Elizabeth Cabezas, 2019-2020
Member of the National Assembly Elizabeth Cabezas was elected Vice-President of ParlAmericas at the 15ᵗʰ Plenary Assembly. During the 16ᵗʰ Plenary Assembly, Ms. Cabezas assumed the Presidency of ParlAmericas.
The Honourable Cabezas, Member and President of the National Assembly of Ecuador, worked in the Municipality of Quito as director of Citizen Security. From the Ministry of Social Development, she promoted the provision of school uniforms and breakfast in the country’s schools. As a councillor in Quito for the period of 2009 -2013, she led the legalization of more than 300 neighborhoods, which represented the most important process of land legalization in Quito, seeking to ensure a safer and more prosperous city. Ms. Cabezas is an economist and holds a Masters in Management from the University of Catalonia and a diploma in Banking and Finance from the University of the Pacific. In the National Assembly, she promotes issues such as the recovery of capital lost due to corruption; the evaluation and monitoring of problems related to land transportation, transit, and road safety; and care for people with disabilities.
Robert Nault, 2018-2019
The Honorable Nault was elected President of Parlamericas during the 15ᵗʰ Plenary Assembly in Victoria, Canadá.
Mr. Nault was first elected to Parliament in 1988 and held his riding in every sub-sequent election until 2004. He was appointed Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1999 – 2003). During the period 2003 – 2015 he left politics and began his own consultant agency for different groups such as First Nations, high-tech companies and different public and private-owned organizations, on issues like governance, energy and government relations.
Besides ParlAmericas, Mr. Nault belongs to the Canada-China Legislative Association and to the Canadian North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Association. In addition, he is Co-Chair of the Canada-Peru Parliamentary Friendship Group and Former Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
Marcela Guerra, 2014-2018
Ms. Guerra was elected President of ParlAmericas and President of the Mexican Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee for North America; Representative of Mexico for the North American sub-region and President of the Congress of the Union’s delegation to ParlAmericas; and member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Ms. Guerra was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Federal Legislature LXI (2009-2012); Member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Federal Legislature LIX (2003-2006); Member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Legislature of the state of Nuevo Leon LXIX (2000-2003); and President of Bienestar y Vida, A.C. (Wellbeing and Life), an organization dedicated to serving vulnerable groups (1998-2000). She was founder and advisor to Pacto Plural de Mujeres (Plural Pact for Women), 1998-2000, and general secretary of the National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP) for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of Nuevo Leon (2000-2003).
Randy Hoback, 2011-2014
Mr. Hoback was elected Chair of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas in March 2010. From February 2011 to September 2014, he served as President of ParlAmericas at the hemispheric level.
Over the years, he has worked closely with many farm organizations. This experience led him to Ottawa, where he served as a special advisor to the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Minister of the Canadian Wheat Board.
He was elected in 2008 as the Member of Parliament for Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Because of his experience with Trades and Agriculture, he has developed a very strong interest in Canada’s international trading partners. Particularly, he has a strong commitment to promoting dialogue and trade with Latin America. He believes that such partnerships are natural, given Canada’s responsibility to collaborate with neighbours in the Americas for a stronger and safer hemisphere. He currently sits on the Standing Committee of Agriculture and Agri-food, and is Chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade.
He holds a business administration certificate through the University of Saskatchewan, and Chartered Director’s designation (C. Dir.), which he completed through McMaster University’s Chartered Directors College.
Luiz Carlos Hauly, 2006-2011
Mr. Hauly started his political career in 1972, when he was elected city councilor representing the now extinct Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB, as per its Portuguese acronym) in Cambé.
In 1982 he was elected Mayor of Cambé for the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB, as per its Portuguese acronym). Between 1987 and 1990, during the Álvaro Dias term of office, he was Secretary of Treasury to the Government of the State of Paraná.
He first became Federal Deputy in 1991, with his constituency being the city of Londrina. He was reelected in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010. He ran for Mayor of Londrina in 1996, and again in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
He was elected President of ParlAmericas (then known as FIPA) in 2006. He was reelected for a two-year term in 2009. In 2011 he resigned to the presidency of ParlAmericas to once again become Secretary of Treasury to the Government of the State of Paraná, under Governor Beto Richa.
Céline Hervieux-Payette, 2002-2006
Ms. Hervieux-Payette was first elected in the 1979 election as a Liberal to the House of Commons of Canada.
In 1983, she was appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of State (Fitness and Amateur Sport), and later served as Minister of State (Youth) from January to June 1984. She returned to the private sector from 1985 to 1994. In 1995, she returned to Parliament when she was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Jean Chrétien.
In 2002, upon the resignation of ParlAmericas’ (then known as FIPA) then president, she was elected president of the organization. She was reelected for a second 2-year mandate in 2004.
In 2007, she was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Senate, the first woman ever to hold this position.
Bill Graham, 2001-2002
Mr. Graham taught at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law from 1981 to 1993, when he was elected as a Liberal to the House of Commons of Canada.
In 2001, he was elected President of ParlAmericas (then known as FIPA). His resignation was accepted when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada in 2002. He was subsequently appointed Minister of National Defence in 2004 and Leader of the Opposition and interim Leader of the Liberal Party in 2006.
Mr. Graham retired from the House of Commons in 2007, the same year he was elected Chancellor of Trinity College, University of Toronto. He is also chair of the Atlantic Council of Canada and a member of the Trilateral Commission. He is co-vice-chair of the Canadian International Council. In 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Military College of Canada.
