Ex-Prime Minister Named Consul General

Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, 49, the first woman to lead her nation, was named Thursday as Canada’s consul general in Los Angeles, effective Sept. 16.

Campbell, who has been a lecturer at UC Irvine since February, was selected for the post by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who dealt Campbell a crushing election defeat in October 1993. The consulate in Los Angeles represents the Canadian government in trade, immigration, cultural affairs and other issues in California and four other Western states.

Campbell became prime minister in June 1993 when a convention of her Progressive Conservative Party selected her to succeed Brian Mulroney, who had resigned after nine years in office.

But in the election that followed five months later, Chretien’s Liberal Party won a landslide victory. The Progressive Conservatives fell from 153 seats in Canada’s Parliament to just two. Campbell herself was beaten in her Vancouver, British Columbia, parliamentary district and quit as leader of the party.