Anna Gainey

As the daughter of Hockey Hall of Fame winger Bob Gainey, Gainey was raised in the municipality of Westmount in Montreal, Canada. She therefore grew up as a bilingual Anglophone Quebecer. Her sister Laura was swept overboard from a sailing ship during a gale near Cape Cod in 2006.^[5]

Gainey studied Political Science at McGill University, before completing a Master's Degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics.

Following graduation, Gainey worked as a policy advisor to the Ministers of National Defence and Veterans Affairs, Bill Graham and John McCallum.^[6] During this time, she became a close friend of future Canadian Prime Minister and fellow Montrealer Justin Trudeau, actively advising on his campaign to become leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.^[7] Shortly after Trudeau's success, Gainey announced her intention to run for president of the party.

Gainey became president of the Liberal Party at the age of 36 in February 2014, succeeding businessman Mike Crawley. She won re-election in 2016, before stepping down from the position in April 2018, at the end of her second term.

Following a break from federal politics, Gainey was briefly Chief Executive of the Policy think-tank Canada 2020, the advisory board of which was chaired by economist Mark Carney.^[8]

In spring 2023, Gainey successfully ran for the Liberal nomination in the federal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, beating vice-president and general counsel of Air Canada, Fred Headon.^[6] This was following the resignation of the riding's previous MP, Marc Garneau.^[9] In the subsequent by-election, Gainey was elected with 50.87% of the vote.

She was re-elected in the 2025 Canadian federal election.^[10]

On May 13, 2025, Gainey was appointed Secretary of State for Children and Youth in the 30th Canadian Ministry by Mark Carney.^[11]