Belinda Stronach (born May 2, 1966 in Newmarket, Ontario) is a Canadian businessperson and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).
She is the former President and CEO of Magna International, a major automotive supplier based in Aurora, Ontario. In 2004, she entered the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, losing to Stephen Harper. In the 2004 federal election, she was elected MP for the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, north of Toronto.
Background
Stronach is the daughter of the founder of Magna International, Frank Stronach. She attended York University in 1985, where she studied business and economics.
In February 2001, she was appointed CEO of Magna, and in January 2002 she became its president. While she led Magna, the company added 3,000 jobs in Canada, 1,000 of them being in the Newmarket-Aurora area she would later represent in Parliament.
She is twice divorced and has two children, Frank and Nikki. She speaks English and German fluently, and is proficient in French.
Stronach has been named the most powerful woman in Canadian business and the second most powerful woman in international business. She is Honourary Chair of the Southlake Regional Health Centre fundraising campaign and was Honourary Chair of the Howdown fundraising campaign. In 2003, she received one of Canada's oldest and most distinguished awards, the Beth Shalom Humanitarian Award, presented in recognition of outstanding achievement in humanitarian service. She is also reputedly a close friend of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris.
Conservative leadership race
Throughout the summer and into the fall of 2003, talks were undertaken by officials of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance party with respect to a merger of those parties. Meetings between the parties were overseen by a facilitator, who was later revealed to have been Stronach. She was among many who had called for PC leader Peter MacKay and Alliance leader Stephen Harper to undertake the merger talks in the first place.
As a candidate for leadership of the new party, she drew a great deal of publicity to the race. Some felt that this has more to do with her being an attractive female than being a strong contender.
Many in the media saw her first foray into politics as sophomoric, flubbing obviously-practiced lines, and approaching the podium well before the teleprompter was ready. In one of her first appearances, Stronach stood before the microphone mute for several minutes before the prompter began. Critics also accused her of being a "manufactured candidate," dependent on a high-priced network of professional campaign staff and Magna associates. Insinuations about her paid membership organizers in the province of Quebec hit particularly hard, recalling to some Tom Long's controversial 2000 Canadian Alliance leadership campaign. Supporters defended her "style", and touted her potential to win new and swing voters, especially moderate, socially progressive voters in the province of Ontario.
On February 11, 2004, she declined to participate in a debate between the Conservative party candidates, leaving Tony Clement and Stephen Harper to debate each other on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast. She later also skipped a March 14 debate on the Global Television Network. She argued that she ought only to participate in party-sponsored debates, rather than picking and choosing among those organized by outside sponsors.
In her major speech at the leadership convention on March 19, 2004, she promised to serve only two terms if she became Prime Minister, and to draw no salary. She made a major gesture of 'throwing away the script', but then undercut this somewhat when she was seen referring to cue cards. On March 20, 2004 she finished second to Harper with 35% of the vote.
In the 2004 federal election she was elected as a Member of Parliament in Ontario, representing the riding of Newmarket-Aurora. She was appointed the International Trade critic in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet.
Political positions
On social issues, Stronach is generally to the left of her Conservative caucus colleagues. She supports abortion rights, gun control and same-sex marriage. During her leadership campaign, she called for a free vote in parliament (i.e., votes cast individually and not along party lines) on same-sex marriage. It is expected she will vote in favour of same-sex marriage when the issue comes to a vote in the House of Commons early in 2005. Social conservative elements in Canada have been critical of Stronach, calling her a "Red Tory." During Stronach's leadership campaign, REAL Women of Canada said that "If Ms. Stronach is elected as leader of the Conservative Party, social conservatives will no longer have a voice in Canada." [1] Stronach, for her part, promised after the leadership race to do her best to keep the party from moving too far to the right [2].
Stronach is against the decriminalization of marijuana, though she has committed to investigate the safety of the drug.
Stronach supports NAFTA, but contends there is room to expand and to improve the free trade pact [3]. During her leadership campaign, she said the country needed to consider changes to the Medicare system that would take the principles of the Canada Health Act "as our standard, not our straightjacket". [4]
As a CEO, Stronach was more concilliatory to organized labour than her father, who was noted for his strong opposition to unions at Magna. While head of Magna, she ceased fighting the United Auto Workers in a dispute before the National Labor Relations Board, and the union organized numerous Magna workers in the United States.