Chaviva Hošek

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Chaviva Milada Hošek OC (born 6 October 1946 in Czechoslovakia) is a Canadian academic, feminist and former politician.

[edit] Early life

The child of Holocaust survivors, Hošek was born to a Hungarian Jewish family living in Bohemia and raised in Montreal. She received her undergraduate degree from McGill University and earned a doctorate in English literature from Harvard in 1973 (specializing in the poetry of Walt Whitman).

[edit] Career

She worked as a professor of English Literature at the University of Toronto for thirteen years. An active feminist, she served as president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women from 1984 to 1986. She later described her time at the NAC as "the harshest political experience I ever had", claiming that the group was polarized by internal divisions during this period.[1] Hosek was named B'nai Brith Woman of the Year in 1984 and received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in 1986 for Community and Public Service.

In the 1987 Ontario election, Hošek sought and won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as the Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for the Toronto constituency of Oakwood, defeating Ontario New Democratic Party incumbent Tony Grande by 1,331 votes. She was immediately appointed to David Peterson's cabinet as Minister of Housing, and embarked on a program to expand social housing.

Hošek resigned from cabinet on October 1, 1989, due to charges that she had hired a developer in her department. Hosek had also attracted controversy by not reappointing popular former Toronto mayor John Sewell to the board of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority. She was later cleared by the provincial auditor of any wrongdoing.

The Peterson government was defeated in the [[Ontario general election, 1990|1990 Ontario election], Hosek lost her riding to Tony Rizzo of the NDP by 2,280 votes.

Hošek became director of the Liberal Party of Canada's caucus research bureau in 1990. Along with Paul Martin, she co-authored Creating Opportunity, as the party's campaign platform for the 1993 federal election was called. After Liberal leader Jean Chrétien became Prime Minister of Canada, Hosek was appointed Director of Policy and Research in the Prime Minister's Office, and wrote the Liberal platforms for the 1997 and 2000 federal elections

In 2001, Hošek left the PMO to become president and CEO of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

In 2006, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[2]