Donald Frank Mazankowski (July 27, 1935 – October 27, 2020) was a Canadian politician who served as a
cabinet minister under
prime ministers
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is n ...
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980.
Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...
and
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political ...
, including as
deputy prime minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
under Mulroney.
After retiring from politics in 1993, Mazankowski was a consultant with the law firm of
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. He also served as a director or trustee for several companies, including
Weyerhaeuser Co.
Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real ...
,
ATCO Ltd.,
Shaw Communications Inc., and
Power Corporation of Canada
Power Corporation of Canada () is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portf ...
.
Early life
Mazankowski was born in
Viking, Alberta
Viking () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is at the intersection of Highway 14 (Poundmaker Trail) and Highway 36 (Veterans Memorial Highway), approximately east of Edmonton.
The town also lends its name to the Viking Formation, an ...
, on July 27, 1935.
His parents, Frank and Dora (Lonowski), were of
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
descent and came to Canada from the United States in 1921.
Mazankowski moved to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
after completing high school and was employed as a dispatcher in a trucking business. He later returned to Alberta and started his own
gas station
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Gasol ...
in
Innisfree. Together with his brother Ray, he opened a car dealership on the outskirts of
Vegreville.
[
Mazankowski's first taste of politics came during his five-year tenure as a trustee of a local ]separate school
In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadian ...
. This inspired him to seek the Progressive Conservative Party nomination in his local riding of Vegreville, which he won in 1968.[ During the federal election that same year, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the ]Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for Vegreville.[
]
Political career
During the short-lived Clark government, Mazankowski served as Minister of Transport. When the Tories returned to power under Mulroney in the 1984 election, Mazankowski again became Minister of Transport. In 1986, he was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
and Government House Leader. Mazankowski became one of the most widely known public faces of the Tory government. He played an especially important role as an advocate for the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement
The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America (french: links=no, Accord de libre-échange entre le Canada et les États-Unis d'Amérique), wa ...
and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
A bill to restore the death penalty was defeated by the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
on June 30, 1987, in a 148–127 vote. While Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political ...
, Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a Ministry (government department), ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of ju ...
Ray Hnatyshyn
Ramon John Hnatyshyn ( ; uk, Роман Іванович Гнатишин, Roman Ivanovych Hnatyshyn, ; March 16, 1934December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as governor general of Canada, the 24th since Canadian Co ...
, and Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980.
Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...
opposed the bill, Mazankowski and a majority of Progressive Conservative MPs supported it. He became Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
during a cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...
in April 1991, replacing Michael Wilson.
After politics
Mazankowski retired from politics on June 7, 1993. When Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...
succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister two weeks later, Mazankowski was replaced as Finance Minister by Gilles Loiselle. Mazankowski did not run in the 1993 election that saw his party reduced to two seats in the House of Commons. He returned to the private sector and served on the boards of several organizations, including the University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
. Mazankowski declined an offer of a Senate seat made by Mulroney in his final days as prime minister.
In August 2001, Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
, the Premier of Alberta at the time, established the Premier's Advisory Council on Health, with Mazankowski as chair. He put the Council of twelve men in charge of reviewing Alberta's health care system and offering recommendations for health reform. The Council released its report on January 8, 2002, and the Alberta government accepted all of the recommendations. The report focused on market-consumerism with emphasis on consumer choice and market competition.
Mazankowski played an important role in the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...
in 2003, and he was a strong supporter of the new Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...
. Mazankowski died on October 27, 2020, at the age of 85.
Honours
In 1992, Mazankowski was one of a small group of prominent Canadians who were given the honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
style
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to:
* Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable
* Design, the process of creating something
* Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
of "Right Honourable
''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...
" without having held any of the offices that would entitle them to it automatically.
In 2000, Mazankowski was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the c ...
, and he was promoted to Companion in 2013. He was inducted to the Alberta Order of Excellence
The Alberta Order of Excellence (french: Ordre d'excellence de l'Alberta) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Alberta. Instituted in 1979 when Lieutenant Governor Frank C. Lynch-Staunton granted royal assent to the Alber ...
in 2003.
Archives
There is a Donald Mazankowski fonds
In archival science, a fonds is a group of documents that share the same origin and that have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an agency, individual, or organization. An example of a fonds could be the writings of a po ...
at Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is t ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazankowski, Don
1935 births
2020 deaths
Canadian Ministers of Finance
Canadian Ministers of Transport
Deputy Prime Ministers of Canada
Directors of Power Corporation of Canada
Members of the 21st Canadian Ministry
Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry
Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Companions of the Order of Canada
Canadian people of Polish descent
People from Beaver County, Alberta
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs
Weyerhaeuser