Linda Laughlin McIntosh (born December 14, 1943) is a former politician in Manitoba, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1990 to 1999, and a cabinet minister for most of this period. Among other awards and recognitions, McIntosh has received both the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, for her contributions to Canada. Early life McIntosh was born in Montreal, Quebec. She’s the daughter of Hugh Laughlin a career military officer (RCAF) and Gwen Ruth Hopper. She was educated in Canada and Europe, attending eleven different schools during the course of her elementary and high school education. In 1960 she graduated from Royal George High School in Greenfield Park, Quebec and moved to Manitoba (the province in which her parents were raised and to which they eventually retired) and began studies at St. John's College, University of Manitoba. McIntosh graduated with honors from the Manitoba Teachers' College in 1963. Personal life In 1988, She married Donald John McIntosh. McIntosh’s nephew Hugh McFadyen, is the former Leader of the Opposition in Manitoba, her grandfather John Bell Laughlin and her great grandfather Andrew Laughlin were also MLA’s in south western Manitoba. Career Teacher, artist/illustrator, TV Commentator, School Board, Civil Service McIntosh worked as an elementary school teacher and freelance commercial artist for several years, and was also a political commentator on CBC TV's Friday Night News "Week In Review" segment in 1985-86. She was the weekly cartoonist/illustrator for local Winnipeg Community Newspapers and the province wide Rupertsland News. She enjoyed a brief stint as an illustrator the Winnipeg Tribune prior to its untimely demise in 1980. McIntosh was elected as a school trustee in the Winnipeg region of St. James-Assiniboia in 1980, and served until 1989, becoming its first female chair in 1984. She was elected to serve as president of the Manitoba Association of School Trustees in the mid-eighties. In June 1988, she was hired as Special Assistant to Progressive Conservative leader Gary Filmon, who had become Manitoba's Premier the previous month. Legislature McIntosh was herself elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1990, defeating incumbent Liberal Ed Mandrake by 1324 votes in the western Winnipeg riding of Assiniboia. On February 5, 1991, she was named Minister of Cooperative, Consumer and Corporate Affairs, with responsibility for the Liquor Control Act. In those roles she had