Janice Laking

Janice Laking
42nd Mayor of Barrie
In office
1988–2000
Preceded byRoss Archer
Succeeded byJim Perri
Personal details
BornJanice Ruth McCuaig
(1929-12-23)December 23, 1929
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
DiedSeptember 29, 2026(2026-09-29) (aged 96)
Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Janice Ruth Laking (née McCuaig; December 23, 1929 – September 29, 2026) was a Canadian politician who served as the mayor of Barrie, Ontario from 1988 until 2000.

Life and career

Laking was born in Barrie, Ontario on December 23, 1929.

The daughter of former Simcoe North federal Member of Parliament Duncan Fletcher McCuaig, Laking was first elected to Barrie City Council in 1972. She was nominated in 1978 as the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate in Simcoe South in the 1979 federal election, but later withdrew to mount a campaign for mayor against incumbent Ross Archer. She lost that election, but was re-elected to a council seat in 1980 and served for another eight years before being elected mayor in 1988. In 1991, she won her second term in office by acclamation.

She was the Liberal candidate for Simcoe Centre in the 1993 federal election, losing by a margin of 182 votes to Reform Party candidate Ed Harper. This was the only riding in the entire province not won by a Liberal in that election, and media generally credited Harper's victory to the fact that Laking was "such a popular mayor that the voters didn't want her to leave the mayor's chair".

Laking won reelection to the mayoralty in 1994 and 1997.

She was defeated by Jim Perri in 2000, and subsequently served as a citizenship judge. She was also an honorary colonel of CFB Borden's 16 Wing unit.

Laking died at a retirement home in Barrie, on September 29, 2026, at the age of 96.

References

  1. ↑ The Canadian Who's who. Vol. 36. University of Toronto Press. 2001. p. 731. ISBN 978-0-8020-4958-2.
  2. ↑ "Liberal quits federal race to fight mayor". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 1978.
  3. ↑ "Easy wins, surprise upsets recorded". The Globe and Mail, November 15, 1988.
  4. ↑ "Election '94: It's a real horse race in many Ontario cities". Toronto Star, October 15, 1994.
  5. ↑ "Ontario voters go true Grit". Toronto Star, October 26, 1993.
  6. ↑ "Lessons in right-wing reality from one Harper to another". The Globe and Mail, September 16, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Ontario voters re-elect familiar faces". Toronto Star, November 15, 1994.
  8. ↑ "Ontario Municipal Elections: Lastman makes megacity history; Incumbent mayors capture a majority". The Globe and Mail, November 11, 1997.
  9. ↑ "Civic voters stay course". The Globe and Mail, November 14, 2000.
  10. ↑ "Laking left a legacy as mayor of Barrie". Barrie Advance, October 19, 2007.
  11. ↑ "LAKING, Janice Ruth (nee McCuaig)". BarrieToday. October 1, 2026. Retrieved October 1, 2026.