Belinda Stronach

Belinda Stronach (born May 2, 1966 in Newmarket, Ontario) is a Canadian businessperson, politician and a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the Canadian House of Commons.

She is the former President and CEO of Magna International, a major automotive supplier based in Aurora, Ontario. In 2004, she entered the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, losing to Stephen Harper. In the 2004 federal election, she was elected MP for the riding of Newmarket—Aurora, north of Toronto.

Background

Stronach is the daughter of the founder of Magna International, Frank Stronach. She attended York University in 1985, where she studied business and economics, but left to officially join Magna.

In February 2001, she was appointed CEO of Magna, and in January 2002, she became its president. While she led Magna, the company added 3,000 jobs in Canada, 1,000 of them being in the Newmarket-Aurora area she now represents in Parliament. During her time as president, Magna had record sales and profits in each year.

Stronach was a member of the board of directors of Magna from 1988 until 2004. She has chaired the boards of Decoma International Inc., Tesma International Inc., and Intier Automotive Inc., all in the auto parts sector. She was a founding member of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council and served on the Ontario Task Force on Productivity, Competitiveness and Economic Progress. She is a director of the Yves Landry Foundation, which furthers technological education and skills training in the manufacturing sector.

In 2001, the National Post named Stronach as the most powerful businesswoman in Canada; and, in the same year, the World Economic Forum named her a "Global Leader of Tomorrow." Fortune Magazine ranked her #2 in its list of the world's most powerful women in business in 2002. She was also named one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40". In April 2004, Time Magazine ranked her as one of the worlds 100 most influential people.

Stronach is honourary chair of the Southlake Regional Health Centre fundraising campaign and a former honourary chair of the Howdown fundraising campaign. In 2003, she received one of Canada's oldest and most distinguished awards, the Beth Shalom Humanitarian Award, presented in recognition of outstanding achievement in humanitarian service. She is reputedly a close friend of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris.

She is twice divorced and has two children, Frank and Nikki.

Stronach speaks English and German fluently, and is proficient in French.

In a Toronto Star interview published January 8, 2005, Stronach confirmed that she is dating deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay. [1].

Conservative leadership race

Throughout the summer and into the fall of 2003, talks were undertaken by officials of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance party with respect to a merger of those parties. Meetings between the parties were overseen by a facilitator, who was later revealed to have been Stronach. She was among many who had called for PC leader Peter MacKay and Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper to undertake the merger talks in the first place.

As a candidate for leadership of the new party, she drew a great deal of publicity to the race. Some felt that this had more to do with her being an attractive female than being a strong contender.

Many in the media saw her first foray into politics as sophomoric, flubbing obviously-practiced lines, and approaching the podium well before the teleprompter was ready. In one of her first appearances, Stronach stood before the microphone mute for several minutes before the prompter began. Critics also accused her of being a "manufactured candidate," dependent on a high-priced network of professional campaign staff and Magna associates. Insinuations about her paid membership organizers in the province of Quebec hit particularly hard, recalling to some Tom Long's controversial 2000 Canadian Alliance leadership campaign.

Media reaction to Stronach's candidacy, however, was also open to serious criticism. Casting Stronach as an "heiress" with a "coddled career" — to the point of joking comparisons to Paris Hilton — and the attention paid to her physical appearance and personal life, could be seen as patronizing and sexist. [2] While the Canadian media generally prides itself on much greater reserve and discretion about the private lives of public figures than media of other countries, it paid considerable attention to rumours and innuendos about Stronach's personal life, particularly her relationship with Bill Clinton.

Supporters touted her youth and style, corporate experience, private life as a "soccer mom", and her potential to win new and swing voters, especially moderate, socially progressive voters in the province of Ontario.

On February 11, 2004, she declined to participate in a debate between the Conservative party candidates, leaving Tony Clement and Stephen Harper to debate each other on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast. She later also skipped a March 14 debate on the Global Television Network. She argued that she ought only to participate in party-sponsored debates, rather than picking and choosing among those organized by outside sponsors.

In her major speech at the leadership convention on March 19, 2004, she promised to serve only two terms if she became Prime Minister, and to draw no salary. She made a major gesture of "throwing away the script", but then undercut this somewhat when she was seen referring to cue cards. On March 20, 2004 she finished second to Harper with 35% of the vote.

In the 2004 federal election, by a margin of 689 votes, she was narrowly elected as a Member of Parliament in Ontario, representing the riding of Newmarket-Aurora. She was appointed the International Trade critic in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet.

Political positions

On social issues, Stronach is generally to the left of her Conservative caucus colleagues. She supports abortion rights, gun control, feminism and same-sex marriage. During her leadership campaign, she called for a free vote in parliament (i.e., votes cast individually and not along party lines) on same-sex marriage. It is expected she will vote in favour of same-sex marriage when the issue comes to a vote in the House of Commons early in 2005. Social conservative elements in Canada have been critical of Stronach, calling her a "Red Tory." During Stronach's leadership campaign, REAL Women of Canada said: "If Ms. Stronach is elected as leader of the Conservative Party, social conservatives will no longer have a voice in Canada." [3] Stronach, for her part, promised that after the leadership race she would do her best to keep the party from moving too far to the right. [4]

Stronach is against the decriminalization of marijuana, though she has committed herself to investigating the safety of the drug.

Stronach supports trade with the United States but would like to re-examine and review parts of NAFTA so that Canadians can stand on a more equal footing with U.S. competitors. During her leadership campaign she said the country needed to consider changes to the Medicare system that would respect the principles of the Canada Health Act "as our standard, not our straitjacket". [5] She also supports lowering the age of voting to the age of 16.

As a CEO, Stronach was more conciliatory to organized labour than her father, who was noted for his strong opposition to unions at Magna. While head of Magna, she ceased fighting the United Auto Workers in a dispute before the National Labor Relations Board, and the union organized numerous Magna workers in the United States.

Related links

• Stronach's political site
• Magna International Inc.
• vote16.ca