Life and Career
MacKay was born in Hopewell, Nova Scotia. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Nova through a 1971 by-election. 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 Joe Clark.
MacKay resigned his parliamentary seat in 1983 in order to allow newly elected PC leader Brian Mulroney to enter Parliament through a by-election in MacKay's Nova Scotia riding. In the subsequent 1984 election, Mulroney moved to a Quebec riding, and MacKay was again returned to the House as Central Nova's MP.
Following the election, Mulroney became prime minister, and appointed MacKay to the Canadian Cabinet where he served as Solicitor General of Canada for a year before becoming Minister of National Revenue. In 1989, MacKay became Minister of Public Works. From 1989 to 1991, he was also responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act. The opposition 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.
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, is the Conservative member for Central Nova, a re-creation of the same riding his father once represented. His son has served as appointed minister responsible for ACOA, and for Prince Edward Island, positions previously held by his father.
Read more about this topic: Elmer MacKay
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