Kirsty Duncan
Kirsty Duncan | |
---|---|
Minister of Science and Sport | |
Assumed office November 4, 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
Preceded by |
|
Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities | |
In office January 25, 2018 – July 18, 2018 | |
Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau |
Preceded by | Kent Hehr |
Succeeded by |
|
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Etobicoke North | |
Assumed office October 14, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Roy Cullen |
Personal details | |
Born | Kirsty Ellen Duncan October 31, 1966 Etobicoke, Ontario |
Political party | Liberal |
Profession | Medical geographer, professor, politician |
Website | Official website |
Kirsty Ellen Duncan PC MP (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian politician and medical geographer from Ontario, Canada. Duncan is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liberal Party of Canada in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke North and was appointed Minister of Science, on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015. In January 2018, she also became Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.
She is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and has published a book about her 1998 expedition to uncover the cause of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.
Contents
Education[edit]
After graduating from Kipling Collegiate Institute in 1985 as an Ontario Scholar, Duncan studied geography and anthropology at the University of Toronto. She then entered graduate school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and completed a Ph.D. in geography in 1992.[1]
Career[edit]
From 1993 to 2000, Duncan taught meteorology, climatology and climate change at the University of Windsor. In 1992, as she became aware of the increasing probability of a global flu crisis, she was led to investigate the cause of the similar 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, saying, "I was horrified we didn’t know what caused Spanish flu, and also knew that if we could find fragments of the virus, we might be able to find a better flu vaccine".[2][3]
Though at the time she "knew nothing about influenza",[4] she began what she called a "six-month crash course in virology".[4] Eventually, she began searching for possible frozen samples of lung and brain tissue that might contain the virus. Her initial thoughts led her to think of Alaska,[4] as it contains large areas of permafrost, which would leave the viruses intact, but the search proved fruitless.
Eventually, after several years of searching, Duncan learned of seven miners who had died from the Spanish flu and were buried in the small town of Longyearbyen, Norway, an area that would contain permafrost. She then began assembling a team of scientists to accompany her. After several more years of preparation, which involved garnering various permissions to perform the exhumations, the ground survey began in 1998. However, the samples were not viable, as the bodies were not in the permafrost, and the expedition ultimately proved a disappointment.[2]
In 2003, Duncan wrote a book about her expedition, entitled Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus. Published by the University of Toronto Press, it details Duncan's process and the expedition itself. After the book's publication, Duncan began speaking about pandemics, which led her to begin teaching corporate social responsibility at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. In 2008, Duncan published a second book, Environment and Health: Protecting our Common Future.
Duncan is currently an adjunct professor teaching both medical geography at the University of Toronto and global environmental processes at Royal Roads University, and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.[citation needed]
In 2018, the University of Edinburgh awarded her an honorary degree.[5]
Federal politics[edit]
In February 2008, Roy Cullen announced that he would not be running in the next federal election,[6] and Duncan was appointed as the next Liberal candidate. She was considered a "significant addition toward Dion's goal of fielding 103 women candidates in the next election."[7] She was elected in the 2008 general election and re-elected in the 2011 and 2015 general elections.
On November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to the Cabinet as Minister of Science.[8] Duncan was tasked with establishing the new position of chief science officer that would serve as a replacement to the position of national science adviser role eliminated by Stephen Harper in 2008.[1]
In January 2018, she also became Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, after the resignation of her predecessor, Kent Hehr.[9]
Electoral record[edit]
2015 Canadian federal election: Etobicoke North | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
Liberal | Kirsty Duncan | 26,251 | 62.41 | +19.84 | $69,670.96 | |||
Conservative | Toyin Dada | 9,673 | 23.00 | -8.96 | $60,237.66 | |||
New Democratic | Faisal Hassan | 5,220 | 12.41 | -11.21 | $37,513.09 | |||
Green | Akhtar Ayub | 524 | 1.25 | +1.08 | $1,558.16 | |||
Marxist–Leninist | Anna Di Carlo | 232 | 0.55 | – | ||||
No affiliation | George Szebik | 164 | 0.39 | – | – | |||
Total valid votes/Expense limit | 42,064 | 100.00 | $201,932.10 | |||||
Total rejected ballots | 257 | 0.61 | – | |||||
Turnout | 42,321 | 62.18 | – | |||||
Eligible voters | 68,063 | |||||||
Liberal hold | Swing | +14.40 | ||||||
Source: Elections Canada[10][11] |
2011 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
Liberal | Kirsty Duncan | 13,665 | 42.4 | -6.2 | ||||
Conservative | Priti Lamba | 10,357 | 32.1 | +2.0 | ||||
New Democratic | Diana Andrews | 7,630 | 23.7 | +8.0 | ||||
Libertarian | Alex Dvornyak | 208 | 0.7 | -4.1 | ||||
Marxist–Leninist | Anna Di Carlo | 189 | 0.6 | -0.4 | ||||
Christian Heritage | John C. Gardner | 186 | 0.6 | – | ||||
Total valid votes | 32,235 | 100.0 | ||||||
Total rejected ballots | 279 | 0.9 | +0.2 | |||||
Turnout | 32,514 | 52.5 | ||||||
Eligible voters | 61,930 | – | – | |||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -4.1 |
2008 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
Liberal | Kirsty Duncan | 15,244 | 48.6 | -13.0 | $54,827 | |||
Conservative | Bob Saroya | 9,436 | 30.1 | +7.8 | $64,024 | |||
New Democratic | Ali Naqvi | 4,940 | 15.7 | +5.1 | $35,653 | |||
Green | Nigel Barriffe | 1,460 | 4.7 | +2.1 | $2,242 | |||
Marxist–Leninist | Anna Di Carlo | 300 | 1.0 | +0.4 | ||||
Total valid votes/Expense limit | 31,380 | 100.0 | $79,011 | |||||
Total rejected ballots | 214 | 0.68 | ||||||
Turnout | 31,594 | |||||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -10.4 |
See also[edit]
- Johan Hultin, a pathologist who also used frozen tissues to study the 1918 influenza virus
References[edit]
- ^ a b Jones, Nicola (24 December 2015). "Canada's top scientist faces tough challenge". Nature. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
- ^ a b "Digging up the deadly past". The National. Martin Newland. 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (September 29, 1997). "The Dead Zone". The New Yorker.
- ^ a b c Duncan, Kirsty (2003). Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8748-5.
- ^ "Honorary Graduates in 2018". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
- ^ Shephard, Tamara (2008-09-04). "Election call expected Sunday". Toronto Community News. Metroland Media Group. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ^ Delacourt, Susan (2008-02-22). "Dion hand-picks Etobicoke candidate". Toronto Star. Jagoda Pike. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ^ "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". CBC. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ^ "Kent Hehr resigns from Liberal cabinet over sexual harassment allegations". Global News. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
- ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Etobicoke North, 30 September 2015
- ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
29th Ministry – Cabinet of Justin Trudeau | ||
Cabinet posts (2) | ||
---|---|---|
Predecessor | Office | Successor |
Kent Hehr | Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities January 25, 2018 – present |
Incumbent |
Ed Holder | Minister of Science November 4, 2015 – present |
Incumbent |
External links[edit]
- 1966 births
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Women members of the House of Commons of Canada
- Liberal Party of Canada MPs
- Living people
- University of Toronto alumni
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Women in Ontario politics
- People from Etobicoke
- Politicians from Toronto
- University of Toronto faculty
- Members of the 29th Canadian Ministry
- Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
- Women government ministers of Canada
- 21st-century Canadian women politicians
- Canadian geographers