| The Right Honourable Kim Campbell PC CC QC |
|
|---|---|
| 19th Prime Minister of Canada | |
| In office June 25, 1993 – November 4, 1993 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Deputy | Jean Charest |
| Preceded by | Brian Mulroney |
| Succeeded by | Jean Chrétien |
| Minister of National Defence | |
| In office January 4, 1993 – June 25, 1993 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Marcel Massé |
| Minister of Veterans Affairs | |
| In office January 4, 1993 – June 25, 1993 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Gerald Merrithew |
| Succeeded by | Peter McCreath |
| Minister responsible for Federal-Provincial Relations | |
| In office January 4, 1993 – June 25, 1993 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Marcel Massé (Intergovernmental Affairs) |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office February 23, 1990 – January 3, 1993 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Doug Lewis |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Blais |
| Member of the Canada Parliament for Vancouver Centre |
|
| In office November 21, 1988 – October 25, 1993 |
|
| Preceded by | Pat Carney |
| Succeeded by | Hedy Fry |
| Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Point Grey | |
| In office September 24, 1986 – November 21, 1988 Serving with Darlene Marzari |
|
| Preceded by | Pat McGeer Garde Gardom |
| Succeeded by | Tom Perry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 10, 1947 Port Alberni, British Columbia |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative (1988–2003) |
| Other political affiliations |
British Columbia Social Credit Party (Before 1988) |
| Spouse(s) | Nathan Divinsky (1972–1983) Howard Eddy (1986–1993) Hershey Felder (1997–present) |
| Residence | Paris, France |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia London School of Economics |
| Profession | Lawyer Academic |
| Religion | Anglicanism |
| Signature | |
Avril Phædra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, PC, CC, QC (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, university professor, diplomat, and writer. She served as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993, to November 4, 1993 (132 days). Campbell was the first and to date the only female Prime Minister of Canada, the first baby boomer to hold that office, and the only PM to have been born in British Columbia.
Campbell was born in Port Alberni, British Columbia to George Thomas Campbell (1920–2002) and Phyllis "Lisa" Cook. Her mother left the family when Campbell was 12, leaving Kim and her sister Alix to be raised by their father. As a teenager, Campbell permanently nicknamed herself Kim, perhaps for actress Kim Novak,[1] as well as because "Kim" resembles the first syllable of Campbell when said in a Highlander accent (by a non-Highlander).
While in her pre-teens, Campbell was a host and reporter on the CBC children's program Junior Television Club.[2]
Campbell and her family moved to Vancouver, where she attended Prince of Wales Secondary School, and was a top student. She became the school's first female student president, and graduated in 1964.
She earned an honours B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1969. She was active in the student government and served as the school's first female president of the freshman class. She then completed a year of graduate study at that school, to qualify for doctoral-level studies.[3] Campbell entered the London School of Economics in 1970 to study towards her doctorate in Soviet Government, and spent three months touring the Soviet Union, from April to June 1972. She had spent several years studying the Russian language, and was close to being fluent.[4] Campbell ultimately left her doctoral studies, returning to live in Vancouver after marrying Nathan Divinsky, her longtime partner, in 1972. She earned, in 1983, an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1984, and practised law in Vancouver until 1986.
During her marriage to Divinsky, Campbell lectured part-time in political science at the University of British Columbia and at Vancouver Community College. While still attending law school, she entered politics as a trustee on the Vancouver School Board, becoming, in 1983, the chair of that board and serving in 1984 as its vice-chair. She once claimed to have told the board to "back off" although others alleged that she said "fuck off," which author Gordon Donaldson compares to Pierre Trudeau's "fuddle duddle" incident.[5] In total, she was a trustee there from 1980 to 1984 (Divinsky also had been chair). Campbell and Divinsky were divorced in 1983, and Campbell married Howard Eddy in 1986, a marriage that lasted until shortly before she became prime minister. Campbell is the second prime minister of Canada to have been divorced, after Pierre Trudeau.
She briefly dated Gregory Lekhtman, the inventor of Exerlopers, during her term as prime minister, but the relationship was relatively private and she did not involve him in the election campaign. She is currently in a common-law marriage to Hershey Felder, an actor, playwright, composer, and concert pianist. Although childless, she remains close to Nathan Divinsky's daughter Pamela.
Campbell was the unsuccessful BC Social Credit Party (Socred) candidate in Vancouver Centre for a seat in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in 1983, receiving 12,740 votes (19.3% in a double member riding). Campbell ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the BC Social Credit Party in the summer of 1986 (placing last with fewer than a dozen votes from delegates), but was elected in October 1986 to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly as a Socred member for Vancouver-Point Grey, getting 19,716 votes (23.2%, also in a double member riding).
Less than two years later, Campbell resigned from the B.C. legislature to run in the 1988 federal election as a Progressive Conservative in Vancouver Centre, in downtown Vancouver. She won, in a surprise outcome, and immediately joined the cabinet, becoming Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1989–1990). She later became Canada's first female Minister of Justice and Attorney General (1990–1993). She was then appointed as the first female Minister of National Defence after Mulroney shuffled his cabinet in 1993.
In February 1993, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced his retirement from politics, to take effect June 25, 1993. Campbell entered the PC Party leadership race, to succeed Mulroney. She defeated Jean Charest at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention that June, and Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn formally appointed her Prime Minister on June 25. As a concession to Charest, Campbell appointed him to the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, the first a largely symbolic, and the second a significant cabinet portfolio position.
Campbell had served in four cabinet portfolios prior to running for the party leadership, including three years as Minister of Justice, and garnered support of more than half the PC caucus when she declared for the leadership. After becoming party leader and Prime Minister, Campbell set about reorganizing the cabinet. She cut it from 35 ministers to 23 ministers; she consolidated ministries by creating three new ministries: Health, Canadian Heritage, and Public Security. Campbell extensively campaigned during the summer, touring the nation and attending barbecues and other events. In August 1993, a Gallup Canada poll showed Campbell as having a 51 percent approval rating, which placed her as Canada's most popular prime minister in 30 years.[6] By the end of the summer, her personal popularity had increased greatly, far surpassing that of Liberal Party leader Jean Chrétien.[7] Support for the Progressive Conservative Party had also increased to within a few points of the Liberals, while the Reform Party had been reduced to single digits.
Campbell was the only Canadian prime minister not to have resided at 24 Sussex Drive since that address became the official home of the Prime Minister of Canada in 1951. Initially, Campbell's predecessor Mulroney remained at 24 Sussex while renovations on his new home in Montreal were being completed. Campbell instead took up residence at Harrington Lake, the PM's summer and weekend retreat, located in rural Quebec, north of Ottawa, and she did not move into 24 Sussex after Mulroney left. Like Charles Tupper and John Turner, Campbell never sat in Parliament as Prime Minister, as her term was filled by the summer break and the election campaign.
When an election was called in the fall of 1993, the party had high hopes that it would be able to remain in power and, if not, would at least be a strong opposition to a Liberal minority government. The election had to be called at that time, since the government mandate for a maximum of five years was set to expire; thus, Campbell had no choice on the timing of the election.
However, Campbell's initial popularity soon declined, due to public-relations mistakes committed after the writ was dropped. When she was running for the party leadership, Campbell's frank honesty was seen as an important asset and a sharp contrast from Mulroney's highly-polished style. However, that style backfired when she told reporters at a Rideau Hall event that it was unlikely that the deficit or unemployment would be much reduced before the "end of the century". During the election campaign, she further stated that discussing a complete overhaul of Canada's social policies in all their complexities could not be done in just 47 days; this statement was reduced to her having stated that an election is no time to discuss important issues.
Some have pointed to her gender as a major contributing factor to her historic loss. University of New Brunswick professor Joanna Everitt writes that while media simply reported the facts about rival male leaders such as Jean Chrétien, Campbell's actions were usually interpreted as having some motive (drawing up support, appealing to a group, etc.).[8]
The Conservatives support tailed off rapidly as the campaign progressed. By October, it was obvious that Campbell and the Tories would not be re-elected. All polls showed the Liberals were on their way to at least a minority government, and would probably win a majority without dramatic measures. However, Campbell was still personally more popular than Chrétien. Knowing this, the Conservative campaign team put together a series of ads attacking the Liberal leader. The second ad appeared to mock Chrétien's Bell's Palsy facial paralysis, and generated a severe backlash from all sides. Even some Tory candidates called for the ad to be pulled from broadcasts. Campbell claims to have not been directly responsible for the ad, and to have ordered it off the air[9] over her staff's objections.
The ad controversy was widely regarded as the final nail in Campbell's prime ministerial coffin. Conservative support plummeted, all but assuring that the Liberals would win a majority government, short of a complete meltdown in the dying days of the campaign. Canadian humorist Will Ferguson suggested that this incident meant Campbell should receive "some of the blame" for her party's losses, though "taking over the party leadership from Brian (Mulroney) was a lot like taking over the controls of a 747 just before it plunges into the Rockies."[10]
The Somalia Affair took place during her "watch" as Minister of National Defence, and became a handicap during her subsequent period of public life. When the Liberal Party of Canada took power, the incident became the subject of a lengthy public inquiry, continuing to focus attention on Campbell and the PCs.
On election night, October 25, the Progressive Conservatives were swept from power in a Liberal landslide. Campbell herself was defeated in Vancouver Centre by rookie Liberal Hedy Fry. She conceded defeat with the wisecrack, "Gee, I'm glad I didn't sell my car."[11]
It was only the third time in Canadian history that a prime minister was unseated at the same time that his or her party lost an election. In 1921, Arthur Meighen was unseated in his Manitoba riding at the same time that his Conservatives were defeated; this recurred in 1926 to end his second brief tenure as prime minister. Mackenzie King kept the Liberals in power after the 1925 election, but lost his seat and had to win a by-election to get back into Parliament. All Progressive Conservatives running for re-election lost their seats, with the lone exception of Sherbrooke MP Jean Charest (Elsie Wayne was elected as a freshman MP from New Brunswick). The Tories' previous support in Western Canada moved to Reform and the Liberals, while the Bloc Québécois inherited most Tory support in Quebec. In some cases, the Bloc pushed Cabinet ministers from Quebec into third place.
The Tories still finished with over two million votes, taking third place in the popular vote, and falling only two percentage points short of Reform for second place. However, as a consequence of the first past the post system, Tory support was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into victories in individual ridings. In contrast, the geographic concentration of support for Reform in the West and for the Bloc in Quebec garnered them significant numbers of parliamentary seats. As a result, the Tories won only two seats, compared to Reform's 52 and the Bloc's 54. It was the worst defeat in party history, and the worst defeat ever suffered by a Canadian governing party at the federal level.
Campbell faced hurdles that she blamed as being insurmountable. Mulroney left office as one of the most (and according to Campbell, the most)[12] unpopular prime ministers since opinion polling began in the 1940s. He considerably hampered his own party's campaign effort by staging a very lavish international farewell tour at taxpayer expense, and by staying in office until only two and a half months were left in his mandate. Under the circumstances, Campbell came into office with almost no room to make mistakes. Nonetheless, Campbell's pre-election summer tour did boost the Progressive Conservatives in the polls to within a few points of the Liberals.
By the time she dropped the writ for the 1993 election, she was only a few days from becoming the first prime minister to allow a Parliament to expire. Another factor was that the race was a five-way contest with Reform and the Bloc competing with the three traditional parties for votes. The campaign had no central issue near the importance of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement five years earlier, to make support for such parties seem risky.
Soon after the defeat, Campbell resigned as party leader; Jean Charest succeeded her.
Despite her dramatic loss in the election, the Canadian women's magazine Chatelaine named Campbell as its Woman of the Year for 1993.[13]
Campbell returned to lecturing in political science for a few years, this time at Harvard University. It was rumoured she was to be moved to Moscow as the ambassador to Russia.[14] However, she did not receive this appointment. Then, in 1996, the Liberal government that had defeated Campbell's appointed her Consul General to Los Angeles, a post in which she remained until 2000.
She published an autobiography, Time and Chance, (ISBN 0-770-42738-3) in 1996. The book became a national bestseller in Canada, and is currently in its third edition from the University of Alberta Press (ISBN 000010132x).
In 1997, Campbell collaborated with her third husband, composer, playwright and actor Hershey Felder, on the production of a musical, Noah's Ark in Los Angeles. From 2001 to 2004, she lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She continues as an Honorary Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School. She also is the director of several publicly traded companies in high technology and biotechnology.
From 1999 to 2003, she chaired the Council of Women World Leaders, a network of women who hold or have held the office of president or prime minister. She was succeeded by former Irish President Mary Robinson. From 2003 until 2005 she served as President of the International Women's Forum, a global organization of women of prominent achievement, with headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Campbell serves on the Board of the International Crisis Group and the Forum of Federations, and is on the advisory bodies of many international organizations. In 2004, she was included in the list of 50 most important political leaders in history in the Almanac of World History compiled by the National Geographic Society. She was cited for her status as the only woman head of government of a North American country (defined variously), but controversy ensued among academics in Canada over the merit of this honour, since her brief term in office was marked by very few, if any, major political accomplishments.
She was a founding member of the Club of Madrid, an independent organization whose main purpose is to strengthen democracy in the world. Its membership is by invitation only, and consists of former Heads of State and Government. In 2004, Campbell assumed the role of Secretary General of the organization.
On November 30, 2004, Campbell's official portrait for the parliamentary Prime Minister's gallery was unveiled. The painting was created by Victoria, British Columbia artist David Goatley. Campbell said she was "deeply honoured" to be the only woman to have her picture in the Prime Ministers' corridor, stating: "I really look forward to the day when there are many other female faces." The painting shows a pensive Campbell sitting on a chair with richly coloured Haida capes and robes in the background, symbolizing her time as a cabinet minister and as an academic. The unveiling took place amidst protests against President George W. Bush's state visit to Canada.[15]
During the 2006 election campaign, Campbell endorsed the candidacy of Tony Fogarassy, the Conservative candidate in Campbell's former riding of Vancouver Centre. Campbell also clarified to reporters that she is a supporter of the new Conservative Party. Fogarassy lost the election, placing a distant third.
Campbell has a residence in Paris, France and recently joined the Board of Trustees of the Ukrainian Foundation for Effective Governance, an NGO formed in September 2007 with the aid of Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.[16]
While testifying in April 2009 at the Mulroney-Schreiber Airbus inquiry, Campbell said she still follows Canadian politics "intermittently."[17]
As Justice Minister, Campbell brought about a new rape law that clarified sexual assault and whose passage firmly entrenched that in cases involving sexual assault, "no means no." She also introduced the rape shield law, legislation that protects a person's sexual past from being explored during trial.
Since Campbell never sat in Parliament during her four months as prime minister, she was unable to bring forth new legislation, which must be formally introduced there. However, she did implement radical changes to the structure of the Canadian government. Under her tenure, the federal cabinet's size was cut from over 75 cabinet ministers and ministers of state to 23. The number of cabinet committees was reduced from 11 to five. Her successors have continued to keep the size of the federal Cabinet to approximately 30 members. She was also the first prime minister to convene a First Ministers' conference for consultation prior to representing Canada at the G7 Summit. Due to her brief time in office, Campbell holds a unique spot among Canadian prime ministers in that she made no Senate appointments.
Campbell has harshly criticized Mulroney for not allowing her to succeed him before June 1993. In her view, when she finally became prime minister, she had very little time or chance to make up ground on the Liberals once her initial popularity faded. In her memoirs, Time and Chance as well as her response to The Secret Mulroney Tapes, Campbell even suggested that Mulroney knew the Tories would be defeated in the upcoming election, and wanted a "scapegoat who would bear the burden of his unpopularity" rather than a viable successor. The cause of the 1993 debacle remains disputed, with some arguing that the election results were a vote against Mulroney rather than a rejection of Campbell, and others suggesting that the poorly run Campbell campaign was the key factor in the result.
Although the Progressive Conservatives survived as a distinct political party for another decade after the 1993 debacle, they never recovered their previous standing. During that period they were led by Jean Charest (1993–1998), Elsie Wayne (1998) and then, for the second time, by Joe Clark (1998–2003) (who had been Opposition Leader and briefly Prime Minister 20 years earlier). By 2003, the party under new leader Peter MacKay had voted to merge with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada, thus formally ceasing to exist; this occurred despite MacKay having earlier promised that he would not do this. Joe Clark continued to sit as a "Progressive Conservative" into 2004, and the new generation of right-leaning Conservatives gained power in the election of 2006, ensuring the "Tory" nickname's survival in the federal politics of Canada. A PC "rump" caucus continues to exist in the Senate of Canada, consisting of certain Clark, Mulroney and Paul Martin appointees.
Campbell remains one of the youngest women to have ever assumed the office of Prime Minister in any country, and thus also one of the youngest to have left the office.
Campbell was ranked #20 out of the first 20 Prime Ministers of Canada (through Jean Chrétien) by a survey of Canadian historians used by J.L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer in their book Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders.
She has appeared on the CBC Television program Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, a show which profiles and selects young prospective leaders.
According to Canadian protocol, as a former Prime Minister, she is styled "The Right Honourable" for life.
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