Nycole Turmel

Personal life

Nycole Turmel was born to Laval Turmel and Emilia Jacques in Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec, a nearly completely francophone area of Quebec, where she lived until the age of 18. Her father ran a dairy in the region, Laiterie Turmel, which produced and delivered milk, cream and ice cream. The family has a history of political involvement; her father served as a city councillor, as did one of her brothers. At 18, and newly married, she and her husband left her home region of the Beauce to move to Alma, Quebec, for work. She subsequently had three children and, after separating from her husband, raised them as a single mother. In 1990, Turmel left Alma and moved to Gatineau in order to take up a new job with her union. She has resided in Gatineau since.{{Cite news |access-date = August 3, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130115130449/http://leclaireurprogres.canoe.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=200576&id=334&classif=Nouvelles&catname= |archive-date = January 15, 2013

Turmel is bilingual, speaking English as a second language, and is now married to a British-born Anglophone. She has three children and nine grandchildren, as well as a brother who lives in Sainte-Marie. Turmel has an abiding interest in outdoor sports, especially cross-country skiing, tennis, and cycling.

Career before politics

In 1977, after she had moved to Alma, Quebec, Turmel began working as an employment counsellor assistant at the federal government's regional Canada Employment Centre. Turmel credits this experience as inspiring her to become active with her union, saying "I got involved in the union because of the injustices I was seeing." In particular, she says the clerical and regulatory (CR) employees, most of whom were women, were not being treated fairly. For example, the CR employees received less overtime reimbursement for meals than did other, male-dominated, employee groups.

PSAC career

It was in 1979 that Turmel was first elected to a position in her union, the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), becoming vice-president of the local. She says that at the time the union was male-dominated and "it wasn't easy for women to participate in the union", noting that she relied on the mentorship of other female members. Over time, Turmel held progressively more senior elected positions at the local and regional level of her union,{{cite web |access-date = August 16, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120326150352/http://psac.com/COMM/NEWS/2000/32-0500-e.htm |archive-date = March 26, 2012 | access-date =February 25, 2023}}

1980 CEIU Clerical and Regulatory strike

In 1980, during a difficult round of collective bargaining, the 40,000 Clerical and Regulatory CEIU members went on what Our Times magazine described as the first big strike in the federal government—a strike that did not have the sanction of the union's national executive. Turmel tells the story as follows:

At the time, Turmel was a single parent with three children: two teenagers and a nine-year-old. She says the strike was a huge challenge because of that. The workers were predominantly female, with many struggling to support families. The union leadership eventually accepted the strike, which lasted for 15 days and ended with the workers winning wage increases, bonus payments, and improved parental and family care leave.

CEIU roles

After that strike, Turmel became further involved in her union and was elected president of her local in 1981. She later moved on to the district level and then to the regional level of the CEIU. One of Turmel's first political fights was around the closure of a military base at Mount Apica in 1989. She first campaigned to try and save the base and, when it became evident that that was impossible, she lobbied to ensure that displaced employees got a job somewhere else without losing their benefits. Turmel observed that such layoffs had a significant effect on the affected workers because of economic conditions in the region: "It had a big impact economically for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. Many of the workers were from that region. It was not like today where it is common to transfer because of a job or if your spouse gets work in another city. It was not easy to find another job in the region."

In 1990, she made the decision to run for a national elected position; as part of a pioneering wave of women within the union who were assuming leadership roles, she campaigned for the presidency of the CEIU arguing that "it's time a woman ran the component, and I am ready." While her campaign for the presidency was unsuccessful, she became the alternate to the national president of the CEIU and moved to Gatineau. "I was not fully bilingual, my network was in Quebec and even though my children were grown up it was still difficult," Turmel explained.

PSAC executive roles

A year later she was elected onto the PSAC executive: Turmel became Fourth Executive Vice-President of the PSAC in 1991, serving until 1994, when she became First Executive Vice-President. In that role, which she continued in until 1997, Turmel was responsible for women's equality issues within the union.

Pay equity was a major issue in the PSAC. In 1984, the first human rights complaint against the federal government was filed. "I worked a lot on our pay equity struggle," said Turmel, "I was on the executive when we decided not to accept the government’s offer to settle and to wait for the court decisions. Many members were really upset at us. Years later we won the big fight and a lot of money for federal employees. This came with a recognition—long overdue—of the value of their work."

Equity issues were a passion for Turmel. She pushed for change with the employer and also within the union. "In concert with a group of women members and staff at the 1996 national women’s conference, we decided to change the way we were conducting the conference," she recalled, "We wanted it more inclusive and with a vision, a plan of action including being more involved in political action and politics. There was a lot of backlash and I came close to being defeated at the PSAC convention in 1997 over this. But it was the right decision."

In 1997, she became PSAC National Executive Vice-President. She stayed in that role until 2000, while serving briefly as acting national president in late 1999. | access-date = August 16, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120326150404/http://psac.com/COMM/UPDATE/Vol11-18/11-18-e.htm | archive-date = March 26, 2012 | url-status = dead It was during that time that Turmel suggested that a Member of Parliament “deserved to be roughed up because he did not respect the picket line,” a comment that has been featured on Conservative attack web sites.

PSAC president

Turmel was elected president of the PSAC on May 5, 2000, becoming the first woman to ever assume this role in the 34-year history of the PSAC. In 2003, she was re-elected for a second three-year term, which concluded in 2006.{{Cite news |access-date = July 25, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110812140127/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/PSAC+chief+Turmel+incredible+inner+strength/5157996/story.html |archive-date = August 12, 2011

On September 11, 2001, PSAC members were on strike. Moments after the second plane flew into the World Trade Center in New York, Turmel, on behalf of PSAC members, suspended their legal strike action, with PSAC members returning to work providing services to Canadians and thousands of airline passengers from around the world. Days later, she pleaded for racial tolerance in a world that was quickly losing perspective and has said that racism then gained a stronger foothold in what were before considered to be tolerant and progressive communities. Weeks later, she with others challenged the loss of freedom articulated in the Canadian government's anti-terrorist legislation.

United Way

From 1992 onwards, Turmel acted as one of the PSAC leaders helping to coordinate and officially lend the union's support to the United Way's Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. She was ultimately awarded the Mitchell Sharp Award for Meritorious Service in recognition of her contribution to the campaign (see "Accolades", below).

Post-retirement career

After retiring from the PSAC, Turmel served as vice president of the Ombudsman's office of the City of Gatineau from 2007 to 2011, and she sat on the boards of two affordable housing agencies in the Outaouais.{{cite web |access-date = July 25, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110823122358/http://nycoleturmel.ndp.ca/about |archive-date = August 23, 2011

Political career

Municipal politics

In November 2009, Turmel ran in the Gatineau municipal election in the district of Plateau-Manoir-des-Trembles; she lost to opponent Maxime Tremblay by 96 votes out of 4,261.{{cite web | access-date =July 25, 2011}}

Political affiliations

Turmel has been a member of the NDP since 1991.{{Cite news |access-date = August 3, 2011

As the president of PSAC, Turmel encouraged members of the union to vote for candidates—Liberal, NDP, and Bloc Québécois—that the union had endorsed for their progressive values and for being considered electable in their riding. In December 2006, Turmel took out a membership in the Bloc Québécois in support of her friend, Carole Lavallée, who was running for the party. Turmel says that she was a Bloc member in her friend's riding and that she refused to transfer her membership to her own riding when asked. This put Turmel in violation of the NDP constitution which prohibits being a member of more than one federal political party at the same time. Turmel allowed her NDP membership to lapse in 2009, something she says was unintentional and attributes to a credit card expiry date issue; she became a paid-up member again in October 2010. During her time as a Bloc member, she gave four donations to the party, totaling $235.{{Cite news | access-date = February 25, 2023 | access-date = August 2, 2011}} She also refused a request from former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe to run as a Bloc candidate because of her disagreement with the party on the issue of Quebec sovereignty.

Provincially, Turmel was a member of Québec solidaire. She says that she joined the party because of a friendship with one of its leaders, Françoise David, and that she renewed her membership card every year. After becoming NDP interim leader, Turmel said she would abandon her membership with Quebec Solidaire.

2011 federal election

The 2011 federal election was Turmel's first time running for the NDP. On February 3, 2011, NDP leader Jack Layton announced her candidacy in Hull—Aylmer. Her campaign focused on local issues including getting legislative protection for Gatineau Park, a possible ferry between Aylmer and Kanata, and expanding the Rapibus transit project.{{cite web

| access-date = September 2, 2011}} She picked up key endorsements during the campaign, including from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.{{Cite news | access-date =February 25, 2023}} Turmel went on to defeat longstanding Liberal incumbent Marcel Proulx by a shocking 23,000-vote margin. She is the first non-Liberal to win the riding in an election since its creation in 1914. The only other time it has been out of Liberal hands was from 1990 to 1993, when Gilles Rocheleau joined seven other MPs in forming the Bloc Québécois caucus; Rocheleau was heavily defeated in the 1993 election.

After the election, Turmel was named Chair of the NDP's National Caucus, with the unanimous support of her colleagues in the NDP caucus, and appointed critic for Public Works and Government Services Canada. She began sitting on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on June 2, 2011.{{cite web | access-date =July 25, 2011}}

Interim NDP leader

On July 25, 2011, NDP leader Jack Layton announced at a news conference that he was taking a temporary leave of absence for health reasons and recommended that Turmel be appointed interim leader for the duration of his absence. The recommendation was unanimously supported by the NDP caucus, and she became interim leader on July 28, 2011, when the party's federal council voted to support Jack Layton's recommendation. At the time, because Parliament was in summer recess and Layton was hoping to return when Parliament resumed in September, Turmel did not formally assume the role of Leader of the Official Opposition. She only assumed that office upon Jack Layton's death on August 22, 2011, and she stands as just the second woman to have held the role, after former Canadian Alliance MP Deborah Grey, who served in 2000 during that party's leadership race. Turmel chose not to move into Stornoway, as her home and riding were in the National Capital Region, though she did use Stornoway for entertaining and did sleep over on occasion.{{Cite news | access-date = January 14, 2012}}

While serving as interim NDP leader, Turmel participated at the state funeral for Jack Layton, reading a biblical passage. Turmel yielded her position as interim NDP leader to Thomas Mulcair when he succeeded in the 2012 NDP leadership election on March 24, 2012.

NDP Shadow Cabinet

Turmel was appointed as the Opposition Whip in the New Democratic Party's first shadow cabinet. She was defeated in the 2015 general election.

Gatineau Park Legislation

Following through on a promise made during the 2011 federal election, Ms. Turmel introduced a private member's bill in the House of Commons to protect Gatineau Park on November 8, 2012. If passed, her Bill C-465 would establish the park's boundaries by act of parliament, as well as clarify the National Capital Commission's responsibilities with respect to Gatineau Park.

Several environmental groups supported introduction of Ms. Turmel's bill, including the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Nature Québec, and the Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO).

Another environmental group, however, the Gatineau Park Protection Committee (GPPC), said Ms. Turmel's bill fell short of meeting basic park protection criteria. According to the GPPC, both Bill C-465 and its successor, Bill C-565, place the interests of the park's private landowners above those of the public; encourage construction of more houses in Gatineau Park; and create confusion and contradiction in the National Capital Act. As well, the GPPC has said Ms. Turmel's legislation lacks a public-consultation mechanism, disregards the issue of Quebec's territorial integrity, and fails to make conservation the first priority of park management.

Accolades

In 2006, Turmel received the Mitchell Sharp Award for Meritorious Service from the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. The award is granted to meritorious retirees who have shown and continue to show support for their community. Upon conferring the award, Jo-Anne Poirier, CEO of the Workplace Charitable Campaign, remarked, "Nycole is extremely focused on the community and showed great leadership throughout the years, making herself available at all times to lend support and advice. We attribute our successful campaigns to her strong leadership."

A Research Academic Chair at the Université du Québec à Montréal on public spaces and political innovations was named in Turmel's honour and financed by the PSAC. | access-date = July 25, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724081715/http://www.turmel.uqam.ca/chaire | archive-date = July 24, 2011 | url-status = dead

Publications

Electoral record

Notes

References

References

1. "Turmel, Nycole". Parliament of Canada.
2. "Stephen Harper referring to Turmel as leader of the opposition". Openparliament.ca.
3. "Nycole Turmel: Cheffe par intérim du NPD". Planète Généalogie.
4. Hayvice, Christine. (2007). "Du Pain et des Roses: A Profile of Nycole Turmel". Our Times.
5. (July 30, 2011). "Turmel expects Layton to return". CBC News.
6. McElligott, Greg. (December 2001). "Beyond Service: State Workers, Public Policy, and the Prospects for Democratic Administration". IPAC Series in Public Management and Governance.
7. (1996). "Is the Canadian Government All Treaty No Action?". York University.
8. (May 4, 2006). "Public Service Alliance of Canada – Convention 2006". Psac-afpc.org.
9. (December 16, 2005). "What is the Social Justice Fund". Psac-sjf.org.
10. The Registered Agent of the Conservative Party of Canada. "Mulcair's NDP".
11. "Solidarity in our journey, unity for the future".
12. "Board Members". Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.
13. "Social Democratic Forum on Canada’s Future".
14. (July 28, 2011). "Canadians, meet Nycole Turmel". The Star.
15. Kady O'Malley. (August 2, 2011). "NDPWatch: Newly minted interim leader Nycole Turmel was an "interim" Bloc Québécois member too?". Inside Politics Blog; CBC News.
16. "canada.com – Blogs". Communities.canada.com.
17. LeBlanc, Daniel. (July 25, 2011). "Layton recommends Nycole Turmel as interim leader". [[The Globe and Mail]].
18. Meagan Fitzpatrick. (July 27, 2011). "NDP caucus backs Turmel as interim leader". [[CBC News]].
19. Jean-Paul Murray. "Nycole Turmel's Earth Day Speech on Gatineau Park". OutdoorOttawa.
20. "Parliament of Canada - Parlement du Canada".
21. « Un pas dans la bonne direction » pour protéger le parc de la Gatineau, par Philippe Orfali, Le Droit, le 9 novembre 2012.
22. (2012-11-13). "Protection du parc de la Gatineau : le CREDDO appuie le projet de loi de Nycole Turmel".
23. La députée de Hull-Aylmer a déposé un projet de loi pour protéger le parc de la Gatineau, Radio-Canada, le 8 décembre 2012.
24. (2013-12-11). "The NDP's Gatineau Park Bill is a Legislative Train Wreck".
25. (2013-12-12). "Parc de la Gatineau: Le projet de loi de Turmel, un “fouillis législatif”".
26. [http://www.elections.ca/Scripts/vis/candidates?L=e&ED=24030&EV=41&EV_TYPE=1&PC=&PROV=QC&PROVID=24&MAPID=&QID=8&PAGEID=17&TPAGEID=&PD=&STAT_CODE_ID=-1 Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Hull—Aylmer, 30 September 2015]
27. link. (2015-08-15)