View source for Audrey McLaughlin

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix   = [[The Honourable]]
| name               = Audrey McLaughlin
| honorific-suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|OC|size=100%}}
| image              = AudreyMcLaughlin2012 1.png
| imagesize          = 
| smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                = 
| caption            = McLaughlin at the [[2012 New Democratic Party leadership election|2012 NDP leadership convention]]
| office             = [[Leader of the New Democratic Party]]
| term_start         = December 5, 1989
| term_end           = October 14, 1995
| deputy             = 
| predecessor        = [[Ed Broadbent]]
| successor          = [[Alexa McDonough]]
| parliament2        = Canadian
| riding2            = [[Yukon (electoral district)|Yukon]]
| term_start2        = July 20, 1987
| term_end2          = June 2, 1997
| predecessor2       = [[Erik Nielsen]]
| successor2         = [[Louise Hardy]]
| majority2          = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age |1936|11|07}}
| birth_place        = [[Dutton, Ontario|Dutton]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date         = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|Month DD, YYYY|Month DD, YYYY}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place        = 
| restingplace       = 
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| birthname          = Audrey Marlene Brown
| citizenship        = 
| nationality        = 
| party              = [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic]]
| otherparty         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| spouse             = {{marriage|Don McLaughlin|1954|1972|reason=divorced}}
| partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations          = 
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| alma_mater         = [[University of Guelph|MacDonald Institute]]
| occupation         = Author, business consultant, researcher, social worker, teacher
| profession         = 
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'''Audrey Marlene McLaughlin''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|OC}} ([[name at birth|née]] '''Brown'''; born November 8, 1936) is a Canadian politician and former leader of the [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic Party]] from 1989 to 1995. She was the first female leader of a political party with [[Representation (politics)|representation]] in the [[House of Commons of Canada]], as well as the first federal political party leader to represent an electoral district in a [[Canadian territory]].

==Life and career==
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2023}}
McLaughlin was born '''Audrey Marlene Brown''' in [[Dutton, Ontario]], the daughter of Margaret Clark and William Brown, of Scottish and English descent.<ref>[[Joyce Hayden]], ''Yukon's Women of Power''. Windwalker Press, 1999; {{ISBN|0968626602}}.[https://books.google.com/books?id=13O0AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Audrey+McLaughlin%22+William+Brown&dq=%22Audrey+McLaughlin%22+William+Brown&hl=en]</ref> She worked as a social worker in [[Toronto]], Ontario, and in [[Ghana]]. In 1955, she graduated with a Diploma in [[Home economics|Home Science]] from the MacDonald Institute, later a founding college of the [[University of Guelph]]. In 1979, McLaughlin moved to [[Yukon]] and set up a [[consultancy]] business. In 1987, she ran in a by-election and won, the first [[Government of Canada|federal]] NDP candidate to win in Yukon. In 1988, she was appointed caucus chair, and in 1989, she won the [[New Democratic Party leadership elections#1989 leadership convention results|NDP 1989 leadership convention]], replacing the retiring [[Ed Broadbent]].

McLaughlin had taken over the NDP during a peak in its popularity. However, the party began a steady decline in the polls for several reasons. One was the NDP's provincial affiliates in [[New Democratic Party of British Columbia|British Columbia]] and [[Ontario New Democratic Party|Ontario]], whose unpopularity in government reflected badly on the federal party. The rise of the [[Reform Party of Canada|Reform Party]] also sapped much NDP support in Western Canada. In the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 election]], the NDP lost badly and went from 44 seats to only 9 in [[35th Canadian Parliament|Parliament]]. More than half of its losses came in Ontario, where it lost all 10 of its MPs, and British Columbia, where it lost 17 of its 19 MPs.

McLaughlin won her seat in the Yukon but resigned as leader and was succeeded by [[Alexa McDonough]] in 1995. McLaughlin did not run for re-election in the [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997 election]].

McLaughlin was an overseas volunteer in [[Barbados]] in 1986 with [[Canadian Crossroads International]]. Today, she is an honorary patron with Crossroads.

In 1991, she was sworn in as a member of the [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada]] so that she could access classified documents during the [[Gulf War]]. In August 2003, she was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].

She published an autobiography, ''A Woman's Place: My Life and Politics'', in 1992.

=== Post-political career ===
In 2000, she joined the [[National Democratic Institute]], an organization that promotes democracy and peace in [[developing nations]], and travelled to [[Kosovo]] to help women run in that country's [[elections in Kosovo|first democratic election]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/pastissues/backissues/fall04/grad.shtml|title=The Portico|publisher=[[University of Guelph]]|access-date=2008-12-06}}</ref> McLaughlin has also served as the President of the [[Socialist International Women]] and as special representative for the Government of the Yukon on Circumpolar Affairs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.ndp.ca/ourhistory/#mclaughlin|title=Our History|publisher=New Democratic Party of Canada|access-date=2010-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527173341/http://archive.ndp.ca/ourhistory/#mclaughlin|archive-date=May 27, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> She was an honorary pallbearer at the [[Death and state funeral of Jack Layton|state funeral]] of [[Jack Layton]] in 2011.

==Archives==
There is an Audrey McLaughlin [[fonds]] at [[Library and Archives Canada]] (archival reference number  R11545).<ref name="LAC1">{{citation|title=Finding aid no MSS2415|website=Library and Archives Canada website|url=https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/p000003164.pdf|date=2014-04-15|access-date=June 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928064425/https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/p000003164.pdf|archive-date=2021-09-28}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=2254}}

{{NDP}}
{{Canadian federal election, 1993A}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Audrey}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Canadian autobiographers]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Female Canadian political party leaders]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Yukon]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:NDP and CCF leaders]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party MPs]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:People from Elgin County]]
[[Category:Politicians from Whitehorse]]
[[Category:University of Guelph alumni]]
[[Category:Women in Yukon politics]]
[[Category:Writers from Whitehorse]]
[[Category:Canadian women autobiographers]]
[[Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians]]