Peggy Nash

Infobox CanadianMP | name=Peggy A. Nash

term_start=2006 election
term_end=
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Peggy A. Nash (born June 28, 1951 in Toronto) is a federal Canadian politician with the New Democratic Party. Since 2006, she is a Member of Parliament, representing the Parkdale—High Park electoral district in the House of Commons.

Prior to entering politics, Nash was a long-time assistant to Basil "Buzz" Hargrove at the Canadian Auto Workers. She worked as a labour negotiator in the transportation, service and manufacturing sectors and was the first labour woman responsible for major auto negotiations in North America.

Member of Parliament

Nash unsuccessfully first ran in the Parkdale–High Park riding in the 2004 Canadian federal election. She lost a close contest to the incumbent Liberal Member of Parliament Sarmite Bulte. Nash ran again in the 2006 federal election, in a rematch of the 2004 campaign. Bulte came under heavy criticism for her fundraising efforts, and it became a campaign issue. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Liberal MP takes flak for lobbyist's fundraiser
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
date =2006-01-06
url = http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/01/06/bulte-funder.html
accessdate = ] Nash narrowly won the election by a 4.6% margin or 2301 votes.

As a Member of Parliament (MP), Nash became the NDP's Industry Critic and Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. She has introduced a bill to reinstate a national minimum wage of $10/hour and motions in the House of Commons on water sustainability, urban transit, and the arts. She has also brought forward legislation to reunite new Canadians with their families and championed many important consumer issues such as reducings credit card interest rates, unfair ATM fees, and criminal payday lender interest rates. Most recently, Nash was instrumental in stopping the foreign takeover of MacDonald Dettwiler, the Canadian space company which produced the Canadarm and RADARSAT-2satellite, critical to the issue of Canadian Arctic sovereignty.

Nash has also been active in Parliamentary Friendship Groups for Poland, Ukraine and Tibet. As the Member of Parliament representing the largest population of Tibetan refugees in Canada, she helped push for a resolution declaring the Dalai Lama an honourary Canadian citizen, and also personally introduced a motion calling for negotiations between China and Tibet. Both resolutions received unanimous support in the House of Commons.

In the upcoming Federal election, she is expected to face tough competition from Gerard Kennedy, the Liberal candidate who formerly represented the electoral district at the Provincial level.

Personal life

She holds an Honours B.A. in French language and literature from the University of Toronto and is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Nash has lived in the Parkdale-High Park electoral district for over twenty years, where she is married with three sons.

Achievements

She has been involved with many organizations advancing women's equality. She was a founding member of Equal Voice, an all-party organization which advocates for the election of more women in Canada, and was a recipient of a Certificate of Honour from the City of Toronto for her contribution to women’s equality.

In 2006, "NOW" named Nash the Best MP in Toronto. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Best MP
work = BEST OF TORONTO : CITYSCAPE
pages =
language =
publisher = Now Communications Inc
date = 2006-10-26
url = http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-10-26/news_story6.php
accessdate = ] Her parliamentary duties also included being a parliamentary representative on the fact-finding mission to war-torn Lebanon in 2006; and was a member of a Parliamentary Delegation to Israel and the West Bank in 2008. Her foreign experience also includes being a Canadian election monitor in the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa in 1994; and, in the 2004 and 2007 Ukrainian elections. She was the recipient of two environmental awards from the Sierra Club of Canada and she helped create the NDP Green Car Strategy with Greenpeace and the Canadian Auto Workers.

References

External links

* [http://www.peggynash.ca PeggyNash.ca] - Official website
* [http://www.ndp.ca/peggynash New Democratic Party] - bio at NDP official website
* [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=dead179f-dfcc-4f4d-a76b-7d2e4792095c&Language=E&Section=FederalExperience Parliament Webpage]