ON THIS DAY

August 4, 1943

Agnes Macphail and Rae Luckock became the first women elected to the Ontario legislature. Both were members of the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the predecessor to

the NDP. In 1921, Macphail was the first woman MP elected. Both women lost their seats in the next

election, along with the majority of their CCF colleagues. Macphail

returned eventually to the legislature and helped pass Ontario’s first equal pay legislation in 1951.