Christine Elliott

Christine Janice Elliott, KC (born April 13, 1955) is a retired Canadian politician in Ontario who served as the 11th deputy premier of Ontario and the Ontario minister of health from 2018 to 2022.

She graduated from Western Law School and received her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978.

She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1980.

She started off her career as a bank auditor for one of Canada's largest banks.

She was a founding member and partner of the Whitby law firm Flaherty Dow Elliott & McCarthy, where she practised in real estate, corporate/commercial, and estate law.

Elliott received Whitby's Peter Perry Award, an annual recognition of Whitby's outstanding citizen.

Prior to that she became a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow in recognition of her pro bono legal work.

She is the co-founder and director of the Abilities Centre (a facility for those with special needs), a director and past chair of Grandview Children's Centre and a director of the Lakeridge Health Whitby Foundation.

She was board president of the Durham Mental Health Services (DMHS), which named one of their group homes in her honour (Elliott House).

She is a director of Legacy Private Trust and has been a director of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

She said, "He really wants to replicate some of the campaigns and some of the solutions that worked in the 1990s. What happened in 1995 is not the solution for 2009."

She said that as leader, she would push for a "sector-by-sector" innovation strategy for Ontario.

She also said that she supports nuclear energy and that the Liberal's green energy plan was insufficient for Ontario's needs.

She gave birth to their triplet sons John, Galen, and Quinn in 1991.

She is the widow of former Canadian Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2006–2014).

She was a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2006 to 2015.

She represented the ridings of Whitby—Ajax and Whitby—Oshawa, east of Toronto.

In March 2006, Elliott ran successfully as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the provincial riding of Whitby—Ajax in a by-election, replacing her husband who was elected to the federal Parliament.

She was re-elected in 2007 in the redistributed riding of Whitby—Oshawa.

Eliott served as Ontario PC Party Deputy Leader from 2009 to 2015 under Tim Hudak.

Elliott was a candidate in the 2009 Progressive Conservative leadership election and came in third place behind winner Tim Hudak and runner-up Frank Klees.

She was appointed as the party's deputy leader in 2009.

On April 4, 2009, Elliott entered the leadership race to succeed former leader John Tory.

She portrayed herself as a centrist alternative to her three right-wing opponents—Hudak, Klees and Randy Hillier.

During her announcement she criticized her main rival Tim Hudak.

At the leadership convention on June 28, 2009, in Markham, Ontario, Elliott placed third in the results behind winner Tim Hudak and runner-up Frank Klees.

She was re-elected in 2011 and 2014.

Elliott was married to former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty until his death on April 10, 2014.

She was the runner-up in both the 2015 and 2018 PC party leadership races and placed third in the 2009 race.

She was a candidate for 2015 leadership election but lost to former federal MP Patrick Brown.

Following her second loss, Elliott resigned her seat in the legislature and was appointed as Ontario's first Patient Ombudsman by then-Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins, serving until she stepped down to make her third bid for the Ontario PC Party leadership.

In that contest, Elliott won the most votes and ridings but lost the contest to Doug Ford.

She lived in Whitby with her sons until 2015 when she moved to Toronto to be closer to her job as Patient Ombudsman.

Her son Galen worked for Doug Ford, when he was a Toronto city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobicoke North.

Elliott and Flaherty have both championed issues surrounding disabled children; their son, John, has a disability.

Elliott was elected to represent the riding of Newmarket—Aurora in the 2018 Ontario general election.

She then received the nomination to run for the riding of Newmarket-Aurora and was elected on June 7, 2018, as the PC Party won the election.

She did not stand in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Elliott was born in Oshawa and grew up in Whitby.

She attended the University of Western Ontario where she received her honours Bachelor of Arts degree in history.