Already well known in business circles, having been named the most powerful woman in Canadian business and the second most powerful woman in international business, she also became somewhat prominent in Canadian politics in 2003.
Throughout the summer and into the fall of 2003, talks were undertaken by officials of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance party with respect to a merger of those parties.
During negotiations, each party had three representatives and the meetings were overseen by a facilitator. It was revealed after the negotiations that this was Ms. Stronach. It is said that she also convinced PC leader Peter MacKay and Alliance leader Stephen Harper to undertake the talks in the first place.