Like many residents of Guelph, Maggie is an immigrant to Canada. She was born and raised in Scotland, and moved to Canada with her parents and six siblings in 1967, Centennial year. Taking advantage of that historic year for Canada, Maggie spent the summer of 1967 as a 17-year-old mother’s helper in Montreal, and visiting Expo ‘67 every Sunday, her day off.
After training and working as a medical laboratory technologist in Brantford and overseas in Australia and New Zealand, Maggie met her husband David when they were both part of a group taking part in a cross-Canada bicycle tour to promote the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. They spent the next 4 years in Toronto before returning to David’s home-town in 1980, to attend the University of Guelph.
Guelph was a natural choice for them, partly because Maggie’s family lives nearby in Cambridge, but primarily because David’s family roots are in Guelph. David’s grandparents Richard and Grace Laidlaw owned a store on Ontario Street for many years, in Ward 1 (“the Ward,” as it was called), and they also once owned 17 Kent Street, one of the city’s historic homes just above the railway tracks in Ward 3. David’s father attended GCVI and, after becoming a psychiatrist, returned to Guelph for several years to work at the Homewood Sanitarium.
For two years, Maggie and David lived on Ontario Street in an apartment just above Nana Laidlaw, before moving to Ward 3, and, in 1986, buying their first and only home on Tiffany Street West. Their children, Meghan and Garth, attended Victory School and Willow Road Public School, before moving on to GCVI. Garth completed a Bachelor of Arts, Animation degree at Sheridan college in Oakville, but he chose not to move to a big city to work for an animation company, preferring to begin his career as a freelance animator and illustrator in the hometown he loves. Meghan is in the final stages of her environment-related M.Sc. at UBC in Vancouver.
Education
Maggie has a BASc., an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Guelph.
Employment
Maggie is currently employed as the Director of the Clinical Trials Division at Nutrasource Diagnostics Inc., in the University of Guelph Research Park. Nutrasource Diagnostics is a privately held Contract Research Organization that has placed in the Fortune 500 list of fast-growing companies. Maggie is proud to be part of a company that employs more than 75 people in Guelph, Mississauga, Bend, Oregon and Guadelajara, Mexico. At the Guelph Facility, she carries out human clinical trials on natural health products such as ginseng, fish oil, garlic, etc.
Maggie has been a Councillor for the City of Guelph since 2000, and has also served as a Public School Board trustee from 1994 to 1997.
Community Involvement
Memberships and Awards
| 2012-2014 | Board member, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health |
| 2010-2014 | Board member, Grand River Conservation Authority |
| 2009-2010 | Chair, City of Guelph Social Services and Housing Committee |
| 2004-2006 | Management Board member of Onward Willow Better Beginnings, Better Futures |
| 2000-2006 | Macdonald-Stewart Art Centre Trustee |
| 2000-2014 | Community Services Committee, City of Guelph |
| 2000-2010 | Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit Board |
| 2000-2009 | Member and former Chair, Social Services Committee, City of Guelph/County of Wellington |
| 2000 | Transportation Strategy Update Steering Committee—City appointment |
| 1999-2000 | Community Heart Health Network |
| 1998-2000 | Victory Public School Council Co-Chair |
| 1997-2005 | Board Member and Chair of FASAT, a province-wide Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Assistance and Training Organization based in Guelph |
| 1997-2001 | Community Partners Garden Fresh Box Committee |
| 1997-2000 | Green Plan Steering Committee |
| 1997 | Recipient of the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF) award for support for public education and teachers |
| 1996-1999 | Guelph Round Table on the Environment and the Economy |
| 1995-2000 | Guelph Local Exchange and Trading System (G-LETS) |
| 1994-2000 | Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Guelph (OPIRG) |
| 1994-1998 | Co-Chair and member of the Public School Board Anti-Racism and Ethnocultural Equity Committee and Environmental Issues Committee |
| 1993-1996 | Board Member and Co-Chair of Guelph 2000, a provincially-funded Green Communities Initiative |
| 1993-1995 | City of Guelph Cycling Advisory Committee |
| 1993 | Recipient of the Bonnie McCallum Environmental Award from OPIRG-Guelph |
| 1991-1997 | Bicycle Users’ Group of Guelph (BUGG) |
| 1989-present | Guelph Community Health Centre |
| 1980-1995 | Founding Member and Secretary/Treasurer of University of Guelph Cycling Club |
Maggie Laidlaw 