Catherine McKenna

For the Ottawa City Councillor for Somerset Ward, see Catherine McKenney.

Catherine Mary McKenna PC (born August 5, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, McKenna was the minister of environment and climate change from 2015 to 2019 and minister of infrastructure and communities from 2019 to 2021. She was the member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre from 2015 to 2021. She is currently the Chair of the United Nations High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities.^[2]

The Honourable Catherine McKenna PC
McKenna in 2016
Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
In office November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	François-Philippe Champagne
Succeeded by	Dominic LeBlanc (as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities)
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
In office November 4, 2015 – November 20, 2019
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Leona Aglukkaq
Succeeded by	Jonathan Wilkinson
Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre
In office October 19, 2015 – September 20, 2021
Preceded by	Paul Dewar
Succeeded by	Yasir Naqvi
Personal details
Born	Catherine Mary McKenna (1971-08-05) August 5, 1971 (age 51) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Scott Gilmore^[1]
Residence(s)	The Glebe, Ottawa
Alma mater	University of Toronto (BA) London School of Economics (MSc) McGill University (LLB)
Profession	Lawyer
Website	catherinemckenna.liberal.ca

Background

After graduating from École élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame (her father insisted that all his children be bilingual despite not knowing any French himself)^[3] McKenna attended Saint Mary Catholic Secondary School^[4] in Hamilton, Ontario. After graduating from the University of Toronto, she filmed a documentary in Asia.^[5][6]

Career

McKenna is trained as a lawyer.^[7] In 2005, McKenna co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad - Avocats canadiens à l'étranger (CLA-ACE), now called Level,^[8] a University of Ottawa-based charity that helps Canadian law students and law firms do pro bono legal work in developing countries.^[1][7][9]

McKenna was a senior negotiator with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor which culminated in the Timor Sea Treaty providing for the joint exploitation of petroleum resources in a part of the Timor Sea.^[10]

McKenna has practised law at leading firms in Indonesia, focusing on international trade, competition, investment and constitutional issues. In 2002, she joined Stikeman Elliott LLP, working in the areas of competition, trade, and constitutional law.^[11] During this time she was senior counsel on the review of Canada's military justice system, headed by Antonio Lamer, former chief justice of Canada.^[12]

Charity

McKenna was, before entering politics, the executive director of Level, a charity that she co-founded.^[13] Level is described as a catalyst for positive and social change. They believe that uniting the power of people, education and law will lead to a more equitable and just society.^[14]

Political career

 

McKenna on November 4, 2015, shortly before being sworn into cabinet.

 

McKenna speaking at Chatham House in 2017

In the 2015 federal election, McKenna defeated longtime New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Paul Dewar in the riding of Ottawa Centre.^[15] McKenna said that she knocked on 100,000 doors during her 522 days as a candidate.^[16] McKenna was elected with 43 per cent of the votes compared to Dewar's 38 per cent,^[17] and had campaigned on issues such as reforming the National Capital Commission, funding for a new main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, and opposing the proposed Memorial to the Victims of Communism.^[15]

McKenna was one of 50 women elected to the Liberal caucus in the 2015 election.^[16]

Minister of Environment and Climate Change

McKenna was appointed Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Justin Trudeau's first cabinet on November 4, 2015.^[18] One of her first appearances as Minister of Environment and Climate Change was at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.^[19] In this position, she played a significant role in implementing Trudeau's Environmental policy.

In December 2016, McKenna led a clean-technology sector business delegation with Canadian and Chinese companies in China. Additionally, she served as the international executive vice-chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and co-chaired the council's annual general meeting with China's Minister of Environmental Protection, Minister Chen Jining.^[20]

Some of McKenna's critics have derisively nicknamed her "Climate Barbie", a label McKenna considers a sexist insult.^[21] Conservative MP Gerry Ritz caused controversy in September 2017 when he tweeted a link to a news story stating no industrialized nations were on pace to meet Paris Agreement carbon emission targets with the comment "Has anyone told our climate Barbie! [sic]" (referring to McKenna).^[22] Ritz eventually deleted the original post, afterward posted another message stating: "I apologize for the use of Barbie, it is not reflective of the role the Minister plays".^[23] Conservative leader Andrew Scheer condemned Ritz's comment later in the day and stated he would reach out to McKenna personally to "assure the minister that this type of behavior has no place in the Conservative caucus".^[24]

In November 2018, in response to the Government of Ontario's decision to cancel all climate action projects supported through the federal Low Carbon Economy Fund, McKenna announced that the Government of Canada would work directly with businesses to re-invest the $200-million remaining in the province's Low Carbon Economy Fund.^[25][26][27]

Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

In November 2019, McKenna was appointed as the minister of infrastructure and communities.^[28][29]

Departure from politics

In late June of 2021, McKenna announced she would not seek re-election to her seat in Parliament.^[30][31] Following the 2021 federal election, she was succeeded as MP by Yasir Naqvi, a Liberal who served as the attorney general of Ontario in the provincial government of Kathleen Wynne.^[32]

Personal life

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, she is the eldest of four children of Dr. John McKenna, an Irish dentist and his Quebec-born wife Pat McKenna, who lived in the southwest part of Hamilton.^[3][4][33] On August 14, 1999, McKenna married entrepreneur and writer Scott Gilmore, with whom she has lived since 2002 in The Glebe, Ottawa.^[1][3] They have one daughter and two sons.^[3] The actor Patrick Gilmore is McKenna's brother-in-law.

Electoral record

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Catherine McKenna	38,391	48.66	+5.99	$113,154.09
	New Democratic	Emilie Taman	22,916	29.04	-9.50	$119,073.61
	Conservative	Carol Clemenhagen	9,920	12.57	-1.92	$63,743.89
	Green	Angela Keller-Herzog	5,837	7.40	+4.42	none listed
	People's	Merylee Sevilla	720	0.91	–	$2,536.21
	Libertarian	Coreen Corcoran	360	0.46	-0.27	$1,030.86
	Animal Protection	Shelby Bertrand	207	0.26	–	none listed
	Christian Heritage	Marie-Chantal Leriche	198	0.25	–	none listed
	Independent	Chris G. Jones	177	0.22	–	$3,526.62
	Communist	Stuart Ryan	111	0.14	-0.02	$496.90
	Independent	Giang Ha Thu Vo	65	0.08	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			78,902	99.39
Total rejected ballots			482	0.61	+0.10
Turnout			79,384	78.43	-1.57
Eligible voters			101,219
	Liberal hold		Swing		+7.74
Source: Elections Canada^[34]^[35]

2015 Canadian federal election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Catherine McKenna	32,111	42.66	+22.54	$192,865.14
	New Democratic	Paul Dewar	29,098	38.54	−13.62	$196,692.80
	Conservative	Damian Konstantinakos	10,943	14.49	−7.14	$74,191.60
	Green	Tom Milroy	2,246	2.97	−2.06	$5,564.56
	Libertarian	Dean T. Harris	551	0.73	–	–
	Rhinoceros	Conrad Lukawski	167	0.22	–	$2.96
	Marijuana	John Andrew Omowole Akpata	160	0.21	–	–
	Communist	Stuart Ryan	124	0.16	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			75,500	100.00		$233,540.54
Total rejected ballots			386	0.51	–
Turnout			75,886	82.82	–
Eligible voters			91,625
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+18.08
Source: Elections Canada^[36]^[37]^[38]

References

1. . Ottawa Citizen. January 7, 2015. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
2. "High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities". Retrieved September 21, 2022.
3. McKercher, Ian (April 9, 2015). "Catherine McKenna and the future we want for our children". The Glebe Report. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
4. Peters, Ken (November 4, 2015). "Hamilton women who packed some political punch". Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
5. "Real Travels: 60 days in Indonesia."
6. Sibley, Robert (October 20, 2015). "McKenna upsets Dewar in Ottawa Centre". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
7. Wood, Michael (August 15, 2015). . Metro News. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
8. "About Level". leveljustice.org.
9. Taylor-Vaisey, Nick (October 3, 2014). "An escalator pitch from Catherine McKenna on Canada in 2020". Maclean's. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
10. "Catherine McKenna bio". Government of Canada. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
11. . Master of Global Affairs. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
12. Toolkit, Web Experience. "The Honourable Catherine McKenna". Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
13. "Biography". catherinemckenna.liberal.ca. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
14. Level. "About Level". Level. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
15. Helmer, Aedan (October 20, 2015). "Catherine McKenna scores huge victory in NDP stronghold". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
16. Blanchfield, Mike. . The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
17. "CBC News: Election 2015 roundup". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
18. "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". CBC News.
19. "Environment minister looking for 'ambitious' deal at climate summit". CTVNews. November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
20. "Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change leads clean-technology business delegation to China and meets with the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development". Canada NewsWire. December 3, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
21. DiManno, Rosie (November 7, 2017). "On 'Climate Barbie' and the art of the insult". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
22. "Canada MP sorry for Catherine McKenna 'climate Barbie' remark". BBC News. September 20, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
23. "Gerry Ritz apologizes for calling Catherine McKenna 'climate Barbie'". CBC News. September 20, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
24. Campion-Smith, Bruce (September 20, 2017). "Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer condemns 'Barbie' insult by his own MP". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
25. "Canada announces new Energy Savings Rebate program to help Ontarians save money and fight climate change". Government of Canada. August 27, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
26. "Catherine McKenna avoids Ont. government, imposes climate change agenda through municipalities, corporations". Retrieved February 7, 2019.
27. Canada, Environment and Climate Change (November 8, 2018). "Government of Canada to support energy efficiency and climate action in Ontario". gcnws. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
28. Blewett, Taylor (November 21, 2019). "Catherine McKenna out of environment, Mona Fortier into cabinet after shuffle". ottawacitizen.com. from the original on April 21, 2020.
29. "Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Mandate Letter". pm.gc.ca (Press release). PMO. December 13, 2019. from the original on April 21, 2020.
30. "'I've got another chapter in me': McKenna leaves federal politics, looks forward". Kitchissippi times. September 9, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
31. Bryden, Joan (June 27, 2021). "Catherine McKenna retiring from politics, will not run in next election". CTVNews. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
32. "Yasir Naqvi elected as MP for Ottawa Centre". Kitchissippi times. October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
33. Catherine McKenna [@cathmckenna] (October 18, 2015). "Tomorrow's a big day. Thankful that I have my mom & dad in town. I owe so much to them. #RealChangeStartsAtHome #lpc" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
34. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
35. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
36. "Voter Information Service - Who are the candidates in my electoral district?". elections.ca.
37. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
38. Canada, © 2013 - Élections. "Résultats du soir d'élection - Circonscriptions". enr.elections.ca.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catherine McKenna.

• Official Website
• Bio & mandate from the Prime Minister
• Catherine McKenna – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca

29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
François-Philippe Champagne	Minister of Infrastructure and Communities November 20, 2019 – October 26, 2021	Dominic LeBlanc
Leona Aglukkaq	Minister of the Environment and Climate Change November 4, 2015 – November 20, 2019	Jonathan Wilkinson