View source for Elsie Wayne

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] -->Elsie Wayne cropped.jpg
| imagesize           = 150px
| caption             = Wayne in 2007
| term_start1         = October 25, 1993
| term_end1           = June 28, 2004
| predecessor1        = [[Gerald Merrithew]]
| successor1          = [[Paul Zed]]
| riding1             = [[Saint John (electoral district)|Saint John]]
| birth_name          = Elsie Eleanore Fairweather
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1932|4|20}}
| birth_place         = [[Shediac]], [[New Brunswick]], Canada
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2016|08|23|1932|4|20}}
| death_place         = [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]], [[New Brunswick]], Canada
| profession          = {{hlist|Businesswoman|activist|secretary}}
| party               = [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] (2003-2016)
| otherparty          = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] (1993–2003)
| residence           = Saint John, New Brunswick
| footnotes           = 
| office2             = Interim Leader of the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]]
| term_start2         = April 2, 1998
| term_end2           = November 14, 1998
| predecessor2        = [[Jean Charest]]
| successor2          = [[Joe Clark]]
| order3              = 72nd
| office3             = Mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick
| term_start3         = 1983
| term_end3           = 1993
| predecessor3        = [[Bob Lockhart]]
| successor3          = [[Thomas J. Higgins (Canadian politician)|Thomas J. Higgins]]
}}

'''Elsie Eleanore Wayne''' (née '''Fairweather'''; April 20, 1932 – August 23, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as a [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Saint John—Rothesay|Saint John]] from 1993 to 2004. She was born in [[Shediac|Shediac, New Brunswick]].

==Political career==
In 1977, she was elected to the [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]] [[municipal]] council.<ref name=":0" /> In 1983, she became the first female [[mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick|mayor of Saint John]], and became extremely popular in the city.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 federal election]], she ran as the governing [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative Party]]'s candidate in the riding of [[Saint John—Rothesay|Saint John-Rothesay]]. In this election, the Tories suffered the worst ever defeat for a governing party at the federal level in Canada. Wayne was one of only two Tories elected nationwide, the other being [[Jean Charest]]; Charest won his third term at [[Sherbrooke (federal electoral district)|Sherbrooke]] in 1993. She was also the only non-[[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] elected in Atlantic Canada that year. She was elected by 4,000 votes, but never faced another contest nearly that close.

In 1998, when Charest resigned the leadership of the PC party to become leader of the [[Quebec Liberal Party]], Wayne was appointed the PC party's [[Interim leader (Canada)|interim leader]], a post she held until former [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Joe Clark]] was elected party leader later that year.

She supported the merger of the Progressive Conservatives (led by [[Peter MacKay]]) and the [[Canadian Alliance]] (led by [[Stephen Harper]]) in 2003.

Wayne announced her retirement from politics on February 16, 2004<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/wayne-leaving-federal-politics-1.509143 |title=Wayne leaving federal politics |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2004-02-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201100120/http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/02/16/wayne040216.html |archive-date=2005-12-01}}</ref> and did not run for re-election in the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 election]] to the [[House of Commons of Canada]].

==Political positions==
Politically, she was known as being [[social conservatism in Canada|socially conservative]], vehemently opposing [[same-sex marriage in Canada|same-sex marriage]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220809061433/https://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20030510/wayne_gay_030509 "Wayne stops short of apologizing for remarks"] . [[CTV News]], May 10, 2003.</ref><ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/elsie-wayne-joins-traditional-marriage-crusade-1.592649 "Elsie Wayne joins traditional marriage crusade"].[[CBC News]], January 3, 2006.</ref> She was also against [[abortion rights]], decriminalization of [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], and [[Viagra]] for war veterans.<ref>{{cite news|author=Erin Anderssen |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article675483.ece |title=Rated Rx "That includes 88-year-old Cliff Chadderton, the head of War Amps Canada, who led the campaign years ago to get Viagra covered for veterans, after Saint John MP Elsie Wayne declared that they didn't need to have sex." |publisher=Theglobeandmail.com |access-date=2011-05-03 }} {{Dead link|date=August 2012|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amputee-online.com/amputation/mar01/mar01.html |title=War Amps defend position on Viagra for vets "Wayne called the move unbelievable, suggesting men with an average age of 81 didn't need it. She was even more shocked when a reporter asked if it was a quality of life issue." |publisher=Amputee-online.com |date=2011-03-05 |access-date=2011-05-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719080712/http://www.amputee-online.com/amputation/mar01/mar01.html |archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref>

Fiscally, Wayne was a strong believer in Canada's [[social safety net]] and the [[welfare state]], which was typical for most Tories from Atlantic Canada. She was also among Canada's most vocal [[monarchism|monarchists]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}}

==Later life and death==
Wayne considered a run for her old seat in the [[2006 Canadian federal election|2006 election]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/elsie-wayne-mulls-political-comeback-1.558226 |title=Elsie Wayne mulls political comeback |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2005-04-20 |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref> but decided against a comeback.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/elsie-wayne-says-no-to-political-comeback-1.551563 |title=Elsie Wayne says no to political comeback |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2005-04-28 |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref> She did, however, serve as chairwoman of the Conservative campaign in Atlantic Canada.

She was married to Richard Wayne, with whom she had two sons, Daniel and Stephen. In November 2009, she suffered a stroke.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/former-saint-john-mp-wayne-has-stroke-1.785054 |title=Former Saint John MP Wayne has stroke |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=2009-11-09 |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref> She was released from hospital in February 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cumberlandnewsnow.com/Business/2010-02-10/article-817376/Former-N.B.-MP-Elsie-Wayne-released-from-hospital-after-November-stroke/1 |title=Former N.B. MP Elsie Wayne released from hospital after November stroke |work=[[Amherst Citizen]] |date=2010-02-10 |access-date=2015-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121033452/http://www.cumberlandnewsnow.com/Business/2010-02-10/article-817376/Former-N.B.-MP-Elsie-Wayne-released-from-hospital-after-November-stroke/1 |archive-date=2015-11-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> She died on August 23, 2016, at her home in Saint John.<ref name=":0">{{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/elsie-wayne-obit-1.3732050| title = Elsie Wayne, former PC MP and Saint John mayor, dead at 84}}</ref>

== Electoral history ==
{{2000 Canadian federal election/Saint John—Rothesay}}
{{1997 Canadian federal election/Saint John—Rothesay}}
{{1993 Canadian federal election/Saint John—Rothesay}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=4819}}

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{{succession box|title=[[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party]] <br /><small>Interim</small>
|before=[[Jean Charest]]
|after=[[Joe Clark]]
|years=1998}}
{{s-end}}

{{Progressive Conservative Party of Canada}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wayne, Elsie}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Baptists]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:Canadian Baptists]]
[[Category:Canadian monarchists]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Female Canadian political party leaders]]
[[Category:First women mayors]]
[[Category:Mayors of Saint John, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from New Brunswick]]
[[Category:People from Shediac]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Women mayors of places in New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Brunswick]]