Lowell Murray, (born 26 September 1936) is a former

Canadian senator The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the Bri ...

and long-time activist with the federal Progressive Conservative Party.

Education

Murray graduated from

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

in 1955. He met 16-year-old

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 sci ...

there; the two became close friends and associates in the PC Party. He later earned an

MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * Mou ...

from Queen's University. In 1961, he became an assistant to federal justice minister

Davie Fulton Edmund Davie Fulton, (March 10, 1916 – May 22, 2000) was a Canadian Rhodes Scholar, politician and judge. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of politician/lawyer Frederick John Fulton and Winnifred M. Davie, daughter of ...

. Later, he served as chief of staff to Progressive Conservative leader

Robert Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...

and then was New Brunswick premier

Richard Hatfield Richard Bennett Hatfield (April 9, 1931 – April 26, 1991) was a New Brunswick politician and the longest serving premier of New Brunswick from 1970 to 1987.Richard Starr, ''Richard Hatfield, The Seventeen Year Saga,'' 1987, Early life T ...

's senior advisor.

Appointment to the Senate

Murray was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of

Prime Minister 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 not ...

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 ...

in 1979. In 1986, Prime Minister Mulroney appointed Murray to the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Leader of the Government in the Senate, and variously as Minister of State for Federal-Provincial Relations (until 21 April 1991), Minister responsible for the

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regi ...

(June 1987 to September 1988), and Acting Minister of Communications (December 1988 to 30 January 1989). Murray served as Government Leader in the Senate until the defeat of the government of Prime Minister

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 p ...

in 1993. In 2003, Murray joined with Clark to oppose the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party with 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 ...

to form the

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 ...

. When the new party was created, he refused to join the new Conservative

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

, and, until his retirement remained one of two senators (the other being

Elaine McCoy Elaine Jean McCoy (March 7, 1946December 29, 2020) was a Canadian politician from Alberta. She was a member of the Senate of Canada. In 2005, McCoy was appointed to the Senate. She designated herself a member of the Progressive Conservative ...

) to sit as "Progressive Conservatives" even though the federal Progressive Conservative Party had been formally dissolved. Murray was the last senator appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Clark to sit in the Senate. He was the longest-serving member of the body upon his mandatory retirement from the Senate on 26 September 2011, when he attained the age of 75.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Lowell 1936 births Canadian senators from Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators Canadian people of Scottish descent Living people Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry Members of the 25th Canadian Ministry Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from New Waterford, Nova Scotia St. Francis Xavier University alumni Queen's University at Kingston alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians

Education

Appointment to the Senate

Archives

See also

References

External links