Background
Wadds was born in 1920 in Newton Robinson, Ontario. She was the daughter of William Earl Rowe. Wadds and Rowe are, to date, the only father and daughter to sit as MPs in the same session of Parliament.
Wadds was born in 1920 in Newton Robinson, Ontario. She was the daughter of William Earl Rowe. Wadds and Rowe are, to date, the only father and daughter to sit as MPs in the same session of Parliament.
She served as Canadian from 1979 to 1983, playing a role in the government of Pierre Trudeau"s negotiations with the British government of Margeret Thatcher in Trudeau"s successful effort to patriate the Canadian Constitution in 1982. Wadds served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health and Welfare in 1962 and 1963. She was the first woman to serve as a parliamentary secretary in the Canadian government.
She was defeated in the 1968 federal election in the redistributed riding of Grenville—Carleton but remained politically active, serving from 1971 to 1975 as national secretary of the Progressive Conservative party.
She served on the Ontario Municipal Board in the late 1970s. In 1979, Wadds was appointed Canada"s She served in this capacity until 1983.
During this time, the Canadian Constitution was patriated. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was to say of her:
"I always said it was thanks to three women that we were eventually able to reform our Constitution.
The Queen, who was favourable, Margaret Thatcher, who undertook to do everything that our Parliament asked of her, and Jean Wadds, who represented the interests of Canada so well in London."
Returning to Canada in 1983, she was appointed one of 13 commissioners on the Macdonald Commission into the economic future of Canada.
The Royal Commission"s recommendations that Canada negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States were ultimately taken up by the government of Brian Mulroney, resulting in the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement of 1988. She subsequently served on a number of corporate boards including Bell Canada, Canadian Pacific and Royal Trust. Casselman Wadds received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, Acadia University and Saint Thomas University.
On November 25, 2011, Wadds died at the age of 91.
She sat as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.
