the birth date could easily have been on one of the request forms returned by a constituent.Template:Ref.
In the 2006 election, Cheryl Gallant once again won handily, with an additional 2500 votes from 2004. She received almost two and a half times the support of her nearest competitor, Don Lindsay, giving her the largest margin of victory in all of Ontario.Template:Ref When the vote count of the Liberal candidate Don Lindsay and the independent candidate Paul Kelly are combined, they roughly equal the percentage vote the Liberals received in this riding in 2004Template:Ref. This suggests that Gallant has maintained a core support of almost 60 percent, while her opponents consistently take votes from each other rather than from her. It is believed that Don Lindsay's performance at an all candidates debate where he insulted a World War Two veteran, and his subsequent negative response to the crowd's reaction Template:Ref significantly damaged his local reputation and drove his supporters to Paul Kelly.
Of around 60 major candidates in 15 Eastern Ontario and West Quebec ridings, Gallant was the only one who didn't attending a meeting with The Ottawa Citizen editorial board. "Ms. Gallant's decision to duck every difficult question from the media is nothing short of childish", commented the Citizen, in response to these actions. Gallant has stated that she is focused on campaigning locally in order to keep in touch with the concerns of local constituents.Template:Ref
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External links
- Cheryl Gallant, official site
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