Here are 5 things you should know about the 44-year-old rookie MP from Delta:
ATHLETE: Visually impaired since birth, Qualtrough competed for Canada in two Paralympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the 4x100m medley relay at the 1988 Seoul Games, and two more bronze — in the medley relay and freestyle relay — at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Since leaving the pool, Qualtrough has served as president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee (2006-2010) and as vice president of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC). She was also a member of the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan America Games Sport and Legacy Committee. At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, she was the International Paralympic Committee’s legal officer and has been a member of the IPC’s Legal and Ethics Committee since 2002.
LAW AND ORDER: A graduate of Brookswood Secondary in Langley, Qualtrough has degrees in political science from the University of Ottawa (1993) and law from the University of Victoria (1997). After being called to the bar in 1998, Qualtrough served two years as a legal counsel on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (1999-2001) in Ottawa. She was also a legal counsel for the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal in 2005-06.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: Qualtrough is not short on work experience. Along with her Paralympic and legal counsel work, she has also been vice chair of the B.C. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (2011-2015), chair of the B.C. Ministers’ Council on Employment and Accessibility for Persons with a Disability (2010-2015), Director of Sport, Inclusion and Sport Tourism for 2010 Legacies Now (2006-2010), Senior Advisor to the Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Physical Activity (2005), Special Advisor to the Director General for Sport Canada (2004), Senior Policy Advisor at the office of the Secretary of Defence (2002-2004), and a mediator/trainer for an Ottawa mediation group (2004-2005).
INFLUENTIAL: She has been named one of Canada’s most influential women in sports six times by the Canadian Association for Advancement of Women and Sport. In 2012, she received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her volunteering.
FAMILY: Qualtrough has four children with her husband Eron Main, who is chief executive officer of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation and former executive director of Rowing B.C.
