The Honourable Judy Sgro PC, MP
Member of Parliament for York West
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 1999
Preceded by	Sergio Marchi
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 6) North York Humber
In office January 1, 1998 – November 14, 1999
Preceded by	Ward Created
Succeeded by	Paul Valenti
Metro Councillor for North York
In office December 1, 1994 – December 31, 1997
Preceded by	?
Succeeded by	City Amalgamated
City Councillor for North York
In office 1987 – November 30, 1994
Preceded by	?
Succeeded by	?
Personal details
Born	(1944-12-16) December 16, 1944 (age 67) Moncton, New Brunswick
Political party	Liberal Party of Canada
Spouse(s)	Sam Sgro
Children	3
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Religion	Roman Catholic

Judy Sgro, PC, MP (born December 16, 1944) is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of York West in the Canadian House of Commons.

Politics[link]

Councillor[link]

Sgro was introduced to politics when she was elected to North York City Council in 1987. In 1994 she was acclaimed as a Metro councillor for North York.^[1] In 1998 she became a Toronto city councillor in the newly amalgamated city where she served a brief term as vice-chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.^[2]

Federal politics[link]

In 1997 Sgro's first attempt at Federal politics came up short when she tried to get elected in the riding of York South—Weston. She lost to John Nunziata who was running as an independent by 4,431 votes. In 1999 she won a by-election in York West to replace Sergio Marchi who had accepted an ambassadorial position. She has since been re-elected by substantial pluralities.

In 2001, she was named chairperson of the Prime Minister's "Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues". In 2003 her group released an interim report recommending increased Federal support to recognize their economic and social value.^[3]

On December 12, 2003, she was made Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the government of Paul Martin.

Political favouritism issues[link]

In November 2004, controversy began to surround Sgro as questions arose surrounding her activities during the June election earlier that year. Several members of her ministerial staff had filed expense claims to travel to and work in her riding throughout the campaign ending on election day. More serious claims were also raised when Opposition Conservative MPs claimed she had given a special immigration permit to a campaign supporter — specifically Alina Balaican, a Romanian who had initially been admitted to the country to work as a stripper. New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin also accused Sgro's aides of making threats to deny ministerial permits to his constituents if he criticized her on the stripper controversy.^[4] The press dubbed the issue "Strippergate".

On January 14, 2005, Sgro resigned from cabinet after further allegations that she had offered to intervene in the immigration hearing of Harjit Singh, a Brampton pizzeria owner, in exchange for free pizza for her campaign staff.^[5] The following day, the Toronto Star revealed that Singh had previously committed credit card fraud.^[6]

On January 31, 2005, Sgro filed a lawsuit against Singh for $750,000 in damages. On May 10, 2005, Sgro was cleared of all wrong-doing from the Strippergate debacle when it was found that Sgro didn't know that two staffers had put her in a position of conflict of interest. The ethics commissioner also concluded that Sgro had never met the woman or even knew that she had volunteered on her re-election campaign. Also the same day, Singh retracted his allegations.

Sgro was the first member of Cabinet to resign from Paul Martin's government. There was some speculation in the media that fellow minister Joe Volpe helped to engineer her resignation given that they had a cool relationship.^[7] Sgro suggested that Volpe aspired to her job but he has denied this noting that he already had a prominent cabinet portfolio.^[8] One of Volpe's first acts was to close the loophole which had previously allowed exotic dancers to easily enter the country.^[9]

"Rent" Payments to Children[link]

In the spring of 2010, Judy Sgro was found to be in a possible conflict of interest when it was revealed that she was claiming $22,000 in rent as an MP expense while paying that rent money to her children. [7]

Sgro had originally bought her Ottawa apartment herself in 2001 and transferred ownership to her children five years later. MPs who rent their place of residence in Ottawa are reimbursed up to $25,468 for accommodation while those who own can only claim $10,530 per year. [8]

The rental agreement placed Sgro in a potential conflict with House of Commons rules forbidding MPs from entering into contracts with family members. [9]

Kevin Gaudet with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls this situation unacceptable and Sgro should just come clean. "It looks like she was defrauding the taxpayer" said Mr. Gaudet. [10]

Opposition[link]

Sgro is now the Opposition Critic for Seniors & Pensions for the Liberals.^[10] On October 1, 2010, Sgro released a White paper providing recommendations for retirement income security followed by a Pension Income Bill of Rights.

Election results[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Judy Sgro
• Judy Sgro - Parliament of Canada biography

v t e Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration (1950-1966)1 Harris Pickersgill Fulton (acting) Fairclough Bell Favreau Tremblay Nicholson Marchand Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration (1994-) Marchi Robillard Caplan Coderre Sgro Volpe Solberg Finley Kenney 1The office of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration was abolished and the office of Minister of Manpower and Immigration was proclaimed in force October 1, 1966.

v t e   Current Members of the House of Commons of Canada Government v t e Conservative Party Harper Ablonczy Adams Adler Aglukkaq Albas Albrecht Alexander Allen Allison Ambler Ambrose Anders Anderson Armstrong Ashfield Aspin Baird Bateman Benoit Bernier Bezan Blaney Block Boughen Braid Breitkreuz G. Brown L. Brown P. Brown Bruinooge Butt Calandra Calkins Cannan Carmichael Carrie Chisu Chong Clarke Clement Daniel Davidson Dechert Del Mastro Devolin Dreeshen Duncan Dykstra Fantino Fast Findlay Finley Flaherty Fletcher Galipeau Gallant Gill Glover Goguen Goodyear Gosal Gourde Grewal Harris Hawn Hayes Hiebert Hillyer Hoback Hoeppner Holder James Jean Kamp Keddy Kenney Kent Kerr Komarnicki Kramp Lake Lauzon Lebel Leef Leitch Lemieux Leung Lizon Lobb Lukiwski Lunney McColeman MacKay MacKenzie McLeod Mayes Merrifield Menegakis Menzies Miller J. Moore R. Moore Nicholson Norlock Obhrai O'Connor Oda Oliver O'Neill-Gordon Opitz Paradis Payne Penashue Poilievre Preston Raitt Rajotte Rathgeber Reid Rempel Richards Rickford Ritz Saxton Scheer Schellenberger Seeback Shea Shipley Shory Smith Sopuck Sorenson Stanton Storseth Strahl Sweet Tilson Toet Toews Trost Trottier Truppe Tweed Uppal Valcourt Van Kesteren Van Loan Vellacott Wallace Warawa Warkentin Watson J. Weston R. Weston Wilks Williamson Wong Woodworth Yelich T. Young W. Young Zimmer Official Opposition v t e New Democratic Party Mulcair Allen Angus Ashton Atamanenko Ayala Aubin Benskin Bevington Blanchette Blanchette-Lamothe Boivin Borg Boulerice Boutin-Sweet Brahmi Brosseau Caron Cash Charlton Chicoine Chisholm Choquette Chow Christopherson Cleary Comartin Côté Crowder Cullen D. Davies L. Davies Day Dewar Dionne Labelle Donnelly Doré Lefebvre Dubé Duncan Dusseault Freeman Garrison Genest Genest-Jourdain Giguère Godin Gravelle Groguhé D. Harris J. Harris Hassainia Hughes Jacob Julian Kellway Larose Lapointe Latendresse Laverdière LeBlanc Leslie Liu Mai Marston Martin Masse Mathyssen Michaud Moore D. Morin I. Morin M-A. Morin M-C. Morin Nantel Nash Nicholls Nunez-Melo Papillon Patry Péclet Perreault Pilon Quach Rafferty Ravignat Raynault Rousseau Saganash Sandhu Savoie Scott Sellah Sims Sitsabaiesan Stewart Stoffer Sullivan Thibeault Toone Tremblay Turmel Third Party v t e Liberal Party Rae Andrews Bélanger Bennett Brison Byrne Casey Coderre Cotler Cuzner Dion Duncan Easter Eyking Foote Fry Garneau Goodale Hsu Karygiannis Lamoureux LeBlanc MacAulay McCallum McGuinty McKay Murray Pacetti Regan Scarpaleggia Sgro Simms St-Denis Trudeau Valeriote Independents v t e Bloc Québécois Plamondon Bellavance Fortin Mourani v t e Green Party May v t e Independent Goldring Hyer 41st Canadian Parliament Vacancies: 1

The Honourable Hedy Fry PC, MP
Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre
Incumbent
Assumed office 1993
Preceded by	Kim Campbell
Personal details
Born	(1941-08-06) August 6, 1941 (age 70) San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
Political party	Liberal
Residence	Vancouver
Profession	Physician
Religion	Catholic (lapsed) [1]

Hedy Fry, PC, MP (born August 6, 1941) is a Canadian politician and physician. She is the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre.

Early life[link]

Fry was born into poverty in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. Declining an English Literature scholarship to Oxford, Fry instead earned her equivalent^{[clarification needed]} of a BA in Science in one year and went on to then receive her medical training at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland. She emigrated to Canada and established a practice in Vancouver. She served as president of the British Columbia Federation of Medical Women in 1977. She was president of the Vancouver Medical Association in 1988-89, the BC Medical Association in 1990-91, and chaired the Canadian Medical Association's Multiculturalism Committee in 1992-9. Fry was also a host on the nationally televised CBC's Doctor Doctor.

Politics[link]

Elections[link]

Fry sought and won the Liberal Party nomination for Vancouver Centre for the 1993 federal election over lawyer David Varty and college lecturer John Lang in March 1993. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons, defeating Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell. Fry was only the fifth person to unseat a sitting prime minister, and the first to do so on his or her first try for office. Fry has been re-elected in every subsequent election (1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011). In 2006, she beat high profile NDP activist and former MP Svend Robinson and in 2008 she defeated high profile Conservative Lorne Mayencourt. Fry was re-elected in 2011 by a margin of approximately 2,000 votes.^[1]

In government[link]

She served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1993 until 1996 when she was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Status of Women.

Fry ignited a political backlash when, on March 21, 2001, in reply to a question in the House of Commons, she claimed that crosses were being burned on lawns in Prince George, British Columbia "as we speak". No evidence of this had ever been given and, when asked to justify her claim, she stated that the mayor of Prince George had informed her of this. When asked, the mayor denied having said such a thing. It was later suggested Fry had confused Prince George with Merritt, British Columbia, where a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard was arrested following reported racist activity.^[2] Fry was dropped from Cabinet when it was shuffled in 2002.

When Paul Martin became Prime Minister of Canada at the end of 2003, he made her Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with special emphasis on Foreign Credentials. After the 2004 election, she was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on the Internationally Trained Workers Initiative.

In opposition[link]

When the Liberals lost power in 2006, Fry was named as Critic for Sport Canada in the Liberal shadow cabinet.

On May 4, 2006, Fry became the 11th person, 3rd woman, and the only Westerner to officially enter the Liberal party leadership race. Fry launched her leadership campaign saying that Canada's diversity is its greatest competitive advantage - "our weapon of mass inclusion" - and called for a "non-ideological" approach to problem solving. She withdrew from the contest on September 25 and announced her support for Bob Rae.

Re-elected in Vancouver Centre for a sixth term in 2008, Fry was appointed the Official Opposition Critic for Canadian Heritage. On November 21, 2008, Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae announced that Fry would serve as his Campaign Co-Chair in British Columbia.

In 2011, as the Liberals lost their designation as Official Opposition, Fry was named Liberal Critic for Health.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Official YouTube Page
• How'd They Vote?: Hedy Fry's voting history and quotes
• Hedy Fry - Parliament of Canada biography

v t e   Current Members of the House of Commons of Canada Government v t e Conservative Party Harper Ablonczy Adams Adler Aglukkaq Albas Albrecht Alexander Allen Allison Ambler Ambrose Anders Anderson Armstrong Ashfield Aspin Baird Bateman Benoit Bernier Bezan Blaney Block Boughen Braid Breitkreuz G. Brown L. Brown P. Brown Bruinooge Butt Calandra Calkins Cannan Carmichael Carrie Chisu Chong Clarke Clement Daniel Davidson Dechert Del Mastro Devolin Dreeshen Duncan Dykstra Fantino Fast Findlay Finley Flaherty Fletcher Galipeau Gallant Gill Glover Goguen Goodyear Gosal Gourde Grewal Harris Hawn Hayes Hiebert Hillyer Hoback Hoeppner Holder James Jean Kamp Keddy Kenney Kent Kerr Komarnicki Kramp Lake Lauzon Lebel Leef Leitch Lemieux Leung Lizon Lobb Lukiwski Lunney McColeman MacKay MacKenzie McLeod Mayes Merrifield Menegakis Menzies Miller J. Moore R. Moore Nicholson Norlock Obhrai O'Connor Oda Oliver O'Neill-Gordon Opitz Paradis Payne Penashue Poilievre Preston Raitt Rajotte Rathgeber Reid Rempel Richards Rickford Ritz Saxton Scheer Schellenberger Seeback Shea Shipley Shory Smith Sopuck Sorenson Stanton Storseth Strahl Sweet Tilson Toet Toews Trost Trottier Truppe Tweed Uppal Valcourt Van Kesteren Van Loan Vellacott Wallace Warawa Warkentin Watson J. Weston R. Weston Wilks Williamson Wong Woodworth Yelich T. Young W. Young Zimmer Official Opposition v t e New Democratic Party Mulcair Allen Angus Ashton Atamanenko Ayala Aubin Benskin Bevington Blanchette Blanchette-Lamothe Boivin Borg Boulerice Boutin-Sweet Brahmi Brosseau Caron Cash Charlton Chicoine Chisholm Choquette Chow Christopherson Cleary Comartin Côté Crowder Cullen D. Davies L. Davies Day Dewar Dionne Labelle Donnelly Doré Lefebvre Dubé Duncan Dusseault Freeman Garrison Genest Genest-Jourdain Giguère Godin Gravelle Groguhé D. Harris J. Harris Hassainia Hughes Jacob Julian Kellway Larose Lapointe Latendresse Laverdière LeBlanc Leslie Liu Mai Marston Martin Masse Mathyssen Michaud Moore D. Morin I. Morin M-A. Morin M-C. Morin Nantel Nash Nicholls Nunez-Melo Papillon Patry Péclet Perreault Pilon Quach Rafferty Ravignat Raynault Rousseau Saganash Sandhu Savoie Scott Sellah Sims Sitsabaiesan Stewart Stoffer Sullivan Thibeault Toone Tremblay Turmel Third Party v t e Liberal Party Rae Andrews Bélanger Bennett Brison Byrne Casey Coderre Cotler Cuzner Dion Duncan Easter Eyking Foote Fry Garneau Goodale Hsu Karygiannis Lamoureux LeBlanc MacAulay McCallum McGuinty McKay Murray Pacetti Regan Scarpaleggia Sgro Simms St-Denis Trudeau Valeriote Independents v t e Bloc Québécois Plamondon Bellavance Fortin Mourani v t e Green Party May v t e Independent Goldring Hyer 41st Canadian Parliament Vacancies: 1