Elmer MacIntosh MacKay (born August 5, 1936) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician.

Life and career

MacKay was born in

Hopewell, Nova Scotia Hopewell is a village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, in Pictou County Pictou County is a county in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had ...

, the son of Laura Louise (Macintosh) and Gordon Barclay MacKay. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative (PC)

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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Central Nova Central Nova (french: Nova-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 until 1996. In 1996, Antigonish County and part of Guysborough County were placed with Pic ...

through a 1971

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. He was re-elected in subsequent elections, and served as Minister of Regional Economic Expansion in the short lived (1979–1980) government 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 i ...

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 ...

. MacKay resigned his

parliamentary seat An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polit ...

in 1983 in order to allow newly elected PC leader Brian Mulroney to enter

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

through a by-election in MacKay's

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

riding. In the subsequent 1984 election, Mulroney moved to a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

riding, and MacKay was again returned to the House as Central Nova's MP. Following the election, Mulroney became

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 i ...

, and appointed MacKay to the Cabinet of Canada where he served as

Solicitor General of Canada The Solicitor General of Canada was a position in the Canadian ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General in the British system and was originally designated as an officer to assist the Minister of Justice. It was ...

for a year before becoming

Minister of National Revenue The minister of national revenue (french: ministre du revenu national) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), as well as the administration of taxation law and collection. T ...

. In 1989, MacKay became

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

. From 1989 to 1991, he was also 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 ...

Act''. The

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Liberals and New Democratic Party often accused MacKay of doling out patronage appointments. While no wrongdoing was ever proven, MacKay was removed from the ACOA portfolio in 1991. From 1991 to 1993, he remained Public Works minister and was given responsibility for the

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (french: Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement) (SCHL) is Canada's national housing agency, and state-owned mortgage insurer. It was originally established after World War II, to help re ...

. MacKay retired from Cabinet when Mulroney's tenure as party leader ended in 1993, and did not run in the 1993 election. Elmer MacKay's son,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, was the

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member for

, a re-creation of the same riding his father once represented. Like Elmer, Peter served as minister responsible for ACOA, and for

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

. Peter also served as the final leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada before it merged 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 ...

into the present-day Conservative Party.

Controversy

MacKay is a longtime associate of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German businessman

Karlheinz Schreiber Karlheinz Schreiber (born 25 March 1934) is a German and Canadian citizen, an industrialist, lobbyist, fundraiser, arms dealer and businessman. He has been in the news regarding his alleged role in the 1999 CDU contributions scandal in Germany, ...

, who were negotiating the purchase of

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

aircraft for

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in 1988. As a result of subsequent

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

charges against Mulroney for accepting kickbacks on this transaction, a federal inquiry was launched, which found that Mulroney had accepted at least $300,000 in cash from Schreiber after the transaction. Mulroney's defence stated these payments were in return for consulting services. Documents show that MacKay drafted a letter that was eventually released by Schreiber as evidence that Scheiber's and Mulroney's business dealings were legitimate. It is not known why MacKay drafted a letter that was later offered as evidence and supposedly written by Schreiber. Evidence tabled at the

inquiry included entries in Schreiber’s diary that indicated Schreiber had made phone calls to MacKay on the same dates during which the first two Airbus meetings were held between Mulroney and Schreiber. MacKay has confirmed he had lunch with Mulroney and Schreiber the day of the third meeting. In addition, Schreiber’s diary shows he made phone calls to MacKay on two days in July 1993 when he made banking transactions in Switzerland to obtain money to pay Mulroney. Although MacKay was closely involved with Mulroney and Schreiber during the time of the Airbus purchases, he has never been formally charged for wrongdoing in the scandal.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, Elmer 1936 births Canadian King's Counsel Lawyers in Nova Scotia Living people Members of the 21st Canadian Ministry Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Pictou County Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Solicitors General of Canada