From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deborah Drake Matthews (born 1953 in London, Ontario) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of London North Centre for the Ontario Liberal Party. On October 30, 2007, Dalton McGuinty named Matthews, Minister of Children and Youth Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues. Matthews was previously known as Deborah Nash, using the surname of her first husband.

Matthews has extensive family connections to both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties. Her father, Don Matthews, was once president of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. Her mother, Joyce Eleanor Matthews (nee Drake) is a social activist particularly through her literacy work with Frontier College. Her first husband, Robbie Nash, is a successful investment adviser for National Bank Financial in London. Matthews's second husband, Bruce McCaffrey (who died in 2002), was once a provincial Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), and a cabinet minister in the government of Bill Davis. She is also the sister-in-law of former Ontario Premier David Peterson, whose brother Tim Peterson is the current Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Mississauga Southand whose other brother Jim Peterson is the MP for Willowdale.

She has been involved in the Liberal Party since 1975, when she helped run Peterson's campaign in the old riding of London Centre. She co-chaired the Liberal Party's provincial campaigns in the elections of 1987 and 1995. Matthews was elected as President of the Ontario Liberal Party in 2003 and held the post until resigning in late 2006. She has also been involved in numerous community activities in London, including fundraising for the Boys and Girls Club of London in 1995-96.

In the 2003 election, Matthews defeated Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Dianne Cunningham by almost 7,000 votes. Her riding includes significant portions of the London Centre riding once represented by her brother-in-law.

On October 23, 2003, she was appointed parliamentary assistant to Sandra Pupatello, Ontario's Minister of Community and Social Services.

In 2006, Matthews completed her Ph.D.in social demography at the University of Western Ontario, where she has also worked as an instructor. Her thesis is titled "Can immigration compensate for below-replacement fertility?: the consequences of the unbalanced settlement of immigrants on Canadian cities, 2001-2051".

She has three grown children with her first husband, two daughters and a son. In the winter of 2006 Matthews became the first Liberal MPP to be officially nominated as a candidate for re-election in the 2007 election.

• Official Website
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario official biography