Catherine Callbeck - Premier of Prince Edward Island

Premier of Prince Edward Island

In January 1993 she returned to provincial politics to successfully run for the leadership of the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party and was appointed Premier on 25 January. Under her leadership the Liberals won the provincial election on 29 March 1993, making her the first female leader of a political party in Canada to lead her party to victory in a general election. She was the first woman to win a premiership in Canada through a partisan general election, the second being Pat Duncan who won the Yukon general election, 2000, and the third being Kathy Dunderdale who won the Newfoundland and Labrador general election in 2011.

Callbeck was premier at the same time as the other three most important public offices in the province were also held by women: Elizabeth II was Sovereign, Marion Reid was the Lieutenant Governor, and Patricia Mella was the Leader of the Official Opposition.

Callbeck's government proved to be unpopular, however, mainly because of her breaking of a signed legal contract to implement a 7.5% rollback on public sector employees salaries, as well as implementing controversial municipal amalgamation policies, staining her party's image for years to come. Callbeck's administration had been faced with rapidly increasing health care costs at the same time as federal equalization and transfer payments were decreased.