Diane Marleau

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Diane Marleau, PC , MP (born June 21, 1943 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario) is a Canadian politician and former Cabinet minister.

Before being elected to the Canadian House of Commons, she served as an alderman in Sudbury, Ontario and as a regional councillor in the Regional Municipality of Sudbury from 1980 to 1985. She was first elected to the House of Commons as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Sudbury in the 1988 election, a seat she presently holds.

When Jean Chrétien's Liberals were elected to government following the 1993 election, Marleau joined the Cabinet. She served as Minister of Health and Minister of Amateur Sport from 1993 to 1996. Although Marleau's relatively low-key management style did not provoke any major controversies, it was seen by some opposition members as incompatible with one of the most powerful and important positions in cabinet; Marleau was once called a "two-by-four" in the House of Commons by opposition MP Grant Hill. [1]

In 1996, she was appointed to the position of Minister of Public Works and Minister of Supply and Services, which was seen as a demotion. During her term, these positions were amalgamated into the position of Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

In 1997, she was moved to the position of Minister for International Co-operation and Minister responsible for La Francophonie, and then was dropped from the Cabinet entirely in 1999.

After being sent to the backbench, she became critical of Chretien's leadership and vocal in her support for Paul Martin to replace him.

During her time in the backbench, Madame Marleau oversaw a thorough review of Canada's laws surrounding the protection of older adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Her work on this file led to her introduction of the first-ever Older Adults Justice Act in 2003. The bill had three main components: to establish the office of the ombudsman for the protection of older adults at the national level, to create the Older Adult Justice Agency to co-ordinate older adult justice policies and programs, and to amend the Criminal Code of Canada in two ways by expanding the category of victims to include a person's mother and father, or any person that is under the care of an offender, as well as to make it a criminal offence to knowingly target an older adult for criminal purposes. The Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Justice on March 31, 2004, for review and hearings by the House of Commons in a vote of 165 to 19. 18 members of the Bloc Québécois and one Conservative MP (Art Hanger, MP for Calgary Northeast) opposed referral to Committee. The legislation died at Committee when Parliament was dissolved for the 2004 federal election. It was re-introduced by Lloyd St. Amand, Member of Parliament for Brant, in the 38th Parliament.

In 2004, after Martin succeeded Chretien as Liberal leader and prime minister, he appointed Marleau Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board.

In 2006, Marleau ran for Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons when Parliament reconvened.[2] Fellow Liberal MP Peter Milliken won on the first ballot.[3] She has endorsed Bob Rae in the current Liberal leadership race. Marleau is the current Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, and as such is one of two Opposition chairs of Committees of the House of Commons (the other being Shawn Murphy, Chair of Public Accounts).

Marleau's husband, Paul Marleau, is a prominent businessman in Sudbury who ran for mayor of the city in 2003. (See Ontario municipal elections, 2003.)

26th Ministry - Government of Jean Chrétien
Cabinet Posts (5)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Don Boudria	Minister for International Cooperation (1997–1999)	Maria Minna
legislation enacted	Minister of Public Works and Government Services (1996–1997)	Alfonso Gagliano
David Dingwall	Minister of Public Works (1996) styled as Minister of Public Works and Government Services	legislation enacted
David Dingwall	Minister of Supply and Services (1996) styled as Minister of Public Works and Government Services	legislation enacted
Mary Collins	Minister of National Health and Welfare (1993–1996) styled as Minister of Health	David Dingwall
Special Cabinet Responsibilities
Predecessor	Title	Successor
Don Boudria	Minister responsible for La Francophonie (1997–1999)	vacant, then Denis Coderre

Preceded by: Doug Frith

Member of Parliament for Sudbury 1988-present

Succeeded by: incumbent