Preceded by Allan Kerpan Prime Minister Stephen Harper Succeeded by riding abolished Preceded by Rona Ambrose | Prime Minister Stephen Harper Name Lynne Yelich Preceded by Diane Ablonczy Spouse Matt Yelich (m. 1972) | |
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Role Member of the Canadian House of Commons Party Conservative Party of Canada Residence Kenaston, Saskatchewan, Canada Office Member of the Canadian House of Commons since 2001 Profiles | ||
20150430 lynne yelich press conference
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.
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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.