Hedy Fry (1941 - )

Hedy Fry is the longest serving female Member of Parliament and the first immigrant woman to run for leadership of the Liberal party. She is known as a powerful negotiator.

• She studied to become a medical doctor in Dublin, Ireland. She was an influential physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver for two decades. Fry was also a national leader in medical politics.
• Fry was a panelist on the CBC TV show Doctor, Doctor.
• She was elected to the House of Commons in 1993 by defeating Prime Minister Kim Campbell in her riding of Vancouver Centre, becoming the first rookie to defeat a sitting Prime Minister.
• When she ran for leadership of the Liberal party in 2006, Fry said that Canada’s diversity is its greatest competitive advantage. “It’s our weapon of mass inclusion,” she said.
• Fry was born in Trinidad and immigrated to Canada in 1970.