This CBC Arts article includes:
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Oda intially worked as a teacher but in the 1970s switched career tracks to broadcasting, taking a position at TV Ontario.
Toronto Star's Martin Knelman wrote an article including:
Stephen Harper named Bev Oda, the Tory MP for Durham, the new heritage minister. Oda happens to be the first Japanese Canadian ever elected to Parliament.
Even more significant is that for the first time in history, this country has a heritage minister who reflects the rich diversity of its arts milieu.
More from the Globe and Mail's Guy Dixon and Kate Taylor on feb 7.
Unlike Liza Frulla, the outgoing minister who would sweep into a room as if perpetually attending a gala performance, but who also lost her re-election bid last month, Oda has much more of a managerial demeanour. When she was the Heritage critic for the Conservatives, there was the sight of her bending down low as she read her notes, while grilling the CBC's top brass during a parliamentary standing committee hearing on the lockout of workers.