Lynne Yelich

The Honourable Lynne Yelich PC
Yelich at the NATO Foreign Affairs ministers meeting with International Organisations, September 2014
Member of Parliament for Blackstrap
In office November 27, 2000 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Allan Kerpan
Succeeded by	riding abolished
Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular)
In office July 15, 2013 – November 4, 2015
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Diane Ablonczy
Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification)
In office October 30, 2008 – July 15, 2013
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Rona Ambrose
Succeeded by	Michelle Rempel
Personal details
Born	Lynne Zdunich (1953-03-24) March 24, 1953 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Matt Yelich
Residence	Kenaston, Saskatchewan
Profession	Farmer, banker

Lynne Yelich PC (née Zdunich; born March 24, 1953) is a Canadian politician and was the Conservative MP for the former riding of Blackstrap and predecessor riding components, from 2000 to 2015.

Life and career

Yelich was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She is a third-generation Croatian-Canadian. The riding of Blackstrap included Yelich's home town of Kenaston, Saskatchewan, identified as the largest Croatian farming settlement in Canada. Yelich was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

At the time of the 2005 dissolution of the 38th Parliament, which ended the 17 month minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin, Lynne Yelich was cited by Carol Goar as a Member of Parliament who had "tried to use the legislative system to improve the lives of Canadians" and for "attempting to play a positive role in a House consumed by partisan machinations" during a particularly acrimonious parliamentary period.

Subsequent to the election of the Conservative minority government in 2006, Yelich was appointed by prime minister Stephen Harper as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. She was appointed Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification) by Prime Minister Stephen Harper following the re-election of the Conservative minority government in 2008. Yelich was last appointed Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular) in July 2013.

During her Parliamentary tenure, Yelich served on the Citizenship & Immigration, Transport, Government Operations & Estimates, and Status of Women committees. She was also a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA). She also served as Critic for Women Entrepreneurs, Families and Caregivers, Status of Women, Cities, and Grain Transportation.

Yelich introduced private member's motions to make sexually explicit material contraband in prisons, keep open local weather stations, establish a report on decorum in the House, and support research on endometriosis.

In 2015, Yelich lost the Conservative party nomination for the newly created riding of Saskatoon—Grasswood, essentially the Saskatoon portion of her old riding, to local sports broadcaster Kevin Waugh.

External links

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of Canada
• Lynne Yelich – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca