Elsie Wayne

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Elsie Eleanore Wayne (born Fairweather) (born April 20, 1932 in Shediac, New Brunswick) is a Canadian politician. She announced her retirement from politics on February 16, 2004 and did not run for re-election in the 2004 election to the Canadian House of Commons.

In 1977, she was elected to the Saint John municipal council. In 1983, she became the first female mayor of Saint John, and became extremely popular in that city.

In the 1993 election, she ran as the ruling Progressive Conservative Party's candidate in the riding of Saint John. In this election, the Tories suffered the worst ever defeat for a governing party at the federal level in Canada. Wayne was one of only two Tories elected nationwide, the other being Jean Charest. She was also the only non-Liberal elected in Atlantic Canada that year. She was elected by only 4,000 votes, but never faced another contest nearly that close.

In 1998, when Charest resigned the leadership of the PC party to become leader of the Parti libéral du Québec, Wayne was appointed the party's interim leader, a post she held until former [[Prime Mini Joe Clark was elected party leader later that year.

She supported the merger of the Progressive Conservatives (led by Peter MacKay) and the Canadian Alliance (led by Stephen Harper) in 2003.

Politically, she was known as being very socially conservative, opposing same-sex marriage, abortion and decriminalization of marijuana. Wayne proved to be controversial with such homophobic comments as: "If they (same-sex couples) are going to live together, they can go live together and shut up about it. There is no need of this foolishness."

Fiscally, Wayne was a strong believer in Canada's social safety net and the welfare state, which was typical for most Tories from Atlantic Canada. She is also among Canada's most vocal monarchists.

At the Biennial Conservative Party Convention in 2005, she stated: "let me tell you, I have been across this country and I find from coast-to-coast, that if you had a referendum, you would find out that 90 per cent of the people in Canada are for the traditional family." Most polls show Canadians, by a slight majority, are in favour of same-sex marriage. This number grows when asked about using the notwithstanding clause (which most constitutional experts say is required), and when asked about re-opening the debate, now that the law is in effect.

Wayne was rumoured to be considering a run for her old seat in 2006, but these rumours came to nothing. She did, however, serve as chairwoman of the Conservative campaign in Atlantic Canada.

She is married to Richard Wayne and has two sons, Daniel and Stephen.

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