Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay is a Canadian lawyer and politician, who served as Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defence, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. MacKay became the final leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada he agreed to merge the party with Stephen Harper's Canadian Alliance in 2003, forming the Conservative Party of Canada and making MacKay one of the co-founders of the current conservative wing of Canadian politics.
The son of Canadian politician and Minister of Public Works Elmer MacKay, MacKay received his undergraduate degree from Acadia University and his law degree from Dalhousie University. MacKay represented the riding of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough from 1997 to 2004, and the riding of Central Nova from 2004 until 2015, when he decided not to run in that year's federal election. With the defeat of the Conservatives in the 2015 federal election, he was considered a potential candidate to succeed Stephen Harper as permanent leader of the party. Between 2015 and 2020, he was a partner with Baker McKenzie at their Toronto office.
On January 15, 2020, MacKay announced his candidacy for the 2020 Conservative leadership race. He was defeated by former veterans-affairs minister Erin O’Toole on the third ballot of the election. Following the race, he moved back to Nova Scotia and became a senior counsel with the law firm McInnes Cooper and a strategic advisor with Deloitte Canada.
Early life and career
MacKay was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. His father, Elmer MacKay, is a former PC cabinet minister, lumber businessman, and lawyer. His mother, Eirene Macha MacKay, was a psychologist and peace activist; through her, Peter MacKay is descended from James Alexander, 3rd Earl of Caledon and James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. MacKay grew up in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with his three siblings. He graduated from Horton High School in Greenwich, Nova Scotia, and then went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Acadia University/Carleton University in 1987. MacKay then studied law at Dalhousie University and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in June 1991. He worked for Thyssen Henschel, a steel producer, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in Düsseldorf and Kassel, Germany.In 1993, MacKay accepted an appointment as Crown Attorney for the Central Region of Nova Scotia. He prosecuted cases at all levels, including youth and provincial courts as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. MacKay has publicly stated that the major impetus for his entry into federal politics was his frustrations with the shortcomings in the justice system, particularly his perception that the courts do not care about the impact crime has on victims.
Member of Parliament
MacKay was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the June 2, 1997 federal election for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, a riding in northeastern Nova Scotia. He was one of a handful of newly elected "Young Turk" PC MPs, who were under 35 years old when elected and were considered the future leadership material that might restore the ailing Tories to their glory days. In his first term of office, MacKay served as Justice Critic and House Leader for the Progressive Conservative parliamentary caucus. MacKay was the PC member of the Board of Internal Economy and the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. He also acted as an associate member of the Standing Committees on Canadian Heritage, Finance and the sub-committee on the Study of Sport. Peter MacKay served as PC Party House Leader from September 23, 1997, to September 12, 2001.MacKay was re-elected in the 2000 federal election and was frequently touted by the media as a possible successor to PC Party leader Joe Clark. Many of his initial supporters referred to his strong performances in the House of Commons and magnetism as key attributes that would make him a popular leader. MacKay has been voted the "sexiest male MP in the House of Commons" by the Hill Times for six years in a row. When asked in a 2001 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary on the resurgence of the PC Party if he would ever consider running for the PC leadership, MacKay quipped, "If there's one thing I've learned in politics it's 'never say never.' Jean Charest taught me that."
In August 2001, he was one of several PC MPs to engage in open cooperation talks with disaffected Canadian Alliance MPs in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Eventually a union of sorts was created between the PCs and the newly formed Democratic Representative Caucus. MacKay was appointed House Leader of the new PC-DR Parliamentary Coalition Caucus when it was formally recognized as a political body on September 10, 2001. The PC-DR initiative collapsed in April 2002, raising questions about Clark's leadership. Clark announced his impending resignation as party leader at the PC Party's bi-annual convention held in Edmonton, Alberta in August 2002. MacKay's name was one of the first to be raised as a possible leadership contender.
2003 Progressive Conservative leadership race
MacKay was largely seen as the assumed victor of the race from the outset of the leadership contest. Ultimately, his candidacy was helped by the absence of so-called "dream candidates" such as provincial Progressive Conservative Premiers Bernard Lord, Mike Harris and Ralph Klein who did not run for the leadership. MacKay formally launched his leadership campaign in his hometown of New Glasgow in January 2003. From the onset of the campaign, MacKay insisted that his primary goal upon assuming the leadership would be the rebuilding the fractured conservative movement from within the PC tent. For much of the race, MacKay was the clear front-runner. Several opponents, including former PC Party Treasurer Jim Prentice, social conservative candidate Craig Chandler, and Red Tory Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison, painted MacKay as a status quo or "establishment" candidate who could effectively question the Prime Minister.MacKay's campaign was largely based on his leadership skills and a national organization rather than on policies or new directions. MacKay is largely viewed by political analysts as a Red Tory. He voted in favour of same-sex marriage in 2006.
Leadership convention
MacKay entered the first ballot of the PC leadership convention held on May 31, 2003 with roughly 41% of the delegates supporting him. However, on the second ballot, MacKay's support dropped to 39%. On the third ballot, MacKay's support reached 45% but many of his supporters were convinced that he had hit his popular peak. Some analysts noted that the eliminated third-place challenger David Orchard drew his 25% bulk of delegate supporters largely from the Western prairie provinces. Orchard was prepared to speak with either MacKay or Prentice to determine if a deal could be reached over some of the issues that he raised during the leadership campaign. As the results of the third ballot were called, MacKay's campaign manager, PC Senator Noël Kinsella, hastily arranged a backroom meeting between MacKay, Orchard, and their campaign advisors. During the meeting, MacKay reached a deal with his rival, and Orchard emerged from the room urging his delegates to support MacKay. Press officials immediately demanded to know what had inspired Orchard's surprise move. Orchard repeatedly referred to a "gentleman's agreement" made between himself and MacKay that had led to his qualified support.MacKay won the final ballot with nearly 65% of the delegates supporting him. For the next few weeks, the specific details of the "Orchard deal" remained vague: a secret between MacKay, Orchard, and their advisors. However, it was eventually revealed that the "Orchard deal" promised a review of the PC Party's policies on the North American Free Trade Agreement, no merger or joint candidates with the Canadian Alliance, and a promise to redouble efforts to rebuild the national status of the Progressive Conservative Party. The agreement also included re-examining the PC Party's policies on government subsidies for national railways and preserving the environment. The deal also requested that MacKay "clean up" the party's head office and specifically requested that the party's National Director be fired. Further evidence later revealed Scott Brison's cellphone number written in the margins of the note for some unexplained reason. In an attempt to heal internal rifts after the convention, MacKay edited out the number. After Brison defected to the Liberal party, however, MacKay revealed the original copy. The agreement prompted much outrage and controversy amongst United Alternative supporters and was ribaldly referred to by CA MP Jason Kenney as "a deal with the Devil".
At first, MacKay seemed to be willing to adhere to the deal. In June, several Clark-appointed personnel were let go from the party's main office and MacKay appointed new experienced staff whose loyalties were more closely linked to himself and former Prime Minister and PC Party leader Brian Mulroney. MacKay also appointed a couple of low level staff workers who had been supportive of David Orchard's leadership bid. In July, MacKay struck up a "Blue Ribbon PC Policy Review Panel", made up of conservative MPs, Senators, and Orchard himself, that was to be chaired by MP Bill Casey, in order to reexamine the party's policies on NAFTA. The committee was scheduled to hold talks across the country and make a report to the leader by January 2004.
By mid-July, political opponents and fellow Tories began attacking MacKay over the "Orchard deal." MacKay's conservative rival Stephen Harper suggested that the PC Party had hit rock-bottom when its policies and directions would be beholden to a "prairie socialist." The secretive nature of the deal also led to concerns from within the party's headquarters and constituency associations. David Orchard was seen by many within the party as an "outsider" who was attempting to turn the Progressive Conservative Party into the "Prairie Co-operative Party". Some felt that MacKay's credibility and leadership were undermined by the deal and that electoral expectations were low for the upcoming election that was expected to occur in less than a year's time. Rex Murphy noted in a Globe and Mail column that MacKay's leadership arrived "stillborn" and that, perhaps for the first time in recent memory, a party immediately emerged from a leadership convention grievously weakened and even less united than when it entered the convention.