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Brenda Elliott (born October 27, 1950 in Goderich, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.
Elliott has a Bachelor of Arts degree from McMaster University, and worked as a teacher and librarian before entering provincial politics. In 1972, she was elected to the Wellington County Board of Education. She became interested in environmental causes during the 1990s, and opened a store named For Earth's Sake in Guelph in November 1989.
Elliott was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating Liberal Rick Ferraro and incumbent New Democrat Derek Fletcher in Guelph. The Tories won a majority government in this election under Mike Harris, and Elliott was appointed Minister of Environment and Energy on June 26, 1995.
Because of Elliott's background in environmental causes, many believed she would be a strong advocate for "green" policies in the Harris cabinet. Instead, she was generally regarded as an ineffective minister, unable to moderate her government's pro-development policies. She was dropped from cabinet on August 16, 1996, and played only a minor role in parliament for the next three years. In 1997, she appeared to endorse the Reform Party of Canada at the federal level.
Despite being targeted by both the Liberals and NDP, Elliott was re-elected in the 1999 provincial election in the redistributed riding of Guelph--Wellington. On February 8, 2001, she returned to cabinet as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. When Ernie Eves replaced Mike Harris as Premier in 2002, he named Elliott as his Minister of Community, Family and Children's Services.
The Tories were defeated in the provincial election of 2003, and Elliott lost her seat to Liberal candidate Liz Sandals by about 3,000 votes.
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