Margaret Scrivener

Margaret Mary Scrivener (c1922 - September 11, 1997) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis. Scrivener was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Scrivener was born in Toronto, and was educated at St. Mildred's Lightbourn School. She worked for the Toronto Telegram newspaper during and after World War II, and covered Marilyn Bell's historic swims across Lake Ontario. She was also active in several Rosedale community groups, and was a prominent figure in the struggle to preserve the ravines from development. She served as chair of the Ontario Planning Association, and was a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Board. From 1962 to 1970, she and her husband owned a 120-hectare dairy farm near Keswick, Ontario.^[1]

She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, where she won a substantial victory in the Toronto constituency of St. David. She was diagnosed with breast cancer before entering the legislature, but did not share this information with her colleagues.^[2] She served as a backbench supporter of Bill Davis's government, and was named a parliamentary assistant in 1974. Returning with a reduced majority in the 1975 election, she was named to cabinet on October 7, 1975 as Minister of Government Services. After a cabinet shuffle on February 3, 1977, she was named Minister of Revenue.

In the 1977 provincial election, Scrivener defeated New Democratic Party challenger Gordon Cressy by 836 votes. She was dropped from cabinet on January 21, 1978, and spent the remainder of her legislative career as a backbencher. In the 1981 provincial election, she defeated future Liberal Attorney-General Ian Scott by 1,022 votes.

She did not campaign in the 1985 election. Shortly before his official retirement as premier, Davis appointed Scrivener as chair of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.^[3] Although many considered her to be a moderate Tory, in January 1985 Scrivener endorsed Frank Miller as a candidate to succeed Davis as the leader of the Progressive Conservative party. ^[4]

Scrivener was a skilled pianist and listed Mozart and Chopin as being among her favourite composers.^[5] She died in 1997, at age 75.

Notes

1. ^ All information in this paragraph is taken from Donn Downey, "Former reporter served in Davis government", Globe and Mail, 13 September 1997.
2. ^ Dale Anne Freed, "Hundreds attend funeral for 'the lady of the ravines'", Toronto Star, 17 September 1997.
3. ^ John Cruickshank, "Davis posts Wells to London in patronage moves", Globe and Mail, 17 January 1985.
4. ^ , John Cruickshank, "Rumour mill the enemy in Miller's campaign", Globe and Mail, 23 January 1985.
5. ^ Dale Anne Freed, "Margaret Scrivener was MPP and defender of downtrodden", Toronto Star, 14 September 1997.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History