You know it's going to sound like cliché, but it's apt. Very apt. So having thought it, you write it. She is the kind of woman that we would all like to be, or our daughters to be. Right down the "The Honourable" bit. Although she doesn't like to be weighted down with such heavy titles, although she really likes the job.

Mary Ann Chambers

It's an important job, too: Minister of Training - Universities and Colleges for the Canadian province of Ontario.
But Mary Anne Chambers was born in Trelawny and attended the Immaculate Conception High in Kingston.

Chambers, her husband and two young sons emigrated to Canada in 1976, and since then, it seems has done it all. She rose through the ranks of Scotiabank (she retired as Senior Vice President in 2002), donated her time unsparingly to number of charities in Jamaica and Canada, and is now halfway through her first term as Member of Parliament and minister in Ontario's provincial government.

Still, Mary Anne Chambers is just getting started, and there's no hiding the passion she feels for the education policies she has spearheaded after she was named to the provincial Cabinet in October 2003.

In many ways, being in government is Chambers' dream job. She is clearly delighted to share her vision and plans for her portfolio, especially her pet project - Reaching Higher, a progressive student assistance programme.

"Reaching Higher is the most significant improvement in student assistance since 1978, so we're pretty pleased with that," she said. "The Premier just announced it in Parliament a few weeks ago, and students are already beginning to feel the benefits."

In Ontario, which incorporates Montreal, Canada's capital Ottawa, and the nation's largest city, Toronto, 16,000 university students stand to benefit immediately from a plan where the government subsidises tertiary education through a need-based combination of grants for the poorest students, and loans to those with the ability to repay.

Chambers. investing in education is the only sustainable path to a prosperous and equitable society

This funding is available to anyone who seeks to pursue post-secondary education, and non-academic students are among those particularly encouraged to be involved.

The plan includes several outreach-type initiatives to foster a culture of tertiary education among groups currently under-represented in Canada's tertiary institutions, and a thrust at challenging potential high-school drop-outs to pursue certification in whatever courses interest them.

Said Chambers: "What we want to do is provide options that are not presented as: 'If you're really bright you go to university, if you're not that bright you go to college, and if you're even not that bright you go on to skills training', because that is not the case at all.

What we're saying is that your ability and your interest should be far more important than your financial situation in determining whether you go on to tertiary education."

"I would like to think of this as opportunity," she added.
Chambers is convinced that investing in education is the only sustainable path to a prosperous and equitable society.

"I have a background in banking," she explained, "so I understand the concept of investments. I understand fiscal responsibility, and I understand that if you don't have money you can't do what you want to do."

Getting the government decision-makers to buy into her plan was like convincing an investor of the benefits of a long-term, high-yield instrument, a task not at all difficult for the former Scotiabank VP. The logic presented in support of the plan was simply overwhelming.

"I think a lot of governments around the world struggle with those kinds of decisions, but what has really pleased me is our Premier's vision," said Chambers, explaining that major investments like this one will not provide short-term results that can win elections.

"What we do know is that a better educated population is a healthier population, is likely to have lower crime, and is likely to bridge the gap between wealthy and poor.

There were more than 20 other portfolios that all needed more money, and we had to make tough choices, but we couldn't have done it without a Premier that thought that what we could do for higher education was important."

If the programme works as it should, in several years, the real quality of life of Ontario's citizens will be noticeably improved, shaped with Mary Anne Chambers' subtle but distinctive Jamaican touch.

Although she said she won't return permanently to the land of her birth "(Oh no! Family is very dear to me and virtually my entire family now lives there. I have lovely grandchildren I can't bear to be away from!)", Chambers never really cut ties with Jamaica and recognises the importance of values gained here.

"Growing up I somehow acquired a social conscience that I think has had a very lasting impact on my life and does influence what I do, so a part of me will always be here, although Canada is my home."

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World