Kirsty Duncan

The Honourable Dr. Kirsty Duncan PC MP
Minister of Science
Incumbent
Assumed office November 4, 2015
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Ed Holder
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Etobicoke North
Incumbent
Assumed office October 14, 2008
Preceded by	Roy Cullen
Personal details
Born	Kirsty Ellen Duncan October 31, 1966 Etobicoke, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Profession	medical geographer, professor, politician
Website	Official website

Kirsty Ellen Duncan PC MP (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian politician and medical geographer from Ontario, Canada. Duncan is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liberal Party of Canada in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke North and was appointed Minister of Science, on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015. She is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and has published a book about her 1998 expedition to uncover the cause of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

Education

After graduating from Kipling Collegiate Institute in 1985 as an Ontario Scholar, Duncan studied geography and anthropology at the University of Toronto. She then entered graduate school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and completed a Ph.D. in geography in 1992.^[1]

Career

From 1993 to 2000, Duncan taught meteorology, climatology and climate change at the University of Windsor. In 1992, as she became aware of the increasing probability of a global flu crisis, she was led to investigate the cause of the similar 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, saying, "I was horrified we didn’t know what caused [Spanish flu], and also knew that if we could find fragments of the virus, we might be able to find a better flu vaccine".^[2][3]

Though at the time she "knew nothing about influenza",^[4] she began what she called a "six-month crash course in virology".^[4] Eventually, she began searching for possible frozen samples of lung and brain tissue that might contain the virus. Her initial thoughts led her to think of Alaska,^[4] as it contains large areas of permafrost, which would leave the viruses intact, but the search proved fruitless.

Eventually, after several years of searching, Duncan learned of seven miners who had died from the Spanish flu and were buried in the small town of Longyearbyen, Norway, an area that would contain permafrost. She then began assembling a team of scientists to accompany her. After several more years of preparation, which involved garnering various permissions to perform the exhumations, the ground survey began in 1998. However, the samples were not viable, as the bodies were not in the permafrost, and the expedition ultimately proved a disappointment.^[2]

In 2003, Duncan wrote a book about her expedition, entitled Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus. Published by the University of Toronto Press, it details Duncan's process and the expedition itself. After the book's publication, Duncan began speaking about pandemics, which led her to begin teaching corporate social responsibility at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. In 2008, Duncan published a second book, Environment and Health: Protecting our Common Future.

Duncan is currently an adjunct professor teaching both medical geography at the University of Toronto and global environmental processes at Royal Roads University, and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

Federal politics

In February 2008, Roy Cullen announced that he would not be running in the next federal election,^[5] and Duncan was appointed as the next Liberal candidate. She was considered a "significant addition toward Dion's goal of fielding 103 women candidates in the next election."^[6] She was elected in the 2008 general election and re-elected in the 2011 and 2015 general elections.

On November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to the Cabinet as Minister of Science.^[7] Duncan was tasked with establishing the new position of chief science officer that would serve as a replacement to the position of national science adviser role eliminated by Stephen Harper in 2008.^[1]

See also

• Johan Hultin, a pathologist who also used frozen tissues to study the 1918 influenza virus

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Kirsty Duncan	26,251	62.4	+19.83	–
	Conservative	Toyin Dada	9,673	23.0	-8.96	–
	New Democratic	Faisal Hassan	5,220	12.4	-11.22	–
	Green	Akhtar Ayub	524	1.2	+1.3	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Anna Di Carlo	232	0.6	0	–
	No affiliation	George Szebik	164	0.4	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,064	100.0		$201,391.48
Total rejected ballots			257	0.6	-0.3
Turnout			42,321	62.17	+9.67
Eligible voters			68,063
	Liberal hold		Swing		+14.40
Source: Elections Canada[8][9]

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Kirsty Duncan	13,665	42.4	-6.2
	Conservative	Priti Lamba	10,357	32.1	+2.0
	New Democratic	Diana Andrews	7,630	23.7	+8.0
	Libertarian	Alex Dvornyak	208	0.7	-4.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Anna Di Carlo	189	0.6	-0.4
	Christian Heritage	John C. Gardner	186	0.6	–
Total valid votes			32,235	100.0
Total rejected ballots			279	0.9	+0.2
Turnout			32,514	52.5
Eligible voters			61,930	–	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		-4.1

Canadian federal election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Kirsty Duncan	15,244	48.6	-13.0	$54,827
	Conservative	Bob Saroya	9,436	30.1	+7.8	$64,024
	New Democratic	Ali Naqvi	4,940	15.7	+5.1	$35,653
	Green	Nigel Barriffe	1,460	4.7	+2.1	$2,242
	Marxist–Leninist	Anna Di Carlo	300	1.0	+0.4
Total valid votes/Expense limit			31,380	100.0	$79,011
Total rejected ballots			214	0.68
Turnout			31,594
	Liberal hold		Swing		-10.4

References

1. Jones, Nicola (24 December 2015). "Canada’s top scientist faces tough challenge". Nature. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
2. "Digging up the deadly past". The National (Martin Newland). 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
3. Gladwell, Malcolm (September 29, 1997). "The Dead Zone". The New Yorker Magazine.
4. Duncan, Kirsty (2003). Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8748-5.
5. Shephard, Tamara (2008-09-04). "Election call expected Sunday". Toronto Community News (Metroland Media Group). Retrieved 2008-09-30.
6. Delacourt, Susan (2008-02-22). "Dion hand-picks Etobicoke candidate". Toronto Star (Jagoda Pike). Retrieved 2008-09-30.
7. "Full list of Justin Trudeau's cabinet". CBC. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
8. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Etobicoke North, 30 September 2015
9. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

External links

• Kirsty Duncan – Parliament of Canada biography