Mitro "Mac" Makarchuk (November 1, 1929 – July 24, 2021) was a Canadian politician and journalist. He was an

Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...

Member of Provincial Parliament Member of Provincial Parliament is the title given to provincial legislators in two legislatures: * Member of Provincial Parliament (Canada) * Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape) In the Western Cape province of South Africa, Member of Pro ...

for

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

from 1967 to 1971 and again from 1975 to 1981.

Early life

Makarchuk was born in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

in 1929. In 1959, as a first year student at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, Makarchuk offered to underwrite a Canadian intercollegiate hockey championship between the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team and

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

Huskies Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...

as there was no national playoff between eastern and western Canadian regional hockey champions. The University of Saskatchewan accepted the offer but it was rejected by the University of Toronto. A national university hockey championship, the

University Cup The U Sports Men's Ice Hockey Championship, is a Canadian university ice hockey tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports confere ...

was ultimately established in 1963. He then moved to Ontario and worked as a journalist for the ''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national ...

''.

Politics

He was the

New Democratic Party of Canada The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

's candidate in the 1965 federal election in the riding of

but was defeated, coming in third place. He was nominated to be the provincial party's candidate in the 1967 provincial election and sought a leave of absence from the ''Expositor'' but was refused and then fired. He was elected to the provincial riding of

to the Ontario legislature in 1967. He served a term before being defeated in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

by Progressive Conservative Dick Beckett. He was then elected to Brantford city council as an alderman in 1972. He returned to the legislature in the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, this time defeating Beckett. He was re-elected in the 1977 provincial election. He lost his seat in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

to PC candidate

Phil Gillies Philip Andrew Gillies (born May 7, 1954) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1987 as a Progressive Conservative, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Frank Miller. ...

. Makarchuk returned to Brantford City Council by winning a seat in the 1982 municipal election, serving for a three-year term as councillor for ward 4 before retiring from politics in 1985.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Makarchuk, Mitro 1929 births 2021 deaths Brantford city councillors Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs University of Toronto alumni People from Rural Municipality of Clayton No. 333 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario