Background
Huizinga grew up in Amersfoort. Both of her parents were teachers.
Huizinga grew up in Amersfoort. Both of her parents were teachers.
From 2007 till 2010 she was a Secretary of State and in 2010 Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning. After attending gymnasium, she began to study law at the University of Utrecht. After passing her candidate exams (roughly equivalent of a bachelor"s degree), she stopped her studies and moved to Heerenveen.
She became involved in the cases of asylum seekers and refugees and worked as a volunteer for VluchtenlingenWerk Nederland.
She was elected into the Heerenveen municipal council. She was elected on basis of preference votes.
The ChristianUnion only got four seats and she was seventh candidate, but because so many voters voted for her she entered parliament at the cost of prominent GPV leader Eimert van Middelkoop. In the 2003 elections she was re-elected, again with preference votes, now at the cost of Leen van Dijke.
She was fourth candidate and the ChristianUnion only got three seats.
In parliament she had been occupied with foreign affairs, international development, migration, integration, spatial planning and the environment. As Secretary of State for Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Huizinga survived a motion of no confidence in April 2008 over the (supposedly failed) introduction of a MIFARE-based nationwide public transport payment system.
Because of her involvement with social and religious issues, the Reformatory Political Federation asked her to become their top candidate in Heerenveen for the 1998 municipal elections. She was secretary of the parliamentary party.
She was a Member of Parliament for the ChristianUnion from 2002 to 2007. In 2002 she was elected member of House of Representatives. She was member of the parliamentary research committee into the Srebrenica massacre.