Deborah Coyne

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Deborah Margaret Ryland Coyne, (born 1955), LLD , MPhil is a Canadian constitutional lawyer, professor and author. She is the cousin of journalist Andrew Coyne and actress Susan Coyne, and the niece of former governor of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne. Her education includes a Doctor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Master of Philosophy from Oxford University in international relations.

She was a staffer in the Prime Minister's Office of John Turner, before spending two years teaching constitutional law at the University of Toronto Law School; she has also worked for the Business Council on National Issues and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Coyne was a constitutional advisor to then Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells and helped draft his opposition to the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord. In 1992, she was one of the leaders of the "No" campaign during the referendum on the Charlottetown Accord, writing and speaking extensively in opposition to the deal.

Until the 2006 federal election was called she was a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.^[1]</ref> In that election, she ran in the electoral district of Toronto—Danforth as a Liberal Party candidate against New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton. Coyne finished second to Layton with 17,256 votes, or 34.2%. In the next federal election, Coyne intends^[2] to again compete against Layton^[3] and Green Party candidate Charles Battershill.^[4]

Coyne has two daughters; the first, Sarah, was the daughter of Pierre Trudeau and was born in 1991. Coyne and Trudeau never married, however, with Coyne later marrying Canadian journalist Michael Valpy with whom she had a son. The couple are now divorced, and she lives with her family in Toronto.