[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Path Hyperlinks
NewsLocal Information
Former federal cupboard minister remembered as “a constant, passionate, clever advocate”

Article content material
Iona Campagnolo rose from humble beginnings to the highest of Canadian politics, serving as a minister in Pierre Trudeau’s Liberal authorities within the Nineteen Seventies and changing into the lieutenant-governor of B.C. from 2001-2007.
She was the primary girl to be appointed B.C.’s lieutenant-governor. She was additionally Canada’s first minister of novice sport. And within the Nineteen Eighties, she was the primary feminine president of the federal Liberal occasion.
Commercial 2
Article content material
Article content material
Campagnolo died on the age of 91. In a information launch asserting Campagnolo’s loss of life, B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin referred to as her “radiant and tireless,” an apt description for a girl mentioned to have given 350 speeches per yr in her function as lieutenant-governor.
“She was a constant, passionate, clever advocate all her life,” mentioned former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.
“She had a charisma, a appeal, she was articulate … and tough-minded, all of the belongings you need in a politician. She at all times was constant in advocating for First Nations and Northern and rural communities, and she or he was very robust on conservation and local weather change.”
She was born Iona Victoria Hardy in Vancouver on Oct. 18, 1932, and spent her early years on Galiano Island. When she was eight she moved up the coast when her father acquired a job on the North Pacific Cannery, on the Skeena River close to Prince Rupert.
At 19, she married Louis Campagnolo, and the couple raised two daughters in Prince Rupert earlier than divorcing. She was fascinated by training points and was elected to the Prince Rupert faculty board in 1966. She additionally was elected to Prince Rupert metropolis council.
Article content material
Commercial 3
Article content material
Outdoors politics she had a thriving radio profession at Prince Rupert station CHTK, the place she was named B.C. Broadcaster of the Yr in 1973.
In 1974 she switched to federal politics and scored an upset win over the NDP incumbent Frank Howard within the Skeena driving.
She was not intimidated in Ottawa.
“She was fairly ready to get right into a battle with anyone,” federal Liberal occasion activist Tex Enemark informed The Vancouver Solar in 2001.
“The primary day, by God, she had some issues she needed to get completed. She precipitated Trudeau, Otto Lang — who was transport minister — and Ron Basford a certain quantity of heartburn. The very last thing on this planet they needed was to get right into a squabble with their very own backbenchers. She was very a lot her personal particular person from Day 1.”

Trudeau appointed her a parliamentary secretary to the minister of Indian affairs and northern growth in 1974, then she was named minister for health and novice sport in 1976.
However she was defeated in 1979. She returned to the media, internet hosting the CBC-TV present One in all a Variety. She additionally labored as a advisor for organizations such because the Canadian College Service Abroad Group and the Canadian Worldwide Growth Company.
Commercial 4
Article content material
She was elected president of the federal Liberal occasion in 1982. At an occasion throughout the 1984 election marketing campaign, Liberal chief John Turner was filmed patting Campagnolo’s bum. She patted him proper again, and the incident was proven on TV throughout the nation.
Campagnolo ran within the 1984 federal election in North Vancouver–Burnaby, however was defeated.
Within the Nineteen Nineties she grew to become the primary chancellor of the College of Northern B.C. in Prince George, and was additionally lively as a director and chair of the Fraser Basin Administration Program, which labored on environmental and sustainability points.
She was lively in feminist and First Nations points.
“At a time when reconciliation was not on the forefront of individuals’s minds, lona Campagnolo was an early supporter, recognizing the significance of constructing relationships with Indigenous peoples and Northern communities,” Austin wrote.
Throughout her swearing-in ceremony as lieutenant-governor, Campagnolo spoke in Chinook, an historical B.C. commerce jargon: “konoway tillicums klatawa kunamokst klaska mamook okoke huloima chee illahie,” which interprets as “everybody was thrown collectively to make this unusual new nation.”
jmackie@postmedia.com



Bookmark our web site and assist our journalism: Don’t miss the information it’s worthwhile to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and join our newsletters right here.
You can even assist our journalism by changing into a digital subscriber: For simply $14 a month, you will get limitless entry to The Vancouver Solar, The Province, Nationwide Put up and 13 different Canadian information websites. Help us by subscribing at the moment: The Vancouver Solar | The Province.
Article content material
Share this text in your social community
[ad_2]
Source link