Nancy MacBeth

Nancy MacBeth, née Betkowski (born December 29, 1948 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian politician, who was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party from 1998 to 2001. MacBeth was educated at the University of Alberta, studying French and Russian, and at Université Laval, studying French Canadian literature. She subsequently worked as a legislative assistant for several Alberta politicians. She first entered electoral politics as an Alberta Progressive Conservative Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the riding of Edmonton Glenora from 1986 to 1993 in the government of Don Getty. She was Minister of Education from 1986 to 1988, and was then appointed Minister of Health, serving in that position until 1992. She then ran as a candidate in the party's 1992 leadership convention against Ralph Klein. Regarded by the membership as a Red Tory, Betkowski (as she was then known) became the preferred candidate of the party establishment. However, Klein's populist appeal won him the leadership, and Betkowski did not stand as a candidate in the 1993 election. She subsequently married portfolio manager and financial writer Hilliard MacBeth. She then returned to politics in 1998, running for the leadership of the Alberta Liberals after the resignation of Grant Mitchell. Now serving as the MLA for Edmonton McClung, MacBeth tried to capitalize on discontent with Klein's government in some Alberta communities, but proved unable to connect with voters. In the 2001 provincial election, the Liberals won only seven seats, less than half as many as they had held before the election. Among the losses was MacBeth's own seat of Edmonton McClung. She subsequently left politics again, and was succeeded by Ken Nicol as party leader.