Description

BAGNALL, CM., FLORA MINNIE LEONE, teacher; b. 20 July 1933 in Springfield, daughter of John Sutherland MacKay and Margaret Mayne; m. 29 July 1953 Erroll Bagnall, and they had five children, Elaine, Carol, Donna, Lloyd, and John; United.
Bagnall, a Conservative, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1979 for 1" Queens. She was re-elected in the general elections of 1982, 1986, and 1989. Bagnall served as the Minister of Education from 28 October 1982 until 1986. She also served as the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and was the first female Conservative in the province to hold a Cabinet post. Bagnall and Marion Reid* were the first female Conservatives elected to the Legislative Assembly. Bagnall was the first female to have responsibility for the Status of Women, the first female leader of the Conservatives (interim) and the first female Leader of the Official Opposition of any province in Canada. In 1979 Bagnall represented the Legislature at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Wellington, New Zealand. During the 1980 session, Bagnall chaired the Select Standing Committee on Fisheries, and was a member of the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. She served on the Policy and Priorities Board and was a member of the Community Affairs, Fisheries and Labour, Highways and Public Works and Justice committees. While Minister of Education, Bagnall represented Canada at the Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1984. In 1992 she represented the province for a second time at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in the Bahamas.
Bagnall's grandfather, Donald Newton MacKay*, was a Liberal MLA who represented 1st Queens from 1935 until 1943.
Leone Bagnall received her primary education at the Springfield school and later attended Prince of Wales College. From 1971 to 1973, Bagnall studied at the University of Prince Edward Island and obtained a Diploma in Education. She graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and a Bachelor of Education in 1979. She worked as both a teacher and a housewife. Bagnall taught school at Breadalbane and Stanley Bridge, and in Kensington at Queen Elizabeth Elementary. She was president of the Hazel Grove Women's Institute and president of Central Queens Home and School. Bagnall was a charter member of the Prince Edward Island Association for Children with Learning Disabilities and a member of Eastern Star. She belongs to the Crystal Chapter #1, the Alpha Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, the Hunter River United Christian Women, and the Lucy Maud Montgomery Land Trust. Additionally, Bagnall is a member of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation and chair of the Advisory Committee for the Order of Prince Edward Island.
She received the Estelle Bowness Award from the University of Prince Edward Island for inspirational teaching. In 1992 Bagnall received the Canada 125 medallion and in 1995 she was invested in the Order of Canada. Leone Bagnall and her husband live on the family farm in Hazel Grove.
Bagnall's father was a native of Springfield and her mother was born in Summerfield. Her husband, Erroll Bagnall, the son of J. C. Pope Bagnall and Annie Pound, was born 9 May 1931., PEI ECO 717/82; VCWPE1 p. 8; Common Ground vol. 2 :io. 5 October 1983, vol. 11 no. 4 September/October 1992; Guardian 11 April 1986. 29 May 1986. 13 June 1988, 5 January 1995. I8 March 1996; Islander 19 September 1992.