Nicole Marie Eaton (born January 21, 1945) is a Canadian politician and a Conservative member of the Canadian Senate. She is the daughter of Edmond Jacques Courtois[1] and sister of Canada Post Chairman Marc Courtois. Recognizing her role as a fundraiser for the Conservative party, she was appointed on the advice of Stephen Harper to the Senate on December 22, 2008, her term starting on January 2, 2009.[2] A member of the Eaton family through her marriage to Thor Eaton, she was a trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) from 1983 to 1989 and a director of the ROM Foundation from 1996 to 2002.[3]
In 2011 Eaton called Canada's national symbol, the beaver, a "dentally defective rat", and suggested that the polar bear should replace it in Canadian iconography.[4] She gained further notoriety in 2012 by leading the Conservative government's charge in the Senate against environmental charities, making unsubstantiated accusations that the charities are involved in "influence peddling" and "political manipulation".[5]
On October 3, 2014, the day that Canada's involvement in a military mission against ISIS was announced, she tweeted, "The apple does not fall far from the tree. PM Trudeau refused to fight the Nazis in WWII, Stayed home comfortably in Outremont."[6]
