Agnes Macphail, the progressive member of parliament from Ontario, had to bear a heavy burden as the symbolic representative of suffragist hopes. In 1921 she was the first woman in Canada to be elected to the House of Commons. She remained a member of parliament until the 1940 election at which time she was defeated. In 1943 she re-entered politics as a member of the Ontario legislature where she became a strong supporter of the Canadian Commonwealth Federation.
