Elizabeth Witmer

Elizabeth Witmer (née Gosar; born October 16, 1946) is a former Deputy Premier of Ontario, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 until 2012, representing Waterloo North and later Kitchener—Waterloo as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Elizabeth Witmer
Chair of the
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board
Assumed office
April 27, 2012
Preceded bySteve Mahoney
7th Deputy Premier of Ontario
In office
April 15, 2002 – October 22, 2003
PremierErnie Eves
Preceded byJim Flaherty
Succeeded byGeorge Smitherman (2006)
Ontario MPP
In office
1999–2012
Preceded byNew riding
Succeeded byCatherine Fife
ConstituencyKitchener—Waterloo
In office
1990–1999
Preceded byHerb Epp
Succeeded byRiding abolished
ConstituencyWaterloo North
Personal details
Born
Elizabeth Gosar

(1946-10-16) October 16, 1946
Schiedam, Netherlands
NationalityCanadian
Political partyProgressive Conservative
Alma materUniversity of Western Ontario
Althouse College of Education
University of Waterloo
ProfessionTeacher

In 2012, she was appointed as chair of the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board.

Background

Witmer was born in Schiedam, Netherlands. She moved with her family to Ontario at a young age. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario, and later attended the Althouse College of Education. She did postgraduate work at the University of Waterloo. Witmer worked as a secondary school teacher from 1968 to 1980, in West Lorne, London and Guelph. She was named the "Kitchener-Waterloo Woman of the Year" in 1968.

Politics

Witmer began her political career as a school trustee, serving on the Waterloo County Board of Education from 1980 to 1990; she became its chair in 1984. She ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1987 election, but was defeated by Ontario Liberal Party Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Herb Epp in Waterloo North.[1]

Epp retired before the 1990 provincial election, and Witmer again won the Progressive Conservative nomination in the riding. She was successful this time, defeating New Democrat Hugh Miller and Liberal Andrew Telegdi (later a federal Member of Parliament) [2] to become the first female MPP to be elected in the region of Waterloo.[3] The NDP scored an upset victory in this election while the Progressive Conservatives won only 20 of 130 seats for third-party status.

Cabinet appointment

There was a significant swing to the Progressive Conservatives in the 1995 provincial election, and Witmer was re-elected by more than 17,000 votes over her nearest opponent.[4] On June 26, 1995, she was appointed Minister of Labour in the government of Mike Harris.[5] In October 1997, she was promoted to the key portfolio of Minister of Health, replacing the more confrontational Jim Wilson.[6]

Harris's government was initially regarded by many as uniformly right-wing, although moderate Red Tory figures such as Witmer and Isabel Bassett eventually emerged in key portfolios. Witmer's appointment as Minister of Health was generally interpreted as signalling that the government desired a more moderate approach to negotiations with the health sector. Despite this, she presided over a controversial restructuring process which included a number of government cutbacks.

Witmer was re-elected in the 1999 election, defeating Liberal Sean Strickland by just under 10,000 votes.[7] On June 17, 1999 her portfolio was renamed the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.[8] Following a cabinet shuffle on February 8, 2001, she became Minister of the Environment.[9]

Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1996

During her term as Minister of Labour Ms. Witmer overhauled the Worker's Compensation Act, renaming it the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act and introduced entitlement benefits for mental stress for the first time.[10]

2002 PC leadership campaign and afterward

She ran in the 2002 PC leadership election to succeed Harris as Tory leader and Premier, but placed fourth on the first ballot and threw her support to the eventual winner, Ernie Eves. In April 2002, she was appointed Deputy Premier and Minister of Education.[11]

The 2003 election saw a significant backlash against the Conservative government. Witmer was re-elected in Kitchener—Waterloo defeating Strickland by a reduced margin of 1,501 votes.[12] Moreover, she is considered to be one of the few moderates in a caucus dominated by the right-wing of the party. She was named as deputy leader of the opposition, and serves as her party's critic on long-term care and women's issues.

Witmer considered running to succeed Eves in the 2004 PC leadership election, but ultimately supported John Tory's successful candidacy instead. Tory re-appointed Witmer as deputy leader. Her appointment was considered a notable victory for the centrist wing of the party. In the 2007 provincial election, Witmer won re-election by 4,917 votes.[13]

Witmer again considered running in the 2009 PC leadership election, following the resignation of John Tory, but ultimately she decided to endorse Christine Elliott.

In 2007, Equal Voice, a non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the status of women in politics, conducted an "Ontario's Greatest Female Premier" contest to name the woman in politics whom respondents felt would make the best Premier of Ontario. Witmer won the contest, ahead of political activist Georgina Bencsik and federal Member of Parliament Olivia Chow.[14]

Resignation and appointment to WSIB

On April 27, 2012 Witmer announced that she was resigning as an MPP, just seven months after the last election, and had accepted an appointment to head the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board.[15] She succeeded Steve Mahoney as chair. She revealed in September 2012 that she chose to accept the WSIB position because her husband Cam had recently been diagnosed with cancer.[16]

Chair of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)

As Chair of one of North America’s largest insurance companies, Mrs. Witmer is responsible for overseeing the WSIB’s transformation to a modern and sustainable workplace insurance system. One of Mrs. Witmer’s most notable accomplishments as Chair is the elimination of the unfunded liability (UFL) in 2018, almost a decade ahead of the legislated timeline of 2027. For the first time in recent history the WSIB is over 100% funded[17]

See also

References

Notes
  1. There was no Deputy Premier named from 2003-2006 until Smitherman was appointed by Dalton McGuinty.
  2. Renamed as Ministry of Health and Long-term Care in 1999.

Citations
  1. "Results from individual ridings". The Windsor Star. 11 September 1987. p. F2.
  2. "Ontario election: Riding-by-riding voting results". The Globe and Mail. 7 September 1990. p. A12.
  3. "Witmer resigns as MPP". TheRecord.com. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  4. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 8 June 1995. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  5. "Mike Harris' cabinet". The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont. 27 June 1995. p. A7.
  6. Rusk, James; Mackie, Richard (10 October 1997). "Premier to shuffle cabinet Ministers to move out of hot portfolios: Snobelen from Education, Wilson from Health". The Globe and Mail. p. A1.
  7. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 3 June 1999. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  8. "Ontario Cabinet". The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont. 18 June 1999. p. C8.
  9. "Flaherty to be new Ontario finance chief". Sudbury Star. 8 February 2001. p. A5.
  10. "Workers' Compensation Reform Act, 1996". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  11. "Ont-Cabinet". Toronto, Ont: Canadian Press NewsWire. 15 April 2002.
  12. "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 2 October 2003. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  13. "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 10 October 2007. p. 7 (xvi). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  14. Ontario's Greatest Female Premier Archived 2012-02-15 at the Wayback Machine at Equal Voice.
  15. "MPP Elizabeth Witmer leaves Tories for WSIB post". Toronto Star. 27 April 2012.
  16. "Elizabeth Witmer left politics after husband diagnosed with cancer". Toronto Star. 7 September 2012.
  17. "2018 Annual Report highlights | WSIB".
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