Sharon Murdock
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Sharon Margaret Murdock (born June 29, 1946 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995.
Murdock was educated at Ottawa Teacher's College, the University of Windsor and Laurentian University, receiving a law degree in 1984. She worked as an elementary school teacher from 1967 to 1979, and was a principal and teacher with the Ministry of Education's Northern Corps from 1975 to 1979, working in isolated communities. She left her teaching career to attend the School of Commerce in Windsor. Just before entering her last semester for a B.Comm., Murdock embarked on a legal career, articling with the Crown Attorney in Windsor in 1984-85. She was called to the bar in 1986. Following her call to the Bar, Murdock opted to put her legal education to work by becoming the constituency assistant to Elie Martel, M.P.P. for Sudbury East.
Murdock was involved with the NDP for many years before running for office herself. She worked for the party from 1968 to 1975, and was a canvass organizer for Bud Wildman's first campaign in the 1975 provincial election. She was a constituency assistant to Elie Martel in 1986-87, and to his daughter Shelley Martel from 1987 to 1990.
She first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, finishing third against Liberal Sterling Campbell in a close three-way race in Sudbury. She ran again in the 1990 provincial election, and defeated Campbell by 3,397 votes amid an historic majority government victory for the NDP. She served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Labour for the entirety of the Rae government's time in office. In early 1995, she announced over one million dollars in government support for aboriginal programs.
In 1994, Murdock introduced a private member's bill to make the loon Ontario's official bird.
The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Murdock lost her seat to Liberal Rick Bartolucci by over 3,500 votes. She has not sought a return to the legislature since this time.
Murdock is now the executive director of the Sudbury & Manitoulin Workforce Partnerships Board. She has recently called for an increase in skilled labourers in Ontario, suggesting that all students should explore career paths in the workforce, self-employment or apprenticeships and not limit themselves to college and university after graduating from high school.
