Grace Mary McCarthy, OC, OBC, LLD, DTech, FRAIC (Hon.) (née Winterbottom; October 14, 1927 – May 24, 2017) was a Canadian politician and florist in British Columbia. A high-ranking member of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia, she was largely responsible for rebuilding that party after its defeat in the 1972 provincial election.

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In the 1960s, McCarthy was a popular elected member of the City of Vancouver Parks Board and instrumental in the creation of the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.^[2] She was actively recruited to run for a seat in the provincial Legislature by then-premier W.A.C. Bennett. In an attempt to improve his hold on power, Bennett promised that any woman elected to the legislature while he was in power would become a member of his Cabinet. In 1966, she successfully campaigned and was elected along with Les Peterson to co-represent the dual member riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain. Bennett made McCarthy a minister without portfolio, as well as Pat Jordan and Isabel Dawson.

In 1968, she successfully lobbied both the Canadian federal and British Columbian provincial governments to broaden home ownership credit legislation to include single, divorced and widowed women without the need for a male guarantor.

In the 1972 general election, the Socreds suffered its first electoral defeat to the New Democratic Party (NDP). McCarthy, then Socred party president in 1973, worked to rebuild the party. To that end, she increased membership in the party from 5,000 to 70,000 in two years. After the Socreds returned to power in the 1975 election, McCarthy became a senior cabinet minister, serving in a variety of portfolios, under Premier Bill Bennett.

In 1982, McCarthy was suspected of interfering in the re-drawing of the electoral boundaries of her Little Mountain constituency, to include an appendage of a wealthy Westside area of Vancouver, helping ensure her electoral success. This appendage and subsequent scandal became known as "Gracie's Finger". The actual area in question was between 16th and 33rd Avenues in Vancouver around the Arbutus Street corridor. In 1986, she parlayed the idea to illuminate the main cables of Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge and arranged private-sector sponsorship by the Guinness family, the bridge's builders and original owners.

In addition, her many achievements included the following: lobbied to bring Expo 86 to Vancouver; established Canada’s first linear parkway and SkyTrain; negotiated lighting on the Lions Gate Bridge; spearheaded construction of the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre at Canada Harbour Place; initiated Canada’s first toll-free help line for abused children; brought the most comprehensive legislation to stop child abuse in the country; and initiated, alongside Justis Greene, BC’s first film promotion office, the Creative BC Film Commission.

In 1992, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2004, she was awarded the Order of British Columbia.^[10]

McCarthy died on May 24, 2017, at age 89 after a lengthy battle with a brain tumour.^[11][12]

Prior to her death, McCarthy was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CH.I.L.D. Foundation (Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders). McCarthy began the charity in 1995 with Mary McCarthy Parsons (her daughter) and J. Lindsay Gordon.^[13]