Monique Smith Information & Monique Smith Links at HealthHaven.com

Hon. Monique D. Smith
	Hon. Monique D. Smith
	MPP for Nipissing
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; October 23, 2003
Preceded by	Al McDonald
	Minister of Tourism
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; September 18, 2008
Preceded by	Peter Fonseca
	Government House Leader
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; February 4, 2009
Preceded by	Michael Bryant
Political party	Liberal
Residence	North Bay, Ontario
Occupation	Attorney
Website	Monique Smith

Monique D. Smith is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Nipissing for the Liberal Party. Her father, Richard Smith, also represented Nipissing in the legislature from 1965 to 1977, and her mother Marthe Smith campaigned for the riding in 1987.

Smith was born and raised in North Bay, Ontario, the largest city in the Nipissing riding. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, and a law degree from Queen's University. After graduating, she worked at the Toronto law firm of McCarthy Tétrault until 1997, when she resigned to work as chief of staff for provincial Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. She served as director of operations for the Liberals in the 1999 provincial election, which the party lost.

After this election, Smith became executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers, and represented the organization across the country. She returned to North Bay in 2002, and worked for the firm of Larmer and Larmer.

Smith first ran for political office in the 2003 provincial election, in the Nipissing riding (until recently held by former Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris). Despite her roots in the North Bay community, she was often described as a "Toronto lawyer" and a "parachute candidate" by the Tory campaign. These criticisms were unsuccessful, and she defeated her Conservative opponent Al McDonald by just over 3000 votes.

The Liberals won the election, and Smith was subsequently named parliamentary assistant to George Smitherman, the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. In December 2003, Smitherman commissioned her to undertake a comprehensive review of the province's long-term care system. The review was published in May 2004 calling for more funding and inspections.

On October 30, 2007 following the provincial election, Premier Dalton McGuinty appointed Monique into cabinet as the province's Minister of Revenue.

In a Cabinet shuffle on September 18, 2008^[1], Monique was appointed as the province's Minister of Tourism.

On Wednesday February 4, 2009 Ms Smith was appointed Government House Leader. She continues as Ontario's Minister of Tourism.

Cabinet Posts (3)
Provincial Government of Dalton McGuinty
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Michael Bryant	Government House Leader February 4, 2009	Incumbent
Peter Fonseca	Minister of Tourism 2008-	Incumbent
Michael Chan	Minister of Revenue 2007-2008	Dwight Duncan
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Preceded by Al McDonald	Member of Provincial Parliament for Nipissing 2003-Present	Succeeded by Incumbent

[edit] Electoral record

Ontario general election, 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Monique Smith	13,730	41.94	-7.90
	Progressive Conservative	Bill Vrebosch	13,373	40.85	-0.62
	New Democrat	Henri Giroux	4,135	12.63	+5.40
	Green	Amy Brownridge	1,258	3.84	+2.38
	Family Coalition	Suzanne Plouffe	238	0.73

Ontario general election, 2003
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Monique Smith	18,003	49.84	+6.70
	Progressive Conservative	Al McDonald	14,978	41.47	-8.95
	New Democrat	Terry O'Connor	2,613	7.23	+2.37
	Green	Jaimie Board	528	1.46	+0.51

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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