Judy LaMarsh
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LaMarsh was born in Chatham, Ontario, and raised in Niagara Falls. Although she trained as a teacher, she never taught school. She enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, travelled the country from 1943 to 1946 and attained the rank of sergeant. After the war, she attended the University of Toronto's Victoria College, and Osgoode Hall, where she was trained as a lawyer.
LaMarsh was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a 1960 by-election. Sitting as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Niagara Falls, she joined the Canadian Cabinet after the Liberals defeated the Progressive Conservative government of John George Diefenbaker in the 1963 election. Serving under Prime Minister, Lester Pearson she was only the second female federal cabinet minister in Canadian history, and the first to serve in a Liberal cabinet. LaMarsh served as Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of Amateur Sport from 1963 to 1965, and as Secretary of State for Canada from 1965 to 1968.
Her period as Minister of National Health and Welfare coincided with the introduction of the Canada Pension Plan and the drafting of what was to become Canada's Medicare system. As Secretary of State, she presided over Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967, and established the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.
In the 1968 Liberal leadership convnetion to choose a successor to Pearson, she supported Paul Hellyer. When it became clear after the first round of voting that Hellyer could not win, she urged him to drop off the ballot and throw his support to another candidate in order to stop Pierre Trudeau. Her words, uttered on the floor of the convention hall: "Paul, you've got to go to Winters. Don't let that bastard win it, Paul - he isn't even a Liberal" were, unbeknownst to her, broadcast live over CBC Television.
Not surprisingly, she retired from politics after Trudeau won the party's leadership. LaMarsh worked as a broadcaster including a stint for CBC Radio, hosting This Country in the Morning from 1974 until 1976. In the late 1970s, she headed the Ontario government's Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. In 1980, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She died of cancer in 1980.
Her autobiography, Judy LaMarsh: Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage, was published in 1969.