Kim Campbell (1947 - )

Kim Campbell was Canada’s first and only woman Prime Minister, the first woman Minister of Justice, the first woman Attorney General, the first woman Minister of National Defence and the first woman elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.

• When asked how she felt about being the first female Canadian Prime Minister, she said, “I'd be prouder still to say I was Canada's 10th woman prime minister.”
• In 1986, she was elected as a Social Credit political party representative of the BC Legislative Assembly. In 1988 she replaced retiring Conservative member Pat Carney in the House of Commons.
• Campbell made notable amendments to Canada’s Criminal Code in the areas of sexual assault and firearms during her tenure as Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
• Since leaving politics, Campbell has made her career on the international stage in a number of positions such as Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders from 1999-2003 and chair of the World Movement for Democracy.
• In 2014, Campbell suggested that the solution to the current problem of the under-representation of women in government is to elect two candidates, one male and one female, from each riding. This would instantly bump up the percentage of women to 50%.
• Campbell was born in Port Alberni and studied political science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She earned her law degree at the London School of Economics.