Irene Mathyssen

Irene R. Mathyssen (born August 16, 1951) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 2006 until 2019.

Mathyssen was educated at the University of Western Ontario from 1970 to 1975, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Drama, and a Bachelor of Education degree.

She was president of the Middlesex NDP riding association from 1989 to 1990.

She was previously a New Democratic Party Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and briefly served as a minister in the government of Premier Bob Rae.

She was elected to represent the riding of Middlesex in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1990 provincial election, defeating incumbent Liberal Doug Reycraft by 520 votes (out of 38,382 cast).

She served as a government Whip from 1990 to 1991, and was a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of the Environment from 1991 to 1994.

In that capacity she announced that 6 million dollars would be spent on the cleanup of beaches in rural areas which were closed mostly due to agricultural runoff issues.

In 1993, she voted against a government bill to allow a municipal expansion into her rural riding.

During the debate she lamented about her lack of influence on the bill.

She said, "There have been times when I felt utterly powerless in all of this. It's a strange feeling for one who came here with such high hopes."

On October 21, 1994, she was named a Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Culture, Tourism and Recreation.

The NDP was defeated by the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1995 provincial election, and Mathyssen was defeated in Middlesex, finishing third behind Reycraft and winner Progressive Conservative Bruce Smith.

She ran for the federal New Democratic Party in the 1997 election, and finished third in the riding of London—Fanshawe, well behind Liberal incumbent Pat O'Brien.

O'Brien won by more than 3,000 votes.

She ran in the London—Fanshawe riding in the 1999 provincial election and placed third, behind PC candidate Frank Mazzilli and Liberal Peter Mancini.

She was a vocal opponent of the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 and participated in many local peace rallies.

Mathyssen was a member of the Ontario Health Coalition.

Mathyssen ran provincially in London—Fanshawe for a second time in the 2003 provincial election, and this time finished a strong second, losing to Liberal Khalil Ramal by fewer than 2,000 votes.

A similar bill proposed by Libby Davies in 2004 also died on the order paper.

She taught English at Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario, until 2006 except for a five-year break between 1990 and 1995 when she was an MPP.

She served on the District 11 Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation Political Action Committee.

She again ran in London—Fanshawe in the 2006 election.

Pat O'Brien had left the Liberal Party by this time, and sat out his remaining time in the House of Commons as an independent.

He opted not to run in the 2006 election.

Mathyssen won the riding with 34% of the vote, becoming one of 29 New Democrats elected.

During the session, she was named as the NDP critic for Housing and for the Status of Women.

In November 2006, she tabled a Private member's bill which she called the Housing Bill of Rights which would have provided secure housing for Canadians.

The bill got no further than its first reading.

During a parliamentary session on December 5, 2007, Mathyssen committed a blunder when she stood in the Commons and accused Conservative James Moore of looking at images of "scantily clad" women on his personal laptop computer at his desk in the House of Commons.

She openly questioned his integrity and said his actions "disrespected women".

James Moore denied the allegations were true.

Later in the day, Mathyssen and Moore spoke in person about the incident; Moore explained that the woman he had been looking at on his laptop computer screen was his girlfriend.

Shortly after, Mathyssen retracted her statement and apologized to Moore.

Mathyssen was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for London-Fanshawe in the 2008 federal election.

In that election, she was the only incumbent in the London region re-elected with increased total vote (17,672) and percentage of popular vote (43.1%).

In addition to retaining her role as Status of Women critic, Mathyssen was also named the NDP's deputy critic for public safety, and in this role, she has been an advocate for Canadian firefighters.

She also served as the NDP's deputy critic for Veterans' Affairs.

In December 2010, Mathyssen introduced Bill C-601, which allowed any worker who had lost their job through no fault of their own to make a single lump sum payment over the maximum allowable investment into their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) without financial penalty.

It also ensured that workers would receive the maximum amount of Employment Insurance benefits for which they are eligible; workers would be able to collect EI immediately despite receiving severance pay.

In the 2011 election, Mathyssen was re-elected with 50% of the popular vote, defeating Conservative candidate Jim Chahbar by over 7,000 votes.