Editing Elmer MacKay (section)

==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.