Judy Wasylycia-Leis - Federal Politics

Federal Politics

Wasylycia-Leis resigned her seat on August 12, 1993, to seek (and win) the federal NDP nomination in the riding of Winnipeg North. The NDP fared poorly in the 1993 election, however, and Wasylycia-Leis lost to Liberal Rey Pagtakhan by almost 10,000 votes. She subsequently became a co-chair of Cho!ces, a Manitoba social-justice coalition. In the 1997 federal election, Wasylycia-Leis ran in the riding of Winnipeg North Centre, and defeated Liberal Judith Optiz Silver, 13,663 votes to 7,801. She was re-elected by a wider margin in the 2000 election. In 2003, she supported Bill Blaikie's campaign to become leader of the federal NDP. Redistribution placed Wasylycia-Leis against Pagtakhan again for the 2004 federal election, in the altered riding of Winnipeg North. On this occasion, Wasylycia-Leis defeated Pagtakhan 12,507 votes to 9,491.

In Parliament, Wasylycia-Leis has focused primarily on issues relating to women (including women's health concerns) and general human rights. She has served as her party's health critic, and was made critic for women's and senior's issues in 2001. She is also an advocate for Israel, and in recent years has been critical of some of her party's foreign policy positions as regards Israel and the Middle East.

Wasylycia-Leis was named Deputy Caucus Chair of the parliamentary NDP on January 30, 2003. On August 2, 2004, she was promoted to caucus chair. In 2003 Wasylycia-Leis was also named the finance critic. In November 2004, Wasylycia-Leis traveled to Ukraine to monitor developments in that country's disputed presidential election.