Janice Laking
Janice Laking | |
|---|---|
| 42nd Mayor of Barrie | |
| In office 1988–2000 | |
| Preceded by | Ross Archer |
| Succeeded by | Jim Perri |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Janice R. McCuaig December 23, 1929 Barrie, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | September 2026 (aged 96) |
Janice R. Laking (née McCuaig; December 23, 1929 – September 2026) was a Canadian politician who served as the mayor of Barrie, Ontario from 1988 until 2000.
Biography
[edit]Laking was born in Barrie, Ontario, on December 23, 1929.[1]
The daughter of former Simcoe North federal Member of Parliament Duncan Fletcher McCuaig, Laking was first elected to Barrie City Council in 1972. She was nominated in 1978 as the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate in Simcoe South in the 1979 federal election, but later withdrew to mount a campaign for mayor against incumbent Ross Archer.[2] She lost that election, but was re-elected to a council seat in 1980 and served for another eight years before being elected mayor in 1988.[3] In 1991, she won her second term in office by acclamation.[4]
She was the Liberal candidate for Simcoe Centre in the 1993 federal election, losing by a margin of 182 votes to Reform Party candidate Ed Harper.[5] This was the only riding in the entire province not won by a Liberal in that election, and media generally credited Harper's victory to the fact that Laking was such a popular mayor that the voters didn't want her to leave the mayor's chair.[6]
She won reelection to the mayoralty in 1994[7] and 1997.[8]
She was defeated by Jim Perri in 2000,[9] and subsequently served as a citizenship judge. She was also an honorary colonel of CFB Borden's 16 Wing unit.[10]
Laking died in September 2026, at the age of 96.[11]
References
[edit]- ↑ The Canadian Who's who. Vol. 36. University of Toronto Press. 2001. p. 731. ISBN 978-0-8020-4958-2.
- ↑ "Liberal quits federal race to fight mayor". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 1978.
- ↑ "Easy wins, surprise upsets recorded". The Globe and Mail, November 15, 1988.
- ↑ "Election '94: It's a real horse race in many Ontario cities". Toronto Star, October 15, 1994.
- ↑ "Ontario voters go true Grit". Toronto Star, October 26, 1993.
- ↑ "Lessons in right-wing reality from one Harper to another". The Globe and Mail, September 16, 2008.
- ↑ "Ontario voters re-elect familiar faces". Toronto Star, November 15, 1994.
- ↑ "Ontario Municipal Elections: Lastman makes megacity history; Incumbent mayors capture a majority". The Globe and Mail, November 11, 1997.
- ↑ "Civic voters stay course". The Globe and Mail, November 14, 2000.
- ↑ "Laking left a legacy as mayor of Barrie". Barrie Advance, October 19, 2007.
- ↑ MacLennan, Ian (September 30, 2026). "Former Barrie Mayor Janice Laking has died". Barrie 360. Retrieved September 30, 2026.
- 1929 births
- 2026 deaths
- Mayors of Barrie
- Candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election
- Women mayors of places in Ontario
- Canadian citizenship judges
- 20th-century Canadian women politicians
- Ontario candidates for Member of Parliament
- Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
- 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario