She was active as a volunteer director for such organizations as the Yellow Brick House (a shelter for battered women), Oxfam-Ontario, and Amnesty International.
[1] In the 1987 provincial election, she ran as the NDP candidate in the riding of Markham, finishing third against Progressive Conservative Don Cousens and Liberal Gail Newall.
[3] In the 1990 provincial election, she ran to succeed veteran NDP member Richard Johnston in the riding of Scarborough West.
Liberal leader Robert Nixon, who expressed his view to the Ontario Legislature that, while it may not have been an appropriate action for members of Cabinet, it was not one that should lead to their discharge.
"[9] As Swarbrick's treatments of chemotherapy and radiation continued to take their toll, she eventually resigned her position on 11 September 1991 in order to focus on her recovery.
[13] In one of her last acts as minister she granted a licence to allow the bell of the sunken freighter the SS Edmund Fitzgerald to be retrieved to be used for a memorial for the families of the lost sailors.
[14] The NDP was defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Swarbrick lost her seat to Progressive Conservative Jim Brown by 2,557 votes.