Ian Alistair Mackenzie (July 27, 1890 – September 2, 1949) was a

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 ...

parliamentarian.

Life and career

Born in

Assynt Assynt ( gd, Asainn or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with ...

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, Mackenzie entered politics by winning a seat in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria. Members are elected from provincial ...

(BC) in the 1920 BC election. In 1930, he was appointed to

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 ...

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

's pre-election

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as Minister of Immigration and Colonization and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. While he won his seat in the 1930 federal election the Liberal Party was defeated across the country. Mackenzie entered Parliament as an

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(MP). When the Liberals returned to power through the 1935 election, Mackenzie returned to Cabinet as Minister of National Defence where he had the responsibility for pre-war rearmament. With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in 1939, however, Mackenzie was moved to the position of Minister of Pensions and National Health, in part because of his role in a scandal involving the awarding of a contract to manufacture the Bren Gun. In 1944, he became Minister of Veterans Affairs. Mackenzie was an able parliamentarian, and when the increasing pressures of war led Prime Minister King to decide to delegate some of his responsibilities in the House of Commons to the new position of

Government House Leader The leader of the government in the House of Commons (), more commonly known as the government house leader, is the Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the House of Commons of Canada. D ...

, he chose Mackenzie as the first MP to hold that responsibility. During the war, Mackenzie pandered to

anti-Japanese sentiment Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia. Overview Anti-Japanese sentim ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

by declaring to his constituents at his 1944 nomination meeting "Let our slogan be for British Columbia: 'No Japs from the Rockies to the seas.'" As British Columbia's senior cabinet minister Mackenzie had a key role in the government's decision to intern Japanese-Canadians for the duration of the war. In 1947, Mackenzie was named to the

Imperial Privy Council The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

along with several other senior Canadian cabinet ministers, allowing him to use the honorific of "Right Honourable". In 1948, he was appointed to the

Senate of Canada 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 ...

. He served only a year and a half until his death in 1949.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Ian Alistair 1890 births 1949 deaths British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Lawyers in British Columbia Canadian Presbyterians Liberal Party of Canada MPs Liberal Party of Canada senators Canadian senators from British Columbia Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Sutherland Anti-Japanese sentiment Canadian people of World War II

Life and career

Archives

References

External links