Lee Fairclough


Lee Fairclough is a Canadian politician who was elected as a member of Provincial Parliament in the 2025 Ontario general election. She represents the electoral district of Etobicoke—Lakeshore as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Early Life and education

Fairclough's parents, Valerie and Neville Fairclough, immigrated to Canada from England in 1967. First settling in Etobicoke then Southampton, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Huron during Fairclough's pre-teen years to return to Scarborough, Ontario, during her teens attending Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute.
Valerie Fairclough taught high school art and English while Neville Fairclough worked as an engineer on nuclear projects for Ontario Hydro.
Fairclough has lived in Etobicoke—Lakeshore since 2001 where she and her husband raise two children.
Fairclough has a Master's degree in Health Sciences from the University of Toronto, an undergraduate degree in biology and mathematics from McMaster University, and is a certified Medical Radiation Therapy Technologist trained at the University of Waterloo. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.
Fairclough was a competitive swimmer for many years including as a Varsity Swimmer for McMaster. After university, Fairclough was a member of the Canada women's national rugby union team from 1995 to 1998.

Career

She began her medical career as a medical radiation therapist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, subsequently moving to several roles within Princess Margaret and the University Health Network. She moved to Health Quality Ontario in 2014 as VP, Quality Improvement, and in 2018 also served as interim Executive Lead to establish the newly announced .
She was appointed President of St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener in 2019. She stepped down from that job in 2022 to run in Etobicoke—Lakeshore in the 2022 Ontario general election, in which she was defeated by Christine Hogarth despite being endorsed by the movement which sought to unify the progressive vote.
She subsequently served as Senior Vice-President of Clinical Care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health until the 2025 election, when she defeated Hogarth. During the 2025 campaign she was endorsed by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation.
She has served on the Ontario legislature's since 29 April 2025 and as Second Vice-Chair of that committee since 5 May 2025.

Awards

Fairclough was presented with the in 2019, a recognition "given to individuals who are exemplary in their dedication and service to the community."
In 2022 Fairclough was awarded the YWCA Cambridge Women of Distinction Awards' "The Courage of COVID" for her role at St Mary's Hospital managing the COVID pandemic in her region.