Donna Cansfield
| Donna Cansfield | |
|---|---|
| Ontario MPP | |
|
In office 2003–2014 |
|
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | Yvan Baker |
| Constituency | Etobicoke Centre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1945 (age 71–72) Alberta |
| Political party | Ontario Liberal Party |
| Spouse(s) | Bill Cansfield |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Toronto, Ontario |
Donna H. Cansfield, (born c. 1945) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2014 representing the riding of Etobicoke Centre.
Cansfield was born in Alberta in 1945. Prior to entering politics she was a homemaker, raising two children with her husband Bill. They live in central Etobicoke.
In 1988, Cansfield was elected to the Etobicoke Board of Education. During her tenure she served as president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association and later as president of the Canadian School Boards Association. She lost this position in 1997 when Ontario withdrew from the national association.
In November 1997 she was elected trustee as a member of the newly amalgamated Toronto District School Board. In December 2001 she was elected by a vote of 12–10 as president of the school board beating her rival Kathleen Wynne. In January 2003 Cansfield agreed to share the board chair position with Shelley Carroll. This came about because the board was deeply split by the province's takeover of the school board in 2002 by superintendent Paul Christie. The province took this action because the board could not balance its budget. The dual chair position was to remain in place until the following election in November 2003. However, Cansfield resigned her position as co-chair four months later in order to focus on her run as a candidate in the 2003 provincial election. She retained her position as trustee.
While there was some perception that Cansfield had centre-right or conservative views, she opted to run as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Etobicoke Centre in the 2003 election. Her decision to run for the Liberals rather than the Conservatives may have been driven by her distaste for the way that the Ernie Eves government had dealt with the budget crisis of the Toronto District School Board. She said, "I do not see a light at the end of the tunnel with this government. I'm tired of people not standing up and saying, 'I believe in public education.'" She based her campaign on improvements to the education system and handily beat Conservative rival Rose Andrachuk by 4,460 votes.
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