Topic: Carolyn Parrish

Carolyn Parrish, BA , B.Ed (born October 3, 1946 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian politician, former member of the Canadian House of Commons and former teacher.

Parrish was born as Karolina Janoszewska and is of Polish heritage. Parrish studied at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, graduating in 1969, and became a high school teacher. She served as a Trustee in the Region of Peel from 1985 to 1990, and was chairperson from 1988 to 1990. She was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in the 1993 election and was re-elected in the three subsequent general elections of 1997, 2000 and 2004. She ended her federal career representing the Mississauga, Ontario riding of Mississauga—Erindale as an independent Member of Parliament.

She was largely unknown nationally until the eve of the U.S.-led Invasion of Iraq in 2003. On her way out of a meeting, Parrish was overheard on a boom mike saying "Damn Americans, I hate the bastards." She later told the media that her comments were directed towards George W. Bush and his administration and not the American people as a whole. Members of the opposition Canadian Alliance party called for her to be punished by then Liberal leader and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, but no punishment occurred.