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

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politician.

Life and career

MacKay was born in Hopewell, Nova Scotia, the son of Laura Louise (Macintosh) and Gordon Barclay MacKay. He was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as the Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Nova through a 1971

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. 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Joe Clark. MacKay resigned his parliamentary seat in 1983 to allow newly elected PC leader

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was 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 studi ...

to enter

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through a by-election in MacKay's

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

riding. In the subsequent 1984 election, Mulroney ran in his home riding of Manicouagan,

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, 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

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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 giving

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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 a PC and

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MP from

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; initially he represented Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, which was formed from Elmer's former Central Nova riding, and from

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

the re-formed Central Nova. Like Elmer, Peter served as minister responsible for ACOA, and for

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. 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 then Prime Minister

and German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who were negotiating the purchase of

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

aircraft for

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in 1988. As a result of subsequent

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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 Politicians from Pictou County Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Solicitors general of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada