[4] The Liberals were upset by the New Democratic Party in the provincial election of 1990, although McLeod was able to retain her riding against a strong challenge from NDP candidate Dan Hutsul, winning by 1,345 votes.
[5] Unlike most other Liberal candidates in this election, McLeod was supported by prominent members from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation in her region.
[7] With Bob Rae's NDP government being widely blamed for mishandling the major recession, McLeod's Liberals held a steady lead in the polls for most of the period from 1992 to 1995, and were generally expected to win the 1995 campaign.
McLeod also offended some immigrant voters, an electorally important group for Liberals, by criticizing the Rae government's handling of Somali refugee claims.
[9] McLeod herself was easily re-elected in Fort William, defeating Thunder Bay municipal councillor and Tory candidate Evelyn Dodds by over 8,000 votes.
[11] The Tories won the election with a reduced majority, and McLeod swapped shadow cabinet portfolios with Gerard Kennedy to serve as her party's health critic in the legislature that followed.
She also was named as the first chancellor of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in June 2004, and is a vice-chair of the board of governors at Confederation College in Thunder Bay.
[1] In 2014, she was made a Member of the Order of Ontario in recognition for having "devoted her career to public service and continuing to be actively involved in community work around the issues of education and health care.