Kellie Leitch

Dr. Khristinn Kellie Leitch (born July 30, 1970) is a Canadian surgeon and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Simcoe—Grey from 2011 to 2019 as a member of the Conservative Party.

She graduated from Queen's University in 1991 with an undergraduate degree.

She earned her MD from the University of Toronto in 1994, MBA from Dalhousie University in 1998, and completed the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program in 2001 at the University of Toronto.

She became a fellow of clinical paediatric orthopaedics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles/University of Southern California in 2002.

Leitch formerly taught at the University of Western Ontario, where she served as the assistant dean of external affairs at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, and is a former chair of paediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario.

She was an orthopaedic pediatric surgeon at SickKids Hospital for one year before pursuing a career in politics.

Leitch is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

Leitch was the founding chair of the Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership and led the health sector stream of the MBA programme at the Richard Ivey School of Business located at the University of Western Ontario.

Leitch served as chair of the expert panel for the Children's Fitness Tax Credit in 2006, which made recommendations to Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, regarding the best ways to implement this tax credit designed to encourage health and fitness among Canadian children.

In 2008, Leitch authored the report entitled Reaching for the Top: A Report by the Advisor on Healthy Children & Youth.

The report is a "call to action" for government and industry on key issues affecting Canadian children and youth.

Leitch serves on the boards for CANFAR, the National Research Council, YMCA, and Genome Canada, among others.

In 2009, Leitch founded the Kids Health Foundation (now known as The Sandbox Project), an organization that sought to work with academia, the not-for-profit sector, government and industry to make Canada the healthiest place on earth for children to grow up.

Leitch maintained her medical credentials while serving in politics, and had hospital privileges at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.

Leitch is an active member of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

She was a strategist in Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott's leadership bid in 2009.

She also served as president of the Ontario PC Campus Association, and has been actively involved in the Conservative Party since she was 14.

On September 17, 2010, The Globe and Mail reported that Leitch would run for the Conservative nomination in Simcoe–Grey.

The seat was, at the time, held by Helena Guergis, who was expelled from the Conservative Party.

The Globe described Leitch as a "star candidate" and noted that her launch event in Creemore the following day would include former Ontario premier Bill Davis and federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Leitch won the nomination over Collingwood mayor Chris Carrier and Paul Throop with 67% of all ballots cast in a large turnout.

Leitch won the general election with more votes than any candidate for public office had ever received in Simcoe–Grey, with 31,784 ballots cast for her and a plurality of 20,590 votes, or 49.36% of the vote.

Following her election, Leitch was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

She was first elected in the 2011 federal election, succeeding Member of Parliament Helena Guergis who was dismissed from the Conservative Party caucus.

Following her election, Leitch was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

On July 15, 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Leitch Minister of Labour and Minister for the Status of Women.

On July 15, 2013, Prime Minister Harper named Leitch Minister of Labour and Minister for the Status of Women.

As part of the February 2014 budget, Leitch announced a $25 million plan to address violence against aboriginal women and girls.

She served in Cabinet until the defeat of the Conservative government in the 2015 federal election.

During the 2015 Canadian federal election, Leitch said that she was pro-life when asked at a local debate, citing her experience as a paediatric surgeon as her reason.

On October 2, 2015, during the general election, Leitch and then-Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander announced a Royal Canadian Mounted Police "tip line" where Canadians could report "barbaric cultural practices", which, along with the niqab issue, was widely viewed as an attempt to keep cultural and immigration issues at the forefront of the election campaign.

Leitch later expressed regret in her involvement of the "barbaric cultural practices tip line".

However, in an interview, on the statement the tip line "is a good idea but wasn't communicated as effectively as it could be to the public" she characterised it as being "absolutely correct".

Although Leitch was re-elected in the 2015 election, the Conservatives were relegated to Official Opposition status.

Leitch's policy stances faced similar controversy in October 2015 during the federal election, where she and fellow Conservative MP and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander pledged support and funding to establish a tip-line for Canadians to call in regards to what they called "barbaric cultural practices".

Leitch ran in the 2017 contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

During the election, Leitch campaigned with over 70 Conservative candidates, which prepared the groundwork for her participation in the 2017 Conservative leadership election to replace Stephen Harper.

On January 23, 2018, Leitch announced that she would not be seeking re-election for the 43rd Canadian federal election and would return to being a full-time surgeon.

Leitch was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

She is the daughter of Eleanor Lynne (Conway) and Kelburne "Kit" McNabb Leitch, who owned a construction company in Fort McMurray.