Brenda Chamberlain (politician)
- See also Brenda Chamberlain (artist)
The Honourable Brenda Kay Chamberlain, PC (born August 4, 1952 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician. She has been a member of the Canadian House of Commons since 1993, and currently represents the riding of Guelph for the Liberal Party.
Chamberlain was a home daycare owner and operator from 1979 to 1983, and served as the administrative assistant in a family-owned business from 1984 to 1987. She also served as Executive Director of the Wellington County Literacy Council from 1989 to 1993, and of the Guelph-Wellington Career Educational Council from 1992 to 1993. During this time she also served on the Wellington County Board of Education (1985-1993).
She was first elected to parliament in the 1993 federal election, defeating her Reform and Progressive Conservative opponents by about 10,000 votes in the riding of Guelph—Wellington. She was re-elected by greater margins in the elections of 1997 and 2000. For many years, she was known as a strong supporter of Paul Martin in his bid to succeed Jean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party.
Chamberlain won another easy victory in the election of 2004, defeating her Conservative opponent by nearly 10,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Guelph.
Chamberlain was re-elected a fifth time in the 2006 election of 2006, in which the Conservative Party won a national minority government. She will serve in parliament as an opposition member.
She is one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus, and has been a vocal opponent of the government's plans to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Chamberlain also voted against the government's same-sex marriage bill in 2005. She was also involved in legislation which forced Bell Canada to revise its 411 billing policy.
Chamberlain served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labour from 1997 to 1999, and was parliamentary secretary to the president of the Queen's Privy Council, with special emphasis on public service reform and Métis and Non-Status Indians, from December 2003 to July 2004.