I understand that there is a fantastic page here, whose name I have yet to learn, from Toronto–St. Paul’s, the best riding in our province. So can we all give them a round of applause and welcome them to Queen’s Park?

Come check me out and say hello.

Welcome. It’s an honour to say a few words on MPP Lily Oddie Munro.

I have the privilege today of paying tribute to Lily Oddie Munro, a cabinet minister in the David Peterson government whose political journey began in my hometown of Hamilton back in the mid-1980s.

Lily Munro was first elected MPP for the riding of Hamilton Centre in 1985 after losing a by-election the year before by the slimmest of margins—just 64 votes. She was appointed Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Culture, the only woman in cabinet at that time. Two years later, following the Liberal landslide of 1987, she became Minister of Culture and Communications. She was an energetic, self-confessed workaholic who embraced cultural issues.

Lily Munro’s career certainly did not begin on a political path. After graduating from Delta Secondary School in Hamilton, she went to work as a secretary at Stelco steel. Munro remained at Stelco for 13 years. She then decided that she wanted to improve her formal education. She was driven and determined. At the age of 32, Lily Munro enrolled at university and earned not just one degree but three degrees, including a doctorate in educational philosophy. Following graduation, Dr. Munro worked as a psychologist. She became the director of the Centre for Continuing Education at McMaster University.

Lily Oddie became more engaged in politics when she began working for federal MP John Munro, a man whom she later married. John Munro once described his wife as a “tough fighter and a hard fighter.”

As Minister of Culture, she was a fierce proponent of funding for the arts and culture. She fought for funding to restore the Elgin and Winter Garden theatres because she desperately wanted to provide year-round employment for seasonal theatre staff. She weathered the storm around accusations of conflict of interest in the Patti Starr affair and brushed aside daily calls from the opposition to resign. Her staff called her “Tiger Lily.”

Lily Munro had deep roots in Hamilton. She immigrated to Canada from Britain with her family after the war. She served on various boards and committees in Hamilton that promoted the well-being of women, children and the disabled.

Lily Munro has been described as being shy and reserved, but those who knew her well say otherwise. She was spontaneous, energetic and warm.

At 80 pounds, she was a black belt in karate. I’m told that in an east-end Hamilton karate club, she once broke another woman’s ribs.

At the age of 60, Munro decided she wanted to ride a motorcycle. After getting her licence, she went on rides with friends to the United States. She gave up the bike at the age of 70, at the insistence of her son.

She was a woman with no reservations about getting up on stage in costume for roles in theatre.

Another time, the culture minister graced the front page of a Toronto newspaper dressed as a character from the musical Cats.

When the Hamilton Tiger-Cats won the CFL Eastern final in 1985, Munro led this House in an Oskee Wee Wee chant. In fact, Lily Munro was a staunch Steeltown cheerleader who raised Hamilton’s profile at Queen’s Park.

Decades after her high school graduation, Lily Munro was inducted into the Delta high school Wall of Excellence.

Lily Munro embraced life. She lived a long and full life. She passed away at the age of 83.

I want to thank her son, John, and grandson, Finn, for sharing their mother and grandmother with us. She was a woman who had Hamilton’s best interest at heart, and we are a better community because of her work.

It is my honour to stand today to acknowledge the life and legacy of the late doctor, psychologist and MPP Lily Oddie, formerly Lily Munro, who served as the Liberal MPP for Hamilton Centre from May 2, 1985, to September 5, 1990, and who also served her community and Ontario on multiple legislative committees and as Minister of Culture and Communications and, later, Minister of Citizenship and Culture during her tenure.

I want to thank her family and loved ones here today in the Legislature: her son, John; her former daughter-in-law, Mara; her grandson, Finn; and Lynn, a wonderful cousin; her friends Robert and Doug; and, of course, Mr. David Warner, the former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Thank you to the family and loved ones of Dr. Munro for sharing her so generously and selflessly with the people of Hamilton Centre, with Ontario. This isn’t an easy job. It’s not easy work, and it’s often thankless. So thank you for sharing her with us.

While I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing MPP Oddie Munro personally, it has been quite rewarding of an experience getting to know her through the archive. It is clear to me that she was an incredibly strong woman and, even through political trials and tribulations, she proved herself as exactly what her former husband, MP John Munro, once described her as: “a tough fighter and a hard fighter.”

It’s like the great Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a tea bag—you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in a little hot water.” I know a thing or two about having to be a strong woman in the face of adversaries and adversities, and it is clear to me that Lily, who at one point served as the only woman in cabinet, had grit. Because she and many other women MPPs were here, we continue to see more women exploring careers in politics, running in politics, not as afraid to hold their own and speak their truth.

MPP Oddie Munro was a newcomer in politics. Her very place in this building was a break from tradition, something she very much embraced. She was described as warm, spontaneous and compassionate. She reportedly dressed up on Halloween and, on her lunch break, would bop to the music in the park across the street. Her presence here was humanizing—a word not associated, frankly, with politicians, not then and not even now. She served with care.

She also had an eye on equity and the need to confront the exclusionary and often oppressive social structures that left certain groups of Ontarians behind. As the Minister for Citizenship and Culture, MPP Oddie Munro made it a top priority to “meaningfully enfranchise minorities who feel excluded from the power structure,” as reporter Marilyn Linton once noted. For her, “meaningfully” was the key word. This meant engaging with marginalized communities directly to find out what enfranchisement looked like for them, rather than making assumptions.

MPP Oddie Munro made it her mission to “unleash the talent that has been overlooked around this province for the past 43 years by an old boys’ network,” as reporter Joe Serge noted in a Toronto Star article back in 1985.

Here in Ontario today, with only 39% of women elected to this Legislature, we still have a long way to go. But make no mistake, MPP Lily Oddie Munro placed cracks in that glass ceiling, and us women here continue to do so.

She was also a committed advocate for culture and arts, working each day to prove that the sector is more than the fluff the old boy’s network made it out to be, or just a “frill,” as former Conservative Premier Mike Harris referred to it in future years. In her own words, “Culture is more than dancing, singing and 25th anniversaries. It is philosophy and values. If we put culture at the bottom of our list of priorities, it’s to our detriment in the end.”

In fact, Lily appeared as a cast member in the dress rehearsal of the Guys and Dolls show at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover, and she was also photographed dressed as a cast member of Cats, which was showing in Toronto at the time at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre—for which she advocated its full restoration.

It was this all-encompassing outlook towards arts and culture and her pioneering mind that helped amplify and uplift arts and culture into the economic powerhouse it is today. Her vision for Ontario’s film industry helped place our province on the map as a competitive hub for production. She was largely responsible for ensuring an arm’s-length relationship between arts organization, such as the OAC, and the government, which we know is fundamental to arts autonomy across Ontario.

Her work in protecting Ontario’s heritage continues to be felt across the province, including in my own community of St. Paul’s, home of the Maclean House, which was saved from demolition thanks to a strengthened Ontario Heritage Act under Minister Munro, at that time.

Her dedication to her community and a better world in Hamilton and beyond continued long after she left politics in 1990, through her career in social work and education, which included her work at St. Catharines YWCA and serving on the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Upon leaving Queen’s Park, she told the Spectator that, “All of us go into politics knowing we have to be tough.”

While this remains true, Lily Oddie’s legacy gives us a new definition of what it meant to be tough. Tough is also compassionate, it’s warm, it’s refreshing. It’s donning a tutu, dancing to Willie Nelson across the street.

MPP Lily Oddie Munro is a woman who had a black belt in karate and who, at 60 years of age, according to her son John, learned to ride a motorcycle. She loved to travel with her friends to the US, she loved life and she loved working hard for her community. What a life, I say. What a life.

Thank you for this opportunity to honour her today, and thank you once again to her family for sharing her with Ontario and Hamilton Centre.

We give thanks for the life and public service of Douglas Jack Wiseman.

Today we are honoured to remember and pay tribute to a former member of our provincial Legislature, the late Ms. Lily Oddie Munro, the MPP for Hamilton Centre during the 33rd and 34th Parliaments.

Joining us in the Speaker’s gallery today are Ms. Munro’s family and friends: her son, John Oddie; her former daughter-in-law, Mara Fabrizio; her grandson, Finn Munro; her cousin Lynn Larson; and her friends Robert and Doug. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I recognize the member for Flamborough–Glanbrook.

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to make statements in remembrance of the late Ms. Lily Oddie Munro, with five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s government, five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s loyal opposition, and five minutes allotted to the independent members as a group.

We give thanks for the life and public service of Lily Oddie Munro.

Today we are honoured to remember and pay tribute to the former member of our provincial Legislature, the late Mr. Richard Patten, who was the MPP for Ottawa Centre during the 34th, 36th, 37th and 38th Parliaments.

Joining us in the Speaker’s gallery are Mr. Patten’s friends Barbara Jordan and her husband, Allan Morrison. Mr. Patten’s family is watching this tribute from home this afternoon.

I recognize the member for Nepean.