Brenda Chamberlain

Who is Brenda Chamberlain?

Brenda Kay Chamberlain, PC was a member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Guelph for the Liberal Party from 1993 until her resignation as of April, 2008.

Chamberlain was a home daycare owner and operator from 1979 to 1983, and served as the administrative assistant in a family-owned business from 1984 to 1987. She also served as Executive Director of the Wellington County Literacy Council from 1989 to 1993, and of the Guelph-Wellington Career Educational Council from 1992 to 1993. During this time she also served on the Wellington County Board of Education.

Chamberlain sought the federal Liberal nomination in Guelph-Wellington in 1992. Chamberlain's main challenger for the nomination was to be former Liberal Member of Parliament Frank Maine, who represented Guelph in the House of Commons from 1974 to 1979. Maine dropped out of the race after the riding's nomination meeting was scheduled for an early date, arguing that this favoured Chamberlain. Chamberlain went on to win the Liberal nomination by acclamation. Maine later decided to run as an independent candidate against Chamberlain in the 1993 federal election. Chamberlain was elected handily as the Liberals took all but one of Ontario's 101 seats—the closest any party has come to sweeping the country's biggest province at the federal level.