Elizabeth Witmer is MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, former Deputy Premier, and currently serves as Official Opposition Critic both for Education and Women’s Issues.

Elizabeth was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990. In June 1995, she was appointed Minister of Labour. In this capacity, she moved quickly to restore balance to provincial labour relations and to strengthen workplace safety and insurance legislation.

In October 1997, she was appointed Minister of Health, where she undertook the daunting task of implementing the long overdue restructuring of Ontario’s health system.

In June 1999, Elizabeth was re-appointed Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. She forged a collaborative approach with health stakeholders to provide a continuum of care and moved forward decisively with primary care and mental health reform, the modernization of Ontario’s hospitals, and the expansion of community services and new long-term care beds.

Elizabeth was appointed Minister of the Environment on February 8, 2001, signalling that the future sustainability and protection of Ontario’s air, water and natural environment were of the highest priority to the Ontario Government.

She was appointed Deputy Premier of Ontario and Minister of Education in April 2002. After committing record levels of funding and the implementation of recommendations made by Dr. Mordecai Rozanski, students in Ontario saw unprecedented improvements to the education system in areas of early literacy and numeracy and students at risk.

Active in her community, Elizabeth was recognized in 1987 as Kitchener-Waterloo’s Woman of the Year. In 1996, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association awarded her the Dr. Harry Paikin Award of Merit for her exceptional contribution in the field of education. She was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship by the Rotary Club in 1997 “for service above self” and, in July 2001, she was presented with the international Philippe Pinel Award in recognition of her contribution to mental health reform. In May, 2002, Elizabeth was awarded honorary membership with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. In May, 2005, Elizabeth was awarded the SmogBuster award by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance for her work as Minister of the Environment when she signed the regulation to close the coal-fired Lakeview Generating Station, the Greater Toronto Area’s single-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007. Equal Voice, a multi-partisan organization committed to electing more women at every level of government in Canada, invited Ontarians to nominate the woman they felt would make Ontario’s Greatest Female Premier. When the votes were in, Ontarians voted Elizabeth Witmer as the woman who would make the province’s Greatest Female Premier.

A former secondary school teacher, Elizabeth served as trustee for the Waterloo Board of Education from 1980 to 1990, including an unprecedented five years as chairperson. Born in the Netherlands, she was raised in Exeter, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Western Ontario. She and her husband, Cameron, a dentist, have two children: Scott and Sarah.

In her leisure time, Elizabeth enjoys hiking, gardening, gourmet cooking, work-outs at the gym, reading and travelling.