Kathleen Wynne

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Kathleen Wynne is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Don Valley West for the Liberal Party.

Wynne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University, a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics from the University of Toronto (1980) and a Master of Education degree in adult education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She has also completed a Harvard University course in conflict mediation, and has worked at St. Stephen's Conflict Resolution Service and the Downsview Conflict Mediation Service. She was a member of the Discipline Committee of the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists from 1997 to 2000.

From 1989 to 1994, Wynne served as President of the Toronto Institute of Human Relations. In 1996, she helped found Citizens for Local Democracy, which opposed the efforts of Ontario's Progressive Conservative government to amalgamate the City of Toronto. She also founded the Metro Parent Network (now the Toronto Parent Network) which supports improvements in the province's public education system, and has participated in numerous other community endeavours.

In 2000, Wynne was elected as a Public School Trustee in Toronto's eighth ward, despite being targeted by anonymous hate literature describing her as an extremist lesbian. She served as a Trustee until 2003, when she resigned to protest the provincial government's demand for spending cuts. In 2001, she helped pass a measure encouraging public schools to purchase teaching materials reflecting the presence of gay and lesbian parents in modern society.

Wynne was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 2003 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative cabinet minister David Turnbull by over 5000 votes. The Liberals won the election, and Wynne was appointed parliamentary assistant to Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Mary-Anne Chambers in October 2003. In October 2004, she was appointed parliamentary secretary to Minister of Education Gerard Kennedy. In her first speech to the legislature, she described herself as the province's first openly lesbian MPP.

Wynne is a liberal on social issues, and is generally regarded as being on the left wing of the Liberal Party.