Tamil men were injured. She said, "The Canadian tradition of consultation, co-operation and compromise seems to be lost on these individuals. Canada's strength lies in its long-held belief that immigrants to this country are starting fresh, and should embrace a new openness to diversity and respect for the law of the land." Scarborough Mayor Frank Faubert said the release went too far. He called the statement, "a smear on the entire Tamil community." During a cabinet shuffle later that year she was dropped from cabinet. There was some speculation that although culture was part of her portfolio she had made few friends in the arts community. In 1998 she was made Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier. In the provincial election of 1999, Mushinski was re-elected by about 4,000 votes over Liberal candidate Costas Manios; NDP candidate and labour leader Sid Ryan was third. During this term she served as Parliamentary Assistant to both the Premier and the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. In May 2000, Mushinski introduced a private members' bill called the Judicial Accountability Act. The bill called for the publication of judges' sentencing records. It would have created a list of sentences imposed by judges and their reasons for not awarding the maximum possible sentence. Upon introduction of the bill she said she wanted to "motivate lenient judges to give out tougher sentences." She warned that judges that didn't play along with this goal might be subject to performance reviews. The bill was opposed by the Criminal Lawyer's Association. Alan Gold, president of the association said, "It's a blatant attack on the independence of the judiciary, it's an attempt to intimidate judges into imposing higher sentences and that's simply inexcusable." Attorney General Jim Flaherty initially was supportive of the bill. He said, "I think the public is entitled to know what sentences are being handed down by judges." But after considerable opposition from the legal community he distanced himself from the legislation. The bill died on the order paper when the legislature recessed for the summer. In the 2003 provincial election, she was defeated by Liberal candidate Brad Duguid by 10,012 votes. Cabinet positions References External links 1946 births 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Living people Metropolitan Toronto councillors Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Scarborough, Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Women government ministers of Canada Women MPPs in Ontario