Colleen Beaumier

Colleen Beaumier (born November 8, 1944) is a Canadian politician, who served in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2008.

Colleen Beaumier
Member of Parliament for Brampton
In office 1993–1997
Preceded by	John McDermid
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Member of Parliament for Brampton West-Mississauga
In office 1997–2004
Preceded by	Riding established
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Member of Parliament for Brampton West
In office 2004–2008
Preceded by	Riding established
Succeeded by	Andrew Kania
Personal details
Born	(1944-11-08) November 8, 1944 (age 80) Chatham, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Pierre Beaumier
Residence	Brampton
Profession	Businesswoman

Pre-politics

Born in Chatham, Ontario, she studied at the University of Windsor, earning a bachelor of arts in psychology. She and her husband Pierre are the parents of three adult children: Stephanie, Michael and John; Stephanie ran for Brampton City Council in the 2006 election but was defeated.

Before enter politics, she taught at the Ontario School for Mentally Challenged Children, served as a community member of the Ontario Parole Board, worked as a controller at a trucking firm and, at the time of her election, she was the vice-president of a bioanalytical services firm employing more than 100 people. Her involvement in international human rights began in 1980. As area co-ordinator of Operation Lifeline, she assisted Vietnamese refugees settling in the Toronto area.

Political career

Beaumier was first elected in 1993 in the riding of Brampton. In 1997, she was re-elected, this time in the newly created riding of Brampton West—Mississauga, where she won again on November 27, 2000. During the federal election of 2004, she defeated former provincial Minister of Health Tony Clement in the newly created riding of Brampton West.^[1] In 2006, she was again re-elected, her fifth such mandate.

As a Member of Parliament, she has remained a frequent spokesperson for human rights. At the 1995 global conference on the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the United Nations, she spoke on the dangers of global income disparities. In response to human rights violations uncovered during the Somali Inquiry, she authored a private member's bill, Bill C-208, which increased transparency in the bureaucracy and established tougher penalties for the destruction of documents.

Beaumier served on numerous parliamentary committees, most notably serving as chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development and the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs. She also served as vice-chair of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In 2003, she served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Revenue and later as the associate critic for the Canada Border Services Agency.

She announced on September 5, 2008 that she would not be running in the 2008 election.^[2] She was succeeded by Andrew Kania.^[3]

Electoral record

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election: Brampton West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Colleen Beaumier	27,988	49.1	+4.7
	Conservative	Bal Gosal	20,345	35.7	-4.3
	New Democratic	Jagtar Singh Shergill	6,310	11.1	+0.6
	Green	Jaipaul Massey-Singh	2,340	4.1	+0.7
Total valid votes			56,983	100.0

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election: Brampton West
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Colleen Beaumier	21,254	45.4
	Conservative	Tony Clement	18,768	40.0
	New Democratic	Chris Moise	4,920	10.5
	Green	Sanjeev Goel	1,603	3.4
	Independent	Tom Bose	371	0.8
Total valid votes			46,916	100.0

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Colleen Beaumier	31,041
	Alliance	Hardial Sangha	7,666
	Progressive Conservative	Glenn W. Harewood	5,957
	New Democratic	Matt Harsant	1,567
	Green	Mike Hofer	529

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Colleen Beaumier	27,297
	Progressive Conservative	Robertson, Kirk	8,447
	Reform	Ernie Mcdonald	7,569
	New Democratic	Nirmal Dhinsa	2,192

1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Colleen Beaumier	35,203
	Reform	Ernie Mcdonald	18,196
	Progressive Conservative	Susan Fennell	12,134
	New Democratic	John Morris	1,925
	Natural Law	Maxim Newby	455
	Marxist–Leninist	Amarjit Dhillon	245