Deborah Coyne
Deborah Coyne, LLD ,
MPhil is a
Canadian constitutional lawyer, professor and author. She is the cousin of journalist
Andrew Coyne and actress Susan Coyne, and the niece of former governor of the
Bank of Canada,
James Coyne. Her education includes a
Doctor of Laws degree from the
University of Toronto and a
Master of Philosophy from
Oxford University in international relations.
She was a staffer in the
Prime Minister's Office of
Pierre Trudeau and has also worked for the
Business Council on National Issues, the
Ontario Human Rights Commission and been a professor of constitutional law at the University of Toronto Law School.
Coyne was as a constitutional advisor to then
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells and helped draft his opposition to the
Meech Lake Constitutional Accord. In 1992, she was one of the leaders of the "No" campaign during the
referendum on the
Charlottetown Accord writing and speaking extensively in opposition to the deal.
Until the
2006 federal election was called she was a member of the
Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board.
Coyne's daughter Sarah, born in 1991, was fathered by former Canadian
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Coyne and Trudeau never married, however, and Coyne later married Canadian journalist
Michael Valpy with whom she had a son. The couple are now divorced.
A resident of
Ottawa,
Ontario, she has rented a house in
Toronto in the
electoral district of
Torontoâ€"Danforth, where she was a
Liberal Party star candidate against
New Democratic Party leader
Jack Layton in the
2006 federal election. Coyne finished second to Layton with 17,256 votes or 34.2% of the votes.
*
Constitutional expert may run for Liberals
