Edward Robert McGill (September 21, 1912 in

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– December 3, 1996) was a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...

from 1969 to 1981, and was a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in the government of

Sterling Lyon Sterling Rufus Lyon (January 30, 1927 – December 16, 2010) was a Canadian lawyer, cabinet minister, and the 17th premier of Manitoba from 1977 to 1981. His government introduced several fiscally-conservative measures, and was sometimes seen a ...

. McGill was raised in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, and was educated at Queen's University in

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. He worked for

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Steel from 1933 to 1939. He served in the

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from 1940 to 1945, and later managed the Brandon Flying Club. McGill married Marguerite Eve Shaw in 1942. He served as a director of the Brandon General Hospital, and was a member of the Brandon Police Commission. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1969, defeating

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James Skinner by 504 votes. He was re-elected over New Democrat Henry Carroll by just over 1,000 votes in the 1973 election, and again in the 1977 election. The Progressive Conservatives formed government in 1977, and on October 24 of that year McGill was appointed Consumer, Corporate and Internal Services and Minister of Cooperative Development, with responsibility for the Manitoba Telephone System and Communications and the Manitoba Lotteries Act. After a reshuffling on October 20, 1978, he retained his portfolios and was given responsibility for the Manitoba Telephone System, Manitoba Forestry Resources Limited and the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation. On November 15, 1979, McGill stepped down to the position of

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

. He did not seek re-election in 1981, and has not sought a return to politics since that time. In the legislature, his mild demeanour earned him the ironic nickname "Mad Dog McGill".

Gary Doer Gary Albert Doer (born 31 March 1948) is a former Canadian politician and diplomat from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He served as Canada's ambassador to the United States from 19 October 2009, to 3 March 2016. Doer previously served as the 20th p ...

described him as "gentlemanly" following his death in 1996. He died in Brandon at the age of 84. McGill managed the Brandon airport for 25 years and it was renamed McGill Field in 1971 in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGill, Edward Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Politicians from Brandon, Manitoba 1912 births 1996 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba