Deborah Margaret Ryland Coyne (born February 24, 1955) is a Canadian constitutional lawyer, professor, and author. She is the cousin of journalist Andrew Coyne and actress Susan Coyne, and the niece of former Bank of Canada governor James Elliott Coyne. Biography Coyne grew up in Ottawa. She graduated from Queen's University with a degree in economics and history in 1976. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in 1979 and a Master of Philosophy from University of Oxford in international relations in 1982. She was an employee in the Prime Minister's Office of John Turner, before spending two years teaching constitutional law at the University of Toronto Law School; she has also worked for the Business Council on National Issues, the Ontario Health Service Appeal and Review Board, and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. For years, Coyne dated former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Her daughter, Sarah Elisabeth Coyne, is Trudeau's only daughter, and was enrolled in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her second child, Matthew Coyne, is the son of Canadian journalist Michael Valpy. Valpy and Coyne have since divorced. Deborah Coyne now lives in Toronto. Political involvement Opposition to the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords Deborah Coyne took a role in opposing the Meech Lake Accord, a comprehensive package of constitutional amendments designed to gain the province of Quebec's formal acceptance of the Constitution Act, 1982. Coyne was among many prominent Liberals who disagreed with the Accord, including Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Donald Johnston and Jean Chrétien, although the issue split the federal Liberal caucus. She was a founding member of the Canadian Coalition on the Constitution, a grass-roots group that opposed the agreement. From 1989 to 1991, Coyne served as constitutional advisor to Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells. Among the premiers, Wells was the staunchest opponent of the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord. Following the death of the Accord, partly at the hands of the Newfoundland House of Assembly, she opposed the Charlottetown Accord, a subsequent attempt to amend the Canadian constitution. The Charlottetown agreement was submitted to a national referendum in 1992 and was ultimately rejected by a majority of Canadian voters. Coyne led one of the "No" committees in the campaign and spoke widely against the deal. Liberal candidate Until the 2006 federal election was called, she was a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board