Catherine Callbeck

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Catherine S. Callbeck, B.Comm. , B.Ed. (born July 25, 1939 in Central Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, Canada) was premier of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 1996, and the first woman in Canadian history to win the office of premier in a general election. (She was preceded by Rita Johnston, who became premier by winning the leadership of the governing party but lost the subsequent provincial election, and Nellie Cournoyea, who became premier of the Northwest Territories under a consensus government system.)

Callbeck was premier at the same time as the other two most important public offices in the province were also held by women: Marion Reid being the Lieutenant Governor and Patricia Mella being the Leader of the Official Opposition.

A Liberal, she was first elected to Prince Edward Island's provincial legislature in 1974. She was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Health and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Disabled Persons. She decided not to seek re-election in 1978 in order to work in the family business.

Callbeck returned to politics in 1988 when she was elected to the federal House of Commons as an MP for the Liberal Party of Canada. In January 1993 she returned to provincial politics to successfully run for the leadership of the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party. Under her leadership the Liberals won the provincial election in March 1993 becoming the first female leader of a political party in Canada to lead her party to victory in a general election.

Her government proved to be unpopular, however, mainly because of her 7.5% rollback on public sector employees salaries, staining her party's image for years to come. Callbeck resigned in October 1996 after only three and a half years as PEI's premier. In September 1997 she was appointed to the Senate. She can serve in the Senate until July 25, 2014, when she reaches the Senate's mandatory retirement age.

[edit] External links

• Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Mel Gass	Member of Parliament from Malpeque 1988–1993	Succeeded by Wayne Easter
Preceded by Doris M. Anderson, Liberal	Senator from Prince Edward Island September 23, 1997 - present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Joseph A. Ghiz	Premier of Prince Edward Island 1993-1996	Succeeded by Keith Milligan

	Prince Edward Island Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament.
Senators	Catherine Callbeck (Lib), Percy Downe (Lib), Elizabeth Hubley (Lib)
Members of Parliament	Wayne Easter (Lib), Lawrence MacAulay (Lib), Joe McGuire (Lib), Shawn Murphy (Lib)

Premiers of Prince Edward Island
Colony: Coles | Holl | Coles | E. Palmer | Gray | Pope | Coles | Hensley | Haythorne | Pope | Haythorne | Province: Pope | Owen | Davies | Sullivan | McLeod | F. Peters | Warburton | Farquharson | A. Peters | Haszard | J. Palmer | Mathieson | Arsenault | Bell | Stewart | Saunders | Lea | Stewart | MacMillan | Lea | T. Campbell | Jones | Matheson | Shaw | A. Campbell | B. Campbell | MacLean | Lee | Ghiz | Callbeck | Milligan | Binns