View source for Elmer MacKay

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{BLP sources|date=July 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Elmer MacKay
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|KC|size=100%}}
| image            =
| imagesize        =
| caption          =
| office = 44th [[Minister of Public Services and Procurement|Minister of Public Works]]
| primeminister = [[Brian Mulroney]]
| term_start = January 30, 1989
| term_end = June 25, 1993
| predecessor = [[Otto Jelinek]] (acting)
| successor = [[Paul Wyatt Dick]]
| office1 = 2nd [[Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]]
| primeminister1 = Brian Mulroney
| term_start1 = January 30, 1989
| term_end1 = April 21, 1991
| predecessor1 = [[Gerald Merrithew]]
| successor1 =  [[John Crosbie]]
| office2 = 27th [[Minister of National Revenue]]
| primeminister2 = Brian Mulroney
| term_start2 = August 20, 1985
| term_end2 = January 30, 1989
| predecessor2 = [[Perrin Beatty]]
| successor2 = [[Otto Jelinek]]
| office3 = 31st [[Solicitor General of Canada]]
| primeminister3 = Brian Mulroney
| term_start3 = September 17, 1984
| term_end3 = August 20, 1985
| predecessor3 = [[Robert Phillip Kaplan]]
| successor3 = [[Perrin Beatty]]
| office4 = 4th [[Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion|Minister of Regional Economic Expansion]]
| primeminister4 = [[Joe Clark]]
| term_start4 = June 4, 1979
| term_end4 = March 3, 1980
| predecessor4 = [[Marcel Lessard]]
| successor4 = [[Pierre de Bané]]
| parliament9       = Canadian
| riding9           = [[Central Nova]]
| term_start9       = September 4, 1984
| term_end9         = October 25, 1993
| predecessor9      = [[Brian Mulroney]]
| successor9        = [[Roseanne Skoke]]
| term_start10      = May 31, 1971
| term_end10        = June 15, 1983
| predecessor10     = [[Russell MacEwan]]
| successor10       = Brian Mulroney
| birth_name       = Elmer MacIntosh MacKay
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1936|8|5}}
| birth_place      = [[Hopewell, Nova Scotia]], Canada
| death_date       =
| death_place      =
| residence        =
| party = [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]]
| otherparty            = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] (until 2003)
| portfolio        =
| spouse           = {{Marriage|Eirene Macha Delap|1961|2017|end=died}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6m4-AQAAIAAJ&q=Eirene+Macha+Delap|title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage|year=1985|isbn=9780333378243|last1=Montague-Smith|first1=Patrick W.|publisher=Debrett's Peerage Limited }}</ref>
| children         = 4, including [[Peter MacKay]]
| occupation       = Politician
}}

'''Elmer MacIntosh MacKay''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|KC}} (born August 5, 1936) is a former [[Canadians|Canadian]] politician.

==Life and career==
MacKay was born in [[Hopewell, Nova Scotia]], the son of Laura Louise (Macintosh) and Gordon Barclay MacKay.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://skmacnutt.ca/keith/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/DS-OBIT-6001-7000.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103421/http://skmacnutt.ca/keith/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/DS-OBIT-6001-7000.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180420073929/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3448600167.html "MacKay, Hon. Elmer, P.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B.", ''Canadian Parliamentary Guide 2005'']</ref> He was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] (PC) [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Central Nova]] through a 1971 [[by-election]].<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=opvmE2AExc8C&pg=PA40 | page = 40 | title = Canadian politics, riding by riding: an in-depth analysis of Canada's 301 federal electoral districts | first = Tony L. | last = Hill | publisher = Prospect Park Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 0-9723436-0-1 }}</ref> 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 of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Joe Clark]].

MacKay resigned his [[parliamentary seat]] in 1983 to allow newly elected PC leader [[Brian Mulroney]] to enter [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] through a by-election in MacKay's [[Nova Scotia]] [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]].<ref name="plamo">{{cite book|last1=Plamondon|first1=Bob|author-link1=Bob Plamondon|title=Full Circle: Death and Resurrection In Canadian Conservative Politics|date=2014|publisher=eBookIt.com|isbn=9781456623166}}</ref> In the subsequent [[1984 Canadian federal election|1984 election]], Mulroney ran in his home riding of [[Manicouagan (electoral district)|Manicouagan]], [[Quebec]], and MacKay was again returned to the House as Central Nova's MP.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Maloney |first=Ryan |date=August 8, 2018 |title=Jagmeet Singh Follows Path Of Other Leaders By Seeking Seat Far From Home |url=https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/jagmeet-singh-burnaby_ca_5cd55f5ce4b07bc7297780a6 |access-date=February 29, 2024 |work=HuffPost Canada}}</ref>

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 (Canada)|Minister of National Revenue]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Clancy|first=Peter|title=Micropolitics and Canadian business: paper, steel, and the airlines|year=2004|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=1-55111-570-0|pages=175|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAyOmldOfK4C&pg=PA175}}</ref> In 1989, MacKay became [[Minister of Public Works (Canada)|Minister of Public Works]].<ref name="ministry24">{{cite web|title=Twenty-Fourth Ministry|url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/mgm/dtail.asp?lang=eng&mstyid=24&mbtpid=1|website=www.pco-bcp.gc.ca|publisher=Government of Canada|access-date=16 December 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305011550/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/mgm/dtail.asp?lang=eng&mstyid=24&mbtpid=1|archive-date=5 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>  From 1989 to 1991, he was also responsible for the ''[[Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]] Act''.<ref name="acoa">{{cite web|title=ACOA Ministers since 1987|url=http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/eng/Agency/OurPeople/Pages/FormerACOAMinisters.aspx|website=www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca|publisher=Government of Canada|access-date=16 December 2017|language=en-us}}</ref> The [[parliamentary opposition|opposition]] [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberals]] and [[New Democratic Party]] often accused MacKay of giving [[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 Canadian federal election|1993 election]].

Elmer MacKay's son, [[Peter MacKay|Peter]], was a PC and [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] MP from [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997]] to [[2015 Canadian federal election|2015]]; initially he represented [[Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough]], which was formed from Elmer's former Central Nova riding, and from [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004]] the re-formed Central Nova. 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 then Prime Minister [[Brian Mulroney]] and German businessman [[Karlheinz Schreiber]], who were negotiating the purchase of [[Airbus affair|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.<ref>{{cite news | title = Mulroney-era cabinet minister may have helped draft Schreiber letter: report | publisher = national Post
|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/mulroney-era-cabinet-minister-may-have-helped-draft-schreiber-letter-report|access-date=3 April 2021}}</ref> 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 affair|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.<ref>{{cite news | title = Peter MacKay's Father and Airbus Scandal
| url=http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2009/05/peter-mackays-father-and-airbus-scandal.html}}</ref>

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}}
{{1984 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}
{{1980 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}
{{1979 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}
{{1974 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}
{{1972 Canadian federal election/Central Nova}}

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=7961}}

{{S-start}}
{{Canadian federal ministry navigational box header |ministry=21}}
{{ministry box cabinet posts
| post1         = Minister of Regional Economic Expansion
| post1years    = 1979–1980
| post1note     =
| post1preceded = [[Marcel Lessard]]
| post1followed = [[Pierre De Bané]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Mulroney Ministry}}
{{Clark Ministry}}
{{CA-Ministers of National Revenue}}
{{CA-Ministers for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency}}
{{CA-Ministers of Public Works}}
{{CA-Solicitors General of Canada}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, Elmer}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the 21st Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Politicians from Pictou County]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Solicitors general of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]