One of the longest-sitting Progressive Conservatives at Queen's Park won't be seeking re-election.
She shared a video on social media announcing her decision on Friday.
"I started as the youngest person in two parliaments and I'm leaving as the longest-serving woman in this term," she says in the video.
Lisa MacLeod, who represents Nepean, has been an MPP since 2006 and was a member of Premier Doug Ford's cabinet during his government's first mandate.
MacLeod has been an MPP since March 30, 2006, when she won a byelection to replace well-known Conservative John Baird as the MPP for Nepean—Carleton. She's been re-elected five times since, including three times in Nepean—Carleton and, after its dissolution, twice more in Nepean.
MacLeod served in numerous critic roles in her 12 years in Opposition to the Liberal governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.
She mounted a few-months-long campaign for PC Party leader from late 2014 to early 2015, when she dropped out of the race and endorsed Christine Elliott, who'd also been a PC MPP as long as MacLeod. The PC Party's 2015 leadership election came down to Elliott versus Patrick Brown, its winner.
Brown led the PCs until late January 2018, when he stepped down after CTV News reported on two women's allegations of "sexual misconduct" against him. In March 2022, Brown and CTV News settled a lawsuit the now-mayor of Brampton made against the broadcaster over its reporting, leading the latter to update its January 2018 story to state it initially incorrectly reported the age of a woman who claimed Brown had made inappropriate sexual advances on her. Brown denies the allegations reported by CTV News.
In Brown's October 2018 book — Take Down: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown — he describes MacLeod as an inner-party political adversary who played an important role in his ouster from the PC Party. In turn, MacLeod said allegations Brown made in his book, including that she and fellow PC MPP Vic Fedeli "cut a deal" to push him out of the party, were "categorically false."
MacLeod was appointed official Opposition finance critic, typically considered the top critic position, by Fedeli shortly after he became PC Party leader when Brown stepped down.
In the PC Party's leadership election to replace Brown, MacLeod was briefly rumoured to be a potential contender but didn't ultimately run. She remained neutral during the contest, which saw Doug Ford eke out a victory over Elliott in March 2018.
After the June 2018 provincial election that saw Ford's PCs elected, ending the Liberals' 15 years in power, the premier made MacLeod minister of children, community and social services and minister responsible for women's issues. When Ford shuffled his cabinet after the PCs' tumultuous first year in power, he moved MacLeod to be minister of tourism, culture and sport. A few months later, Ford re-organized a few ministers' portfolios, including MacLeod's, making her minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture.
Each of MacLeod's ministerial stints featured controversial moments.
As minister of children, community and social services, MacLeod announced the Ford government’s first major overhaul of the province's autism program in February 2019 involving “childhood budgets” and a total maximum of $140,000 in funding until a child turned 18 years old.
The announcement sparked the resignation of Bruce McIntosh, former president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, from a PC MPP's office, and widespread protests from families that resulted in the province going back to the drawing board to create a new program.
Soon after the Feb. 6, 2019 announcement, a group representing behaviour analysts said MacLeod and her staff had asked for a quote of support for the new program and warned of consequences if they didn’t receive one, The Canadian Press had reported at the time. MacLeod ended up apologizing on social media.
Public backlash over MacLeod's autism program changes resulted in her being assigned an OPP security detail for multiple stretches of time. In 2019, she avoided one rally at Queen's Park and had to be rushed out of another event in Ottawa after threats were made against her.
Weeks into her tenure as sport minister in the summer of 2019, the late Eugene Melynk, owner of the Ottawa Senators until his death two-and-a-half years ago, claimed MacLeod berated him at a Rolling Stones concert near Barrie that they had separately attended. Melnyk told the Ottawa Citizen at the time that MacLeod angrily approached and accosted him, saying, "I am your minister and you're a f—ing piece of s–t and you’re a f—ing loser’.”
In a tweet, MacLeod said she had "serious concerns about the state of our beloved Ottawa Senators," and approached Melnyk, "gave (him) some feedback ... and I apologized to him for being so blunt."
She was also tourism and culture minister over the period the Ford government decided to choose spa-builder Therme as its main private partner in redeveloping Ontario Place.
Months before the 2022 provincial election, MacLeod was considering not running for re-election again, she revealed in a later interview on TVO's The Agenda.
During the last election campaign, MacLeod ended up in the hospital as the result of "a very serious (mental health) crisis," she said in the January 2023 interview.
She was re-elected Nepean's MPP with about 39 per cent of votes on June 7, 2022, defeating her Liberal challenger by about five per cent of votes. It was her closest electoral result; every previous election MacLeod had run in, she'd won decidedly with 45 per cent of votes or more.
Ford shuffled his cabinet a few weeks after the PCs were re-elected, removing MacLeod. She announced in a post to Twitter at the same time that she would be taking time off, following the advice of her doctor, to "address and improve (her) health."
"The last couple of years have been difficult for many people," she wrote in a June 24, 2022 post on Twitter. "I know I am not alone in this regard. In my case, my mental and physical well-being has been greatly impacted."
She returned to sit at the legislature the following fall after sharing in a post online that she'd been "living with both bipolar and metabolic disorders."
Over "several" months in 2022, MacLeod worked with medical professionals on ways to manage her mental health, she said on TVO's The Agenda in January 2023. She also explained during the interview that she's experienced depression dating back to 2014, and was connected with a psychiatrist after visiting the Ottawa hospital as a result of her experiences as children, community and social services minister.
"I didn't get elected in 2006 at 31 years old and say, 'Oh, on my bingo card I'm going to have a massive meltdown, and, end up in hospitals, trying to figure out what I have.' I simply didn't," MacLeod said. "I really enjoyed my time in the cabinet. I enjoyed my time in the front bench in opposition. I love being at community events. But some days I can't get out of bed, and that's really tough and ... the worst nightmare for a politician."
Ottawa arena
MacLeod's announcement represents the latest in a series of events positioning the Ottawa area as a region to watch in the next provincial election, particularly as an important place for the fortunes of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Ottawa is the second-largest city in Ontario. Nine of the 124 provincial ridings overlap with parts of the city: Ottawa Centre, Ottawa South, Ottawa—Vanier, Ottawa West—Nepean, Nepean, Carleton, Kanata—Carleton, Orléans, and Glengarry—Prescott—Russell.
The city has historically been a stronghold for Ontario's Liberals.
Four of the nine currently elected Liberal MPPs represent Ottawa ridings. In a byelection last summer, Karen McCrimmon flipped the seat from PC to Liberal control to become MPP for Kanata—Carleton. She and two of the other three Liberal MPPs in Ottawa have already been re-nominated as their ridings' candidates in the next provincial election.
New Democrat MPPs hold two Ottawa seats at Queen's Park. One of them, Ottawa Centre's Joel Harden, is vying to become the NDP candidate in the next federal election in the overlapping riding. The other, Ottawa West—Nepean's Chandra Pasma, has been re-nominated as her riding's candidate for the New Democrats in the next election. Pasma flipped the seat from the PCs in the 2022 election. Before 2018, Liberals had held Ottawa West—Nepean since 2003.
PC MPPs — MacLeod and Stéphane Sarrazin — hold two other Ottawa ridings. Sarrazin, MPP for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, was first elected to Queen's Park in 2022. He unseated then-incumbent Amanda Simard, who was an MPP and candidate for the Liberals after originally being elected with the PCs in 2018, by 2.5 per cent of votes.
The MPP for Carleton, the remaining Ottawa area riding, is Goldie Ghamari. Ghamari was elected and re-elected with the PCs in 2018 and 2022 before Ford kicked her out of the party's caucus this summer. She's now an Independent.
—With files from Sneh Duggal
