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"Remember at the end of the day you have to be driven by principle and you've got to be driven by passion and your belief in what this country can be."
The Honourable Belinda Stronach, M.P.
Belinda Stronach is a community, business and public leader who cares deeply about Canada and the broader issues of quality of life both at home and abroad.
She sees the challenges of the future as needs of the immediate - how to keep Canada prosperous in a competitive global economy that is changing rapidly, how to safeguard our quality of life and the social support systems that make Canada unique, how to provide young Canadians the means to meet their potential through education, learning and skills training, and how to make the world a more secure place by dealing with crushing poverty and lack of opportunity.
Long recognized as an emerging young leader with vision, the National Post newspaper had already identified Belinda in 2001 as the most powerful businesswoman in Canada. In the same year, the World Economic Forum named her a "Global Leader of Tomorrow." In 2002, she was ranked ..2 by Fortune Magazine in its list of the world's most powerful women in business, and named one of Canada's "Top 40 under 40," an annual awards competition that honours the country's top business innovators less than 40 years of age.
In 2004, TIME Magazine ranked Belinda as one of the world's 100 most influential people and in 2005 the World Economic Forum named her a member of its network of global young leaders. Also in 2005, the sustained recognition continued: the Women's Executive acclaimed Belinda a "trailblazer" and one of Canada's top 100 most powerful women.
Moving from business success and community involvement, Belinda entered public life to represent the community where she has lived most of her life. First elected to the House of Commons in the 2004 general election and then re-elected in the 2006 general election, she is Member of Parliament for Newmarket-Aurora (Ontario).
On May 17, 2005 Belinda joined the Liberal Government to better safeguard the principles and values for which she was elected. At the invitation of the Prime Minister, she joined the Cabinet and assumed responsibility for three separate and senior portfolios as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal and Minister responsible for Service Canada.
In addition, Belinda served on four key Cabinet Committees: the preeminent Operations Committee, Domestic Affairs Committee, Canada-U.S. Relations Committee, and Aboriginal Affairs Committee. She also served on four parliamentary Liberal Party caucus committees: Ontario Caucus, Greater Toronto Caucus, Women's Caucus, and the Social Policy Caucus.
Belinda is the former President and CEO of Magna International Inc., one of the largest global suppliers of automotive systems and components in the world with 82,000 employees in 22 countries. Under her corporate leadership, Magna International had record sales and profits in each year and its stock price nearly doubled in value. While at Magna, she experienced first hand the tough lessons of the global competitive challenge to Canada, and served on the Ontario Task Force on Productivity, Competitiveness and Economic Progress.
Belinda is an Honourary Member of the Board of Directors of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, and the past Honourary Chair of Southlake's Nurture the Future Fundraising Campaign.
In 2005, she received the "In Celebration of Women: Achievements and Initiatives" award for assisting youth in her community.
In support of work to encourage more women to enter public life, Belinda is an Honorary Director of the Judy LaMarsh Fund of the Liberal Party of Canada. The fund is named for an earlier trailblazer.