Mary Walker-Sawka

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Mary Walker-Sawka (born 1916?) was the first woman ever to seek the leadership of a major political party in Canada. She was a surprise last-minute candidate at the 1967 leadership convention of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, a centre-right party that formed the official opposition in the Canadian House of Commons at the time. She was a movie producer and freelance writer.

The convention had been called after a revolt by party members against the leadership of John Diefenbaker. The party was badly divided between supporters and opponents of the former prime minister.

Walker-Sawka said that she was a Diefenbaker supporter, but was running because she felt she could “add a few things” to Diefenbaker’s program. She gave a short speech setting out her ideas for PC party policy:

  • Canada should withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD);
  • Canada should closely supervise its foreign aid programs to ensure that aid does not end up on the black market;
  • all houses more than 20 or 30 years old should be torn down and re-built;
  • Old Age Security payments should be increased to $100 per month;
  • the education system should be modernized, and at least six languages should be taught in schools;
  • the 11% federal sales tax should be eliminated.

When she was nominated at the convention, she had no seconder. Some time passed before a female Hees supporter seconded Walker-Sawka’s nomination in order to save her the embarrassment. Walker-Sawka called upon the women of the party to stand with her. She won only two votes on the first ballot, and was dropped from the ballot.

It is not clear how her candidacy was viewed at the time. The Toronto Star newspaper reported that she gave a concise speech laying out her ideas on various issues. The Globe and Mail newspaper, on the other hand, reported that she “looked like a housewife who had mistakenly wandered on stage while looking for a bingo game.” It seems likely that the Globe’s reportage reflected prevailing sexism in politics at the time. Walker-Sawka had said that as head of a film production company, she had never had time to be a housewife.

Sources: Toronto Star and Globe and Mail newspapers, August-September 1967.

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