Marilyn Mushinski (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was an alderman (councillor) for the city of Scarborough, Ontario from 1982 to 1994 and she served as a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003. From 1995 to 1997 she was a cabinet minister under Mike Harris. Background Born in England, Mushinski emigrated to Canada in 1967 at age twenty-one, and was educated at York University. She worked with the Canadian Mental Health Association before entering political life. She was married to Paul Mushinski JP, but are now divorced. Politics Municipal She served as an alderman and councillor in Scarborough, Ontario from 1982 to 1994, and was also a councillor for Metro Toronto in 1987-88. Mushinski also served as a board member of the Scarborough General Hospital and the Scarborough Women's Centre. In 1986, Mushinski argued, albeit unsuccessfully, to retain the title alderman rather than switch to the gender neutral term councillor. She said, "My gut reaction is one of dismay because I don't know if they've ever taken into consideration the historical significance of the word alderman. I think it trivializes the language and I'm concerned to have to accommodate the quirks of a feminist movement which is trying to bastardize the English language." In 1994, she ran for mayor of Scarborough against fellow councillors Frank Faubert and Maureen Prinsloo. Mushinski's campaign which was similar to those of her colleagues was based on freezing property taxes and increasing the police force to fight rising crime in the city. During the election, a group called the Scarborough Volunteer Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee rated the candidates. They gave Mushinski a score of 0 out of 100; Faubert was given a score of 50 out of 100. Faubert defeated Mushinski by a margin of 30,844 votes. Provincial Mushinski was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating incumbent New Democratic Party of Ontario David Warner by about 4,000 votes in the riding of Scarborough—Ellesmere. On June 26, 1995, she was named as Ontario's Minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation. In 1995, shortly after the election, Mushinski moved to repeal the employment equity law introduced by the previous NDP government. She said, "legislated hiring and promotion quotas are unnecessary, unfair and ineffective." In 1997, Mushinski issued a press release denouncing a gangland style shooting in her riding in which two