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Home | Office Holder | Margaret Campbell (politician)
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Sterling ran for city council in the 1956 elections, but was unsuccessful. In the next city elections she ran herself, and was victorious in Ward 2. In the 1960 election she finished first in the ward, entitling her a position on Metro Council in addition to the Toronto seat. In 1966 she became only the second woman to win a seat on the four member Board of Control and became the city's budget chief. In the 1969 election she ran for mayor, attempting to become the first female mayor of the city. Her opponents were the NDP linked incumbent William Dennison and the official Liberal candidate Stephen Clarkson. Campbell had been a member of the Progressive Conservative party for many years. Her mayoral campaign was run on an explicitly reform platform, calling for an end to megaprojects and the adoption of Jane Jacobs styled urbanism as advocated by David Crombie. She finished second to Dennison, losing by some 13,000 votes. She briefly left politics to serve as a provincial court judge. When Allan Lawrence retired from the legislature and opened the provincial seat of St. George she resigned her judgeship and ran for the Liberal Party of Ontario, leaving the Tory party. St. George had been a staunchly Tory seat for decades, and Campbell faced a prominent opponent in Roy McMurtry, but she was victorious becoming the first women elected to the Ontario Liberal Party. She represented the district until 1981, advocating on issues related to poverty, and in favour of women's and gay rights. She resigned her seat prior to the 1981 election so that she could spend more time with her ailing husband. In 1984, the Ontario Liberal Party established the Margaret Campbell Fund which supports female candidates who run for the party. Her son Sterling Campbell also served a term as a Liberal MPP from Sudbury. |