Joy Smith

{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joy Ann Smith | image = Joys cc.jpg | caption = Joy Smith, September 23, 2009 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age |1947|02|20}} | birth_place = Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | party = Canadian Alliance (2001–2003)<br />Conservative (2003–present) | riding = Kildonan—St. Paul | parliament = Canadian | term_start = June 28, 2004 | term_end = August 4, 2015 | predecessor = ''First Member'' | successor = MaryAnn Mihychuk | office2 = Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Fort Garry | term_start2 = September 21, 1999 | term_end2 = June 3, 2003 | predecessor2 = Rosemary Vodrey | successor2 = Kerri Irvin-Ross | office3 = Chair of the Standing Committee on <br />Health | minister3 = Tony Clement <br />Leona Aglukkaq <br />Rona Ambrose | term_start3 = November 15, 2007 | term_end3 = November 17, 2013 | predecessor3 = Rob Merrifield | successor3 = Ben Lobb | profession = Music teacher | spouse = Bart Smith }} '''Joy Ann Smith''' (born February 20, 1947) is a Canadian politician. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba between 1999 and 2003, and was in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015.

==Education and business career== Smith was born in Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada. She holds a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Manitoba (majoring in Math and Science), and a music diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario. She worked as a teacher for twenty-three years before entering political life, and in 1986 received the ''Hedley Award for Excellence in Research''{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}. During the 1990s, she served as a liaison for private and home-schooling groups.

Smith is also an entrepreneur. She published a book entitled ''Lies My Kid's Teacher Told Me'' in 1996, and a follow-up entitled, ''Tools of the Trade'' a few years later. She was also the owner of Gem Records for a time. In 1996, she was nominated for Manitoba's ''Woman Entrepreneur of the Year'' award.

==Career in provincial politics== Smith was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1999 provincial election, as a Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate in the south-central Winnipeg constituency of Fort Garry. She was nominated after the incumbent member of the assembly, cabinet minister Rosemary Vodrey, chose not to run again. In one of the closest constituency races of the campaign, Smith narrowly defeated New Democrat Lawrie Cherniack by thirty votes. The New Democratic Party replaced the Conservatives' majority government with one of their own at the election, and Smith served as the Progressive Conservative critic for education and justice.

In 2002, as justice critic for the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives, she spoke against a bill which provided adoption rights to same-sex couples in that province. Smith argued that her party did not oppose same-sex adoption rights as such, but that the proposed legislation was flawed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mapnp.geeks.org/pipermail/nacac-canadian-issues/2002-August/002014.html |title=[Nacac-canadian-issues] Article 1 re. Manitoba same-sex adoption opposition |access-date=2005-08-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015450/http://mapnp.geeks.org/pipermail/nacac-canadian-issues/2002-August/002014.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

Fort Garry was a top NDP target in the 2003 election, and Smith lost the constituency to New Democrat Kerri Irvin-Ross by eighty-seven votes.

==Career in federal politics== In a June 2005 parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage, she stated that, "If (her daughter) decides to get married, she will know that the meaning of marriage is the union of a man and a woman. If she chooses otherwise, it will be her choice." The result of the bill, she said, would be to "cause marriage to just go away with the stroke of a pen." She also claimed the bill was discriminatory against married couples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/38-1/house/sitting-123/hansard#Int-1373556|title = Debates (Hansard) No. 123 - June 27, 2005 (38-1) - House of Commons of Canada}}</ref> The ''Toronto Star'' reported that Smith broke down in tears during the debate.

She was also a member of the Status of Women Group, Ukrainian-Canadian Parliamentary Group, Canada-Israel Parliamentary Group and Canada-USA Relations Parliamentary Group. In 2004, Smith was selected to be part of the Canadian delegation assigned to travel to Ukraine and observe a court-ordered repeat of the second round of voting the presidential election.

In the 2004 federal election, Smith campaigned as a Conservative candidate in the north Winnipeg riding of Kildonan—St. Paul. She had previously been nominated as a candidate of the Canadian Alliance, where she was the Manitoba organizer for Stockwell Day's bid for leadership, before that party merged with the Progressive Conservatives in 2003–04. Smith narrowly defeated Liberal candidate Terry Duguid, 13,582 votes to 13,304. Smith was named Manitoba caucus chair, giving her a seat on the Conservative Party's Planning and Priorities Committee.

Smith defeated Duguid again by a significantly larger plurality in the 2006 federal election, as the Conservatives won a national minority government, replacing the Liberals as such. Smith along with the Conservative government were re-elected in the October 2008 federal election to another minority government. In 2006, Smith introduced a private member's bill, asking parliamentarians to condemn human trafficking and come up with a comprehensive plan to combat the problem.

In February 2007, Smith put forward motion C-153 to put a national action plan in place to combat human trafficking, and the House of Commons passed the motion unanimously.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Toronto Star|author=Thomas S. Axworthy|date=February 11, 2009|title=Canada can join Obama to end human trafficking|url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/2009/02/11/canada_can_join_obama_to_end_human_trafficking.html|access-date=May 25, 2013}}</ref> Smith began developing the plan in 2008 and continued to work on it for several years.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Winnipeg Free Press|author=Mia Rabson|title=Make buying sex illegal, city Tory MP urges: Bolster fight against human trafficking|date=September 15, 2010|url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/make-buying-sex-illegal-city-tory-mp-urges-102937149.html|access-date=May 25, 2013}}</ref> She sought to have the plan developed and established in order "to rescue and restore the victims and prosecute the offenders" of human trafficking.<ref name=Winnipeg>{{Cite journal|journal=Winnipeg Sun|author=Joy Smith|title=Canadians being trafficked here at home|date=January 27, 2011|url=http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/columnists/2011/01/27/17058731.html|access-date=May 25, 2013}}</ref> The plan was established by the Government of Canada on June 6, 2012 as the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Harper Government Launches Canada's National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking|publisher=Public Safety Canada|date=June 6, 2012|url=http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/media/nr/2012/nr20120606-eng.aspx|access-date=May 25, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703001948/https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/media/nr/2012/nr20120606-eng.aspx|archive-date=July 3, 2013}}</ref>

Also in 2007, Smith introduced a private member's bill called the ''Clean Internet Act'' (Bill C-427). The bill was passed unanimously, and set in place a strategy to combat human trafficking globally by opposing such trafficking across international borders, specifically in the case of women and children being trafficked for sexual purposes.<ref name=Playwright>{{Cite journal|journal=Red Deer Advocate|author=Lana Michelin|date=May 15, 2012|title=Playwright tells story of human trafficking}}</ref> In her words, the bill would "... prevent the use of the Internet to distribute child pornography, material that advocates, promotes or incites racial hatred, and material that portrays or promotes violence against women."<ref>MP Joy Smith presents clean Internet act to House. www.joysmith.ca. Available at: [http://www.joysmith.ca/news_details.asp?ID=402 http://www.joysmith.ca/news_details.asp?ID=402] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501122623/http://www.joysmith.ca/news_details.asp?ID=402 |date=2007-05-01 }}. Accessed on: April 23, 2007.</ref> Part of the bill proposes a "know your subscriber" requirement for ISPs and would mandate them to deny Internet access to offenders. It also proposes to give special searching powers to the Ministry of Industry. The above features have led it to be criticized as something that "... would not look out-of-place in countries that aggressively censor the Internet."<ref>Conservative MP Introduces 'Clean Internet Act'. michaelgeist.ca. Available at: [http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1884/125/ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1884/125/]. Accessed on: May 1, 2007.</ref>

In her column, "Sex traders, keep your hands off our children!" (''The Province'', July 29), Smith asserted that "the average age of entry into prostitution in Canada is between 12 and 14 years of age."<ref name="The Province">{{cite web|last=Lowman|first=John|title=The Province - Joy Smith was wrong|url=https://theprovince.com/news/Smith+wrong/7159633/story.html|work=The Province|publisher=The Province|access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref> In October 2010, Smith conducted the inaugural Honouring Heroes Award Ceremony at Eastview Community Church, an annual event recognizing people who have fought to support victims of sexual trafficking.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Winnipeg Free Press|author=Alexandra Paul|date=October 17, 2010|title=MP honours anti-sex-trade crusaders: Smith, activists take aim at Craigslist|url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mp-honours-anti-sex-trade-crusaders-105127249.html|access-date=September 20, 2012}}</ref>

In 2012, Smith presented human-trafficking-related Bill C-10 to the Senate of Canada. The bill was eventually passed as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, a policy of the Canadian government.<ref name=Ignite>{{Cite journal|title=Where is God at the Fringe?|journal=CFEQ-FM|date=July 19, 2012}}</ref> While Smith was in Ottawa to present Bill C-10, she was also scheduled to speak on the talkback panel in conjunction with the human-trafficking-related play ''She Has a Name''.<ref name=Returns>{{Cite journal|title=She Has A Name returns|author=Shannon LeClair|date=April 20, 2012|journal=Strathmore Times|url=http://www.strathmoretimes.com/April-20-2012-Strathmore-Times/she-has-a-name-returns.html|access-date=July 30, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210004007/http://www.strathmoretimes.com/April-20-2012-Strathmore-Times/she-has-a-name-returns.html|archive-date=December 10, 2013}}</ref>

Smith proposed and claimed to be working on, in July 2013, a bill that disallows access to pornography online for all Canadians by default unless they choose to opt in, similar to earlier legislation put forward in the U.K. by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Details of what content specifically would be deemed "pornographic" and blocked were not provided.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Canadians should have to 'opt in' to internet porn, MP says|publisher=CBC News|date=July 23, 2013|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/canadians-should-have-to-opt-in-to-internet-porn-mp-says-1.1353885|access-date=January 5, 2014}}</ref>

She did not run for re-election in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/tory-mp-joy-smith-leaving-winnipeg-riding-jeff-browaty-eyes-seat-1.2899180|title=Tory MP Joy Smith leaving Winnipeg riding, Jeff Browaty eyes seat|publisher=CBC News|date=January 13, 2015|access-date=December 6, 2015}}</ref>

==Out of politics== In 2012, while in political office, Joy founded The Joy Smith Foundation Inc., a registered charity that works to suppress human trafficking in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.joysmithfoundation.com/p/our-history|title = Joy Smith Foundation}}</ref> After retiring from politics, Joy began working full-time for her organization.

==Electoral record== {{Canadian election result/top|CA|2008|percent=yes|change=yes|expenditures=yes}} {{CANelec|CA|Conservative|Joy Smith|19,751|53.40%|+10.27%|$64,584}} {{CANelec|CA|NDP|Ross Eadie|12,093|32.70%|+12.53%|$25,719}} {{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Lesley Hughes|3,009|8.14%|-25.33%| }} {{CANelec|CA|Green|Kevan Bowkett|1,685|4.60%|+1.89%|$101}} {{CANelec|CA|Christian Heritage|Jordan Loewen|233|0.63%|–|$1,302}} {{CANelec|XX|Independent|Eduard Hiebert|214|0.58%|+0.06%|$3,872}} {{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes/Expense limit|36,985|100.00%|$78,899}} {{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|156| }} {{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|37,141| }} {{End}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|2006|percent=yes|change=yes|expenditures=yes}} {{CANelec|CA|Conservative|Joy Smith|17,524|43.13%|+5.83%|$58,321}} {{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Terry Duguid|13,597|33.47%|-3.06%|$70,764}} {{CANelec|CA|NDP|Evelyn Myskiw|8,193|20.17%|-2.35%|$16,314}} {{CANelec|CA|Green|Colleen Zobel|1,101|2.71%|+0.64%|$0.00}} {{CANelec|XX|Independent|Eduard Hiebert|213|0.52%|–|$3,521}} {{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|40,628|100.00%}} {{Canadian election result/total|Total rejected ballots|137| }} {{Canadian election result/total|Turnout|40,765| }} {{End}}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=6025}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Joy}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba Category:Conservative Party of Canada MPs Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:Women MLAs in Manitoba Category:The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Category:People from Deloraine, Manitoba Category:University of Manitoba alumni Category:Human trafficking in Canada Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada

Joy Smith

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