Table 4.1: Women Party Leaders1 in Canada (Sort by Name)
Leader	Jurisdiction	Party	Elected Represen-tative While Leader?	Dates Served as Party Leader	Years/Months Served as Leader2
Baird-Filliter, Barbara	NB	PC	no	11/89 - 04/91	1 year, 6 months
Barrett, Pam	Alberta	NDP	yes	09/96 - 02/00	3 years, 6 months
Callbeck, Catherine	PEI	Liberal	yes5	01/93 - 08/96	3 years, 5 months
Campbell, Kim	Canada	PC	yes	06/93 - 12/93	6 months
Carstairs, Sharon	Manitoba	Liberal	yes	03/84 - 06/93	10 years, 3 months
Duncan, Pat	Yukon	Liberal	yes	02/98 - present4	4 years, 5 months
Hasselfield, Ginny	Manitoba	Liberal	no	10/96 - 12/97	1 year, 2 months
Haverstock, Lynda	Sask.	Liberal	yes	04/89 - 11/95	6 years, 6 months
Johnston, Rita	B.C.	Social Credit	yes	07/91 - 01/92	6 months
MacBeth, Nancy	Alberta	Liberal	yes	05/98 - 03/01	2 years,10 months
MacDonald, Helen	N.S.	NDP	no3	07/00 - 04/01	10 months
MacPhail, Joy	B.C.	NDP	yes	06/01 - present	1 year
McCarthy, Grace	B.C.	Social Credit	no6	11/93 - 05/95	6 months
McDonough, Alexa	Canada	NDP	yes	10/95 - 06/02	6 years, 8 months
McDonough, Alexa	N.S.	NDP	yes	11/80 - 11/94	14 years
McLaughlin, Audrey	Canada	NDP	yes	12/89 - 10/95	4 years, 10 months
McLeod, Lyn	Ontario	Liberal	yes	02/92 - 11/96	4 years, 9 months
Mella, Pat	PEI	PC	yes	11/90 - 05/96	5 years, 6 months
Verge, Lynn	Nfld.	PC	yes	04/95 - 03/96	10 months
Watson, Hilda	Yukon	PC	yes	09/78 - 11/78	2 months
Weir, Elizabeth	N.B.	NDP	yes	06/88 - present	14 years
1 This table includes leaders of competitive parties only, that is, parties with elected representatives in the legislature during the woman’s term as leader. Thus Thérèse Casgrain is not listed here (though she is discussed in this chapter). Also, we have not included women who have served as interim party leader, heading parties in between leadership contests. For instance, Shirley Dysart, Liberal MLA from New Brunswick, served briefly as interim leader in the 1980s, as did Bettie Hewes (Liberal, Alberta, 1993).
2 For contemporary women leaders, we counted time served until the end of July 2002.
3 Helen MacDonald was elected to the NS legislature in a by-election in November 1997 and was re-elected in the 1998 general election. However, she was defeated by a narrow margin in 1999, thus was not an elected MLA when she won the leadership of the party.
4 Duncan was unofficially acclaimed leader of the Yukon Liberals in February 1997, and officially elected to the post 7 February 1998.
5 Callbeck was an MLA in PEI from 1974 to 1978. She then served as an MP in Ottawa from 1988-93, a position she resigned to become leader of the Liberal Party and premier of PEI in 1993.
6 McCarthy had been a member of several Social Credit governments as an MLA from 1966 to 1991 and served as a cabinet minister in the Bennett and Vander Zalm governments. She resigned in 1991; thus, when she won the leadership of the Social Credit Party in 1993, she did not have a seat in the legislature.
7 Mrs. Mella announced she was stepping down as leader in December 1995, but stayed in the post until the new leader was selected, May 1996.