Libby Davies

Libby Davies Template:Post-nominals (born February 27, 1953) is a Canadian politician from British Columbia. She was the member of Parliament for Vancouver East from 1997 to 2015, House leader for the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011, and deputy leader of the party from 2007 until 2015 (alongside Thomas Mulcair under the leadership of Jack Layton and alongside Megan Leslie and David Christopherson after Mulcair became leader in 2012).<ref name="PARLINFO">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Mulcair says NDP 'poised' to form government">Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to entering federal politics, Davies helped found the Downtown Eastside Residents Association<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and served as a Vancouver city councillor from 1982 to 1993.<ref name="PARLINFO"/>

Early life and career

Davies was born in Aldershot, United Kingdom, on February 27, 1953, and immigrated to Canada in 1968 with her family. She moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Before being elected to the Parliament of Canada, she participated in many grass-roots political organizations in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver. She dropped out of university to help Bruce Eriksen found the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA), an influential low-income housing advocacy group. She was instrumental in a campaign to save the Carnegie library, which was later converted into the Carnegie Community Centre serving low-income adults. From 1994 to 1997 Davies was employed by the Hospital Employees' Union.<ref name="Women Suffrage and Beyond">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Maclean's magazine, The NDP's union-made caucus, May 16, 2011, retrieved 2012-10-08</ref>

For 24 years, Davies lived in a common-law relationship with Vancouver city councillor Bruce Eriksen,<ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref> who died of cancer in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had a son, Lief. In 2001, Davies became the first female Canadian member of Parliament to reveal that she was in a same-sex relationship.<ref name="Women Suffrage and Beyond" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political career

Municipal politics

Davies' first experience in politics was serving on the Vancouver Parks Board for one term, 1980–82.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was elected to Vancouver City Council as a member of the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) in 1982 and was re-elected in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She ran for Mayor of Vancouver with the backing of COPE in 1993, losing to Philip Owen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Federal politics

Davies was first elected to parliament in 1997 and re-elected in 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008 and 2011. Previously the NDP house leader and spokesperson for housing, homelessness and multiculturalism, she became the health critic in the shadow cabinet of Jack Layton upon the NDP's ascent to Official Opposition status. In parliament, she was a strong supporter of drug policy reform, specifically to halt the criminalization of drug users.

In 2005, during the parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage in Canada, Conservative MP Jason Kenney cited Davies' prior relationship with Eriksen as proof that marriage law does not discriminate against LGBT individuals, since a gay person can marry a member of the opposite sex. Davies, who was never formally married to Eriksen, joined other commentators in criticizing Kenney for playing politics with other parliamentarians' personal lives.

In December 2007, Davies received the Justice Gerald Le Dain Award for Achievement in the Field of Law. She was recognized for her "outstanding drug policy reform work" at the 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference, hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance and the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.<ref>Editor. Carnegie Newsletter, Dec. 15, 2007 Carnegie Newsletter</ref>

In 2009, she was interviewed for the Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride documentary on Gay Pride celebrations internationally.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Davies faced accusations of antisemitism stemming from a June 5, 2010, interview in which she suggested that Israel has been occupied territory since 1948. She was criticized for her comments the next day in an Ottawa Citizen editorial. She responded to these criticisms in a letter to the Citizen, which was also posted on Davies' constituency website.<ref>Libby's response to Template:Sic editorial Template:Webarchive www.libbydavies.ca June 11, 2010. Retrieved April 5, 2012.</ref>

In 2011, it was announced that Davies would serve as health critic for the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, while continuing to serve in her role as deputy leader of the NDP.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Davies declined to stand as a candidate for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 2012, citing her inability to speak French as a factor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On December 12, 2014, Davies announced that she would retire from parliament at the 2015 general election after 18 years as a member of Parliament.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Post-politics

In December 2016, Davies was named a member of the Order of Canada.<ref>"Order of Canada's newest appointees include Paralympian, Supreme Court judge and astrophysicist". CBC News, December 30, 2016.</ref> In 2019, she published the memoir Outside In: A Political Memoir.<ref>"Libby Davies recounts four decades of political activism in her book Outside In: A Political Memoir". The Globe and Mail, May 21, 2019.</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Canadian Parliament links
• Hansard – Debate in which Davies came out