Barbara Greene (born 1 September 1945) is a former Canadian politician. She served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. She was previously a municipal politician in North York, and campaigned for mayor of the city in 1985. She is a Red Tory, and holds progressive views on most social issues.
Early life and career
Greene was born in Pembroke in eastern Ontario, where her father was stationed during World War II. Her parents were Alfred Greene and Mary Margaret Greene (née Hutchinson) of Toronto. Both were graduates of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. Her parents returned to Toronto following the war, and she attended St. Monica's Separate School in North Toronto. She graduated from St Michael's College, University of Toronto in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from the College of Education in 1967 with qualifications in English and Theatre Arts. She taught English at Victoria Park Secondary School for the North York Board of Education from September 1967 until she was elected to office in 1972.
Municipal politician
North York City Controller, 1972-1980
Greene was first elected to the North York Council in December 1972, winning a position on the city's Board of Control, the first woman elected to the body.
Her position on the Board of Control gave her an automatic seat on the Metropolitan Toronto Council. Greene's first campaign was centred primarily around a zoning issue: she opposed a municipal bylaw restricting cohabitation by people unless they were related or one person was an owner (she and her female housemates had been threatened with eviction under the terms of this bylaw). Greene also argued that she would speak for the rights of women, single persons, tenants and salaried workers.Barbara Greene, "Civic election" (Letter to the editor), The Globe and Mail, 2 December 1972, p. 6. One of the first issues she was involved in was the Ambulance service. She fought a "one woman war" which resulted in the amalgamation of ambulances services in Metropolitan Toronto and the establishment of the Toronto Ambulance Service.
She was re-elected to the Board of Control in 1974, 1976 and 1978 before standing down in 1980. As a result of topping the poll for the Board of Control (on which sat the Mayor and four Controllers elected at-large), Greene became the Deputy Mayor of North York in 1974. In this capacity she sat on the Executive Committee and Budget sub committee of Metropolitan Toronto and reviewed the budgets of numerous departments at various times including those of the Community Services and Housing departments, the Police and the Ambulance Departments. She also ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1975 provincial election, losing to New Democrat Odoardo Di Santo in Downsview.
Greene's support for cohabitation law reform placed her in opposition to North York Mayor Mel Lastman, who initially supported her but then attempted to exclude boarding houses from the city. Following an eight-year legal battle conducted by lawyer Barry Swadron QC, on behalf of Doug Bell, a resident of North York who had been charged with living with other people to whom he was not related, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Greene's position and struck down the municipal bylaw in April 1979."Bylaw limiting home to family is struck down", The Globe and Mail, 25 April 1979, P4.
Greene favoured market-value assessment reforms for Metro Toronto properties, and criticized provincial Treasurer Darcy McKeough for backing away from this proposal in 1978."Politicians' reactions to the shelving of taxation reform range from jubilation to disgust and disappointment", The Globe and Mail, 9 June 1978, P4. In 1979, she spoke out against tobacco advertising on the Toronto Transit Commission.Dick Beddoes, "Smoking out cigaret ads", The Globe and Mail, 16 May 1979, P8. She also supported electoral reforms, including the abolition of regional Boards of Control and the direct election of the Metro Chair.James Jefferson, "Politicians hail plan for direct election to Metro", The Globe and Mail, 29 April 1978, P1; Alden Baker, "Paul Godfrey: lots of power, no election expenses", The Globe and Mail, 9 October 1980, P5.
She considered running against Lastman for Mayor of North York in 1980, but declined on the grounds that she did not have the financial resources to conduct a successful campaign.Dick Beddoes, "Very stable sort, those Islanders", The Globe and Mail, 15 July 1980, P8. She did not seek re-election to the Board of Control, and instead announced that she would enrol in a Master of Public Administration (postgraduate) program at Harvard Kennedy School."Controller Greene heads for Harvard", The Globe and Mail, 1 August 1980, P5. Greene sought a prominent civil service position after returning to Toronto, but was unsuccessful and returned to teaching high-school English.John Haslett Cuff, "The Greeneing of North York isn't over yet", The Globe and Mail, 15 May 1982, F6.
North York City Controller, 1982-1985
Greene returned to municipal politics in 1982, winning election to the second position on North York's Board of Control and receiving an automatic position on Metro's executive committee."Greene bid shakes North York", The Globe and Mail, 2 November 1982, P4. She argued for cutbacks to the Toronto Transit Commission's budget, arguing that it had become "out of control" by 1984.Geoffrey York, "Large increase in TTC's budget leads to review", The Globe and Mail, 25 January 1984, P5. Greene supported the direct election of Metro Councillors, on the grounds that indirectly elected council members were not sufficiently accountable.Paul McGrath, "The divine right of Godfrey", The Globe and Mail, 7 January 1984, CL2.
She resumed her previous role as a prominent critic of Mel Lastman, arguing that his style of politics favoured backroom deals and often removed councillors from the decision-making process.Bryan Johnson, "Bad Boy Mel: The fridge huckster who stole the hearts of North York voters", The Globe and Mail, 2 April 1983, P10. Greene also called for the resignation of city planning commissioner Bruce Davidson in August 1983, arguing that his $265,000 debt to a major developer created a serious conflict-of-interest situation."Planner should be fired North York controller says", The Globe and Mail, 30 August 1983, P4. She was one of only four councillors to oppose significant cutbacks to North York's public health department in June 1984, and was subsequently the only City Controller to support an affirmative action program for city.John Sewell, "June bugs, dog days", The Globe and Mail, 2 July 1984, M1; Dyanne Rivers, "Controllers wary of affirmative action", The Globe and Mail, 27 September 1984, M5.
Greene accused North York Councillor Andrew Borins of improper behaviour in 1983–84, arguing that his family's property holdings put him in an undeclared conflict of interest over the proposed North York Civic Centre.John Sewell, "Politicians in conflict", The Globe and Mail, 8 March 1984, M1. Borins sued Greene for slander and Greene responded by charging Borins with Conflict of Interest. Borins was successful in the lower courts on 20 March 1984, but this decision was overturned on appeal. A Divisional Court judge subsequently upheld Greene's accusation, and stripped Borins of his council seat on 16 April 1985."Alderman absolved of conflict of interest", The Globe and Mail, 21 March 1984, M1; Geoffrey York, "North York alderman removed from office", 17 April 1985, M1; Geoffrey York, "Libel lawsuit against controller sparked alderman's downfall", The Globe and Mail, 18 April 1985, M1.
She was offered the Progressive Conservative Party's nomination for Eglinton—Lawrence in the 1984 federal election, but declined.Alden Baker, "Ottawa, Queen's Park beckon Metro politicians seek higher ground", The Globe and Mail, 30 December 1983, P4.
Greene challenged Mel Lastman for Mayor of North York in 1985, promising a more open government and arguing that Lastman had "den[ied] North York residents the right to participate in planning their neighborhoods".Dyanne Rivers, "Lastman faces 1st fight in 9 years Greene to run for North York mayor", The Globe and Mail, 4 September 1985, P18. She was defeated by a significant margin, in a contest marked by undisguised animosity between the candidates. Greene returned to teaching after the election, teaching Media Studies, English and Dramatic Arts with the North York Board of Education.Alden Baker, "Politicians split on severance pay", The Globe and Mail, 18 January 1986, A16; David Miller, "Celebrity Job-seekers", Toronto Star, 2 February 1986, D1.
Member of Parliament
Greene returned to political life again in 1988, narrowly winning the federal Progressive Conservative nomination for Don Valley North over Peter Ayre Phillips.Rosemary Todd, "Greene gets Tory nod in tight Don Valley race", The Globe and Mail, 4 August 1988, C8. Greene won the nomination by 147 votes to 130. She subsequently won the riding in the 1988 federal election, defeating Liberal Sarkis Assadourian by a close margin. (Concert pianist Anton Kuerti finished third for the New Democratic Party.) There was some media speculation that Greene would be appointed to cabinet, but she instead served in parliament as a backbench supporter of Brian Mulroney's government.John Cruickshank, "MacDonald's defeat opens spot on cabinet", The Globe and Mail, 22 November 1988, C1.
Greene encouraged the Progressive Conservative government to change a section of the Immigration Act in 1989, saying that it discriminated against disabled people.Julia Nunes, "MP says Ottawa likely to alter act to remove bias against disabled", The Globe and Mail, 21 June 1989, A3. She also argued that Canadian copyright laws should be adjusted to permit teachers to copy and reproduce material for classroom analysis.Licia Corbella, "Scarborough board leads fight against copyright law", Toronto Star, 7 September 1989, N9. In late November 1989, she was appointed to a parliamentary task force examining Canada's abortion laws.David Vienneau, "Task force of MPs named on abortion", Toronto Star, 23 November 1989, A1.
Greene protested against her own government's cutbacks to multicultural organizations in 1990.Val Sears, "Coalition in battle to regain funds for heritage languages", Toronto Star, 30 March 1990, A13. She chaired the parliamentary standing committee on Health, Welfare, Social Affairs, Seniors and Status of Women and two subcommittees on Child Poverty and the Status of women.David Vienneau, "18,000 Metro children go hungry, MPs told", Toronto Star, 7 February 1991, A6; David Vienneau, "Ottawa urged to take the lead in battle against abuse of women", Toronto Star, 13 February 1991, A11; David Vienneau, "Probe on violence toward women blocked", Toronto Star, 9 June 1991, A4. Her committee's report on violence, entitled "The War Against Women", was supported by the prime minister and opposition parties, but opposed by some Progressive Conservative backbenchers on the grounds that its title was "confrontational and inflammatory".David Vienneau, "PM criticizes Tories against violence study", Toronto Star, 20 June 1991, A3. This subsequently resulted in a significant program to combat violence against women which included funds for women's shelters and education programs for police.