Joan Burke MHA, is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Burke currently serves as the Minister of Advance Education and Skills in the cabinet of Kathy Dunderdale. She is the Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for the district of St. George's-Stephenville East.
Burke was elected to the House of Assembly in the 2003, general election and was re-elected in 2007, and 2011. She was sworn into cabinet in 2003, and previously held the posts of Minister Human Resources, Labour and Employment, Minister of Education, and Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services. Before entering politics Burke worked as a parole officer in Stephenville.
[edit] Politics
Burke was elected to politics in the 2003 election as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. Following the election she was sworn into Cabinet as the Minister of Human Resources and Employment and as the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. In 2005 Premier Danny Williams appointed Burke as the Minister of Education. In the 2007 general election Burke was re-elected with 75% of the vote, up from 53% in 2003. Burke remained as Minister of Education following the election and in May 2008 was also named Government House Leader, becoming the first woman appointed to this position in the history of the province.
In April 2009, she became the Minister of the newly created Department of Child, Youth, and Family Services. She was again appointed Minister of Education by Premier Dunderdale during a cabinet reshuffle on January 13, 2011.[1]
[edit] Minister of education
In 2008 Burke came under fire when she admitted that she had vetoed two candidates to take over the presidency of Memorial University of Newfoundland and for insisting on approving the new President. Opposition politicians as well as academics criticized the move and the incoming president of Memorial's Faculty Association said that Burke seemed to be in contravention of the Memorial University Act, which states that the President is to be selected by the board of regents in consultation with the university's senate and with the approval of the lieutenant-governor [in] council.[2]
[edit] Electoral record
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[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Premier Announces Changes to Cabinet Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, January 13, 2011
- ^ Profs, politicians attack Burke over MUN hiring CBC News, July 30, 2008
- ^ Newfoundland & Labrador Votes 2007. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ Newfoundland & Labrador Votes 2003. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
