Donald Frank Mazankowski (July 27, 1935 – October 27, 2020) was a Canadian politician who served as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

under prime ministers Joe Clark and

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 ...

, including as

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

under Mulroney. After retiring from politics in 1993, Mazankowski was a consultant with the law firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. He also served as a director or trustee for several companies, including Weyerhaeuser Co., ATCO Ltd., Shaw Communications Inc., and Power Corporation of Canada.

Early life

Mazankowski was born in

Viking, Alberta Viking () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is at the intersection of Alberta Highway 14, Highway 14 (Poundmaker Trail) and Alberta Highway 36, Highway 36 (Veterans Memorial Highway), approximately east of Edmonton. The town also lends ...

, on July 27, 1935. His parents, Frank and Dora (Lonowski), were of Polish descent and came to Canada from the United States in 1921. After he completed high school, Mazankowski moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where he worked as a dispatcher in a trucking business. He later returned to Alberta and started his own gas station in Innisfree. Together with his brother Ray, he opened a car dealership on the outskirts of Vegreville.

Political career

Mazankowski's first taste of politics came during his five-year tenure as a trustee of a local separate school. This inspired him to seek the Progressive Conservative Party nomination in his local riding of Vegreville, which he won in 1968. During the federal election that year, he was 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 Member of Parliament (MP) for Vegreville. During the short-lived Clark government, Mazankowski served as Minister of Transport. When the Tories returned to power under Mulroney in the 1984 election, Mazankowski again became Minister of Transport. In 1986, he was promoted to

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and Government House Leader. Mazankowski became one of the most widely known public faces of the Tory government. He played an especially important role as an advocate for the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement. A bill to restore the death penalty was defeated by the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on June 30, 1987, in a 148–127 vote. (The then Liberal government led by

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

had abolished the death penalty in Canada in 1976.) While Prime Minister Mulroney, Minister of Justice Ray Hnatyshyn, and Minister of External Affairs Clark opposed the bill, Mazankowski and most PC MPs supported it. He became Finance Minister during a cabinet reshuffle in April 1991, replacing Michael Wilson.

After politics

Mazankowski retired from politics on June 7, 1993. When Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister two weeks later, Mazankowski was replaced as Finance Minister by Gilles Loiselle. Mazankowski did not run in the 1993 election that saw his party reduced to two seats in the House of Commons. He returned to the private sector and served on the boards of several organizations, including the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

. Mazankowski declined an offer of a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seat made by Mulroney in his final days as prime minister. In August 2001, Ralph Klein, the Premier of Alberta at the time, established the Premier's Advisory Council on Health, with Mazankowski as chair. He put the Council of twelve men in charge of reviewing Alberta's health care system and offering recommendations for health reform. The Council released its report on January 8, 2002, and the Alberta government accepted all of the recommendations. The report focused on market-consumerism with emphasis on consumer choice and market competition. Mazankowski played an important role in the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance in 2003, and he was a strong supporter of the new

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

. Mazankowski died on October 27, 2020, at the age of 85.

Honours

In 1992, Mazankowski was one of a few prominent Canadians who were given the

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

of "

Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

" without having held any of the offices that would entitle them to it automatically. In 2000, Mazankowski was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

, and he was promoted to Companion in 2013. He was inducted to the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2003.

References

External links