to the United States for drug treatment that wasn't offered in the province. Three months later, she was reinstated to cabinet as Minister of Housing. During her time as housing minister, Gigantes proposed that apartments within houses, referred to as "granny-flats", would be legalized and protected. The legislation eventually called the "Residents' Rights Act" was passed into law in the summer of 1994. The bill removed the ability of municipalities to ban so-called basement apartments and sought to improve the safety of tenants by giving them the ability to complain about landlords. In August 1994, Gigantes resigned from cabinet when she was found in breach of conflict-of-interest guidelines. Gigantes resigned because she allegedly pressured an Ottawa tenant to drop charges against the board members of her public housing project. The committee found that the breach was minor but had "the potential to diminish the public's trust." The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Gigantes again lost the Ottawa Centre riding to Richard Patten by over 1,500 votes. Cabinet posts Later life In 2004, she co-chaired a candidate search committee for the federal New Democratic Party. References External links 1942 births Canadian radio personalities Women government ministers of Canada Carleton University alumni Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs Politicians from Ottawa People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Women MPPs in Ontario