{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = | image_size = 150px | name = Roseanne Skoke | honorific_suffix = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|9|11}} | birth_place = New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | parliament = Canadian | riding = Central Nova | term_start = October 25, 1993 | term_end = June 2, 1997 | predecessor = Elmer MacKay | successor = ''Riding dissolved'' | party = Liberal | portfolio = | spouse= | occupation = }}
'''Roseanne Skoke''' (born September 11, 1954) was the Liberal MP for the riding of Central Nova from 1993 to 1997.
==Political career== Central Nova had been considered a safe Progressive Conservative riding, but its popular MP, Elmer MacKay, did not run for reelection in 1993. Skoke was elected in the gigantic Liberal landslide of that year as the party swept Nova Scotia and won all but one seat in the Atlantic provinces.
She was one of the more socially conservative members of the Liberal caucus, drawing great controversy for her remarks on homosexuality in 1995, calling it "unnatural and immoral."<ref>Kimber, Stephen. "The rightness of Roseanne Skoke," ''Chatelaine'', September 1, 1995 [http://gay.hfxns.org/RoseanneSkoke]</ref>
Due to redistribution prior to the 1997 federal election, Skoke was forced to run against fellow Liberal MP Francis LeBlanc for the Liberal nomination in her riding, which was renamed Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough. She was defeated due, in part, to controversies surrounding her.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://votes.canada.com/fed97/970322_candid.html|title=Anti-gay view sinks Skoke's bid for riding - but she might run as Independent|work=Southam Newspapers|date=March 22, 1997|accessdate=2014-09-11|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19990129062536/http://votes.canada.com/fed97/970322_candid.html|archivedate=January 29, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Skoke unlikely to stop causing Liberals grief|work=The Globe and Mail|date=March 24, 1997}}</ref> <!-- this needs to be sourced- A large number of homosexuals and NDP supporters bought Liberal memberships in order to defeat her in the 1997 Liberal nomination meeting.-->She refused to campaign for LeBlanc in the 1997 election leading some Liberals to blame her for LeBlanc's defeat at the hands of Peter MacKay.
Skoke attempted a political comeback by running for the leadership of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party later that year.<ref>{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Harder|url=http://www.herald.ns.ca/specialevents/libleader/stories/970515102.html|title=Skoke wades into race|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=May 15, 1997|accessdate=2014-09-21|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010712162602/http://www.herald.ns.ca/specialevents/libleader/stories/970515102.html|archivedate=July 12, 2001}}</ref> She placed third.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herald.ns.ca/specialevents/libleader/stories/970714148.html|title=Skoke declines king-maker role|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=July 14, 1997|accessdate=2014-09-21|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19980204072332/http://www.herald.ns.ca/specialevents/libleader/stories/970714148.html|archivedate=February 4, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=N.S. Grits choose MacLellan to put new face on party|work=The Globe and Mail|date=July 14, 1997}}</ref>
In 1998, she unsuccessfully attempted to win a seat in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly by running against John Hamm in Pictou Centre during the provincial election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaypackstory?1998/02/21+302.raw+PE98Feb21+2|title=Skoke to face off against Tory leader|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=February 21, 1998|accessdate=2014-09-09|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050123230554/http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaypackstory?1998%2F02%2F21+302.raw+PE98Feb21+2|archivedate=January 23, 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://electionsnovascotia.ca/sites/default/files/Dist40.pdf|title=Returns of General Election for the House of Assembly 1998 (Pictou Centre)|publisher=Elections Nova Scotia|year=1998|accessdate=2014-09-09}}</ref>
== Legal cases == In the 1980s, she was one of six people charged and convicted for disturbing an act of solemnity during a service of religious worship after she insisted on kneeling for communion at her Catholic church. Those convictions were later overturned in the Supreme Court of Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|title = R v Skoke-Graham|url = https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/34/index.do|website = Lexum - Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada|accessdate = 2015-10-28}}</ref>
In October 2015, she began a private lawsuit against the bishop and Diocese of Antigonish after the diocese announced the coming closure of Our Lady of Lourdes church.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Roseanne Skoke fights to keep Our Lady of Lourdes open|url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/roseanne-skoke-our-lady-of-lourdes-fight-1.3291719|publisher=CBC News|date=October 28, 2015|accessdate = 2015-10-28}}</ref>
== Electoral history == {{1993 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=13186}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skoke, Roseanne}} Category:1954 births Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Living people Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Category:People from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia Category:Politicians from Pictou County Category:Women in Nova Scotia politics Category:Canadian people of Croatian descent Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians