The Honourable
Elmer MacKay
PC KC
44th Minister of Public Works
In office
January 30, 1989 – June 25, 1993
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byOtto Jelinek (acting)
Succeeded byPaul Wyatt Dick
2nd Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
In office
January 30, 1989 – April 21, 1991
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byGerald Merrithew
Succeeded byJohn Crosbie
27th Minister of National Revenue
In office
August 20, 1985 – January 30, 1989
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byPerrin Beatty
Succeeded byOtto Jelinek
31st Solicitor General of Canada
In office
September 17, 1984 – August 20, 1985
Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney
Preceded byRobert Phillip Kaplan
Succeeded byPerrin Beatty
4th Minister of Regional Economic Expansion
In office
June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980
Prime MinisterJoe Clark
Preceded byMarcel Lessard
Succeeded byPierre De Bane
Member of Parliament
for Central Nova
In office
September 4, 1984 – October 25, 1993
Preceded byBrian Mulroney
Succeeded byRoseanne Skoke
In office
May 31, 1971 – June 15, 1983
Preceded byRussell MacEwan
Succeeded byBrian Mulroney
Personal details
Born
Elmer MacIntosh MacKay

(1936-08-05) August 5, 1936
Hopewell, Nova Scotia, Canada
Political partyConservative
Other political
affiliations		Progressive Conservative (until 2003)
Spouse
Eirene Macha Delap
​
​
(m. 1961; died 2017)​
[1]
Children4, including Peter MacKay
OccupationPolitician

Elmer MacIntosh MacKay PC KC (born August 5, 1936) is a former Canadian politician.

Life and career

MacKay was born in Hopewell, Nova Scotia, the son of Laura Louise (Macintosh) and Gordon Barclay MacKay.[2][3] He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Nova through a 1971 by-election.[4] 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.[5] 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 Cabinet of Canada where he served as Solicitor General of Canada for a year before becoming Minister of National Revenue.[6] In 1989, MacKay became Minister of Public Works.[7] From 1989 to 1991, he was also responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act.[8] 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, was the Conservative member for Central Nova, 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. Peter also served as the final leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada before it merged with the Canadian Alliance into the present-day Conservative Party.

Controversy

MacKay is a longtime associate of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who were negotiating the purchase of Airbus aircraft for Air Canada in 1988. As a result of subsequent Royal Canadian Mounted Police 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.[9] It is not known why MacKay drafted a letter that was later offered as evidence and supposedly written by Schreiber.

Evidence tabled at the Airbus 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.[10]

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

1988 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay19,06548.58-12.42
LiberalMarion Anderson15,06638.39+12.39
New DemocraticGloria Murphy5,11013.02+0.02
Total valid votes 39,241 100.00
1984 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay21,46261.00+0.81
LiberalAl Lomas9,14826.00+0.95
New DemocraticGloria E. Murphy4,57213.00-0.39
Total valid votes 35,182100.00
1980 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay15,57648.03-8.55
LiberalAlvin Sinclair11,11134.26+4.37
New DemocraticGary A. Chambers5,74317.71+4.18
Total valid votes 32,430 100.00
1979 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay18,90756.58+2.65
LiberalLloyd P. Mackay9,98829.89-6.41
New DemocraticGary A. Chambers4,52113.53+4.67
Total valid votes 33,416 100.00
1974 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay17,45953.93-3.02
LiberalFern Dunn11,75336.30+7.33
New DemocraticJohn Rod Brown2,8698.86-3.98
Social CreditJohn J. Henderson2920.90-0.34
Total valid votes 32,373100.00
1972 Canadian federal election: Central Nova
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeElmer MacKay18,25956.95+4.37
LiberalD. Laurence Mawhinney9,28828.97-9.37
New DemocraticJohn Rod Brown4,11712.84+6.20
Social CreditJohn J. Henderson3971.24-1.20
Total valid votes 32,061 100.00

References

  1. ↑ Montague-Smith, Patrick W. (1985). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Debrett's Peerage Limited. ISBN 9780333378243.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-09-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "MacKay, Hon. Elmer, P.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B.", Canadian Parliamentary Guide 2005
  4. ↑ Hill, Tony L. (2002). Canadian politics, riding by riding: an in-depth analysis of Canada's 301 federal electoral districts. Prospect Park Press. p. 40. ISBN 0-9723436-0-1.
  5. ↑ Plamondon, Bob (2014). Full Circle: Death and Resurrection In Canadian Conservative Politics. eBookIt.com. ISBN 9781456623166.
  6. ↑ Clancy, Peter (2004). Micropolitics and Canadian business: paper, steel, and the airlines. University of Toronto Press. p. 175. ISBN 1-55111-570-0.
  7. ↑ "Twenty-Fourth Ministry". www.pco-bcp.gc.ca. Government of Canada. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "ACOA Ministers since 1987". www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca. Government of Canada. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Mulroney-era cabinet minister may have helped draft Schreiber letter: report". national Post. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  10. ↑ "Peter MacKay's Father and Airbus Scandal".
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