Allan Joseph MacEachen PC OC (July 6, 1921 – September 12, 2017) was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as a senator and several times as a Cabinet minister. He was the first deputy prime minister of Canada and served from 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984.

Allan MacEachen
MacEachen shortly after first being elected to the House of Commons
1st Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
In office
March 3, 1980 – June 29, 1984
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byHimself (1979)
Succeeded byJean Chrétien
In office
September 16, 1977 – June 4, 1979
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHimself (1980)
Ministerial offices
Secretary of State for External Affairs
In office
September 10, 1982 – June 29, 1984
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byMark MacGuigan
Succeeded byJean Chrétien
In office
August 8, 1974 – September 13, 1976
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byMitchell Sharp
Succeeded byDonald Jamieson
Minister of Finance
In office
March 3, 1980 – September 9, 1982
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byJohn Crosbie
Succeeded byMarc Lalonde
President of the Privy Council
In office
September 15, 1976 – June 3, 1979
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byMitchell Sharp
Succeeded byWalter Baker
In office
September 24, 1970 – August 7, 1974
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byDonald Stovel Macdonald
Succeeded byMitchell Sharp
Acting
May 2, 1968 – July 5, 1968
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byPierre Trudeau (Acting)
Succeeded byDonald Stovel Macdonald
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
In office
September 14, 1976 – March 26, 1979
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byMitchell Sharp
Succeeded byWalter Baker
In office
September 24, 1970 – May 9, 1974
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byDonald Stovel Macdonald
Succeeded byMitchell Sharp
In office
May 4, 1967 – April 23, 1968
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Preceded byGeorge McIlraith
Succeeded byDonald Stovel Macdonald
Minister of Manpower and Immigration
In office
July 6, 1968 – September 23, 1970
Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau
Preceded byJean Marchand
Succeeded byOtto Lang
Minister of National Health and Welfare
In office
December 18, 1965 – July 5, 1968
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Pierre Trudeau
Preceded byJudy LaMarsh
Succeeded byJohn C. Munro
Minister of Amateur Sport
In office
December 18, 1965 – July 5, 1968
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Pierre Trudeau
Preceded byJudy LaMarsh
Succeeded byJohn C. Munro
Minister of Labour
In office
April 22, 1963 – December 18, 1965
Prime MinisterLester B. Pearson
Preceded byMichael Starr
Succeeded byJohn Robert Nicholson
Parliamentary offices
Senator for Highlands-Canso, Nova Scotia
In office
June 29, 1984 – July 6, 1996
Appointed byJohn Turner
Member of Parliament
for Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
(Inverness—Richmond; 1953–1968)
In office
June 18, 1962 – June 28, 1984
Preceded byRobert MacLellan
Succeeded byLawrence O'Neil
In office
August 10, 1953 – March 30, 1958
Preceded byWilliam F. Carroll
Succeeded byRobert MacLellan
Personal details
Born
Allan Joseph MacEachen

(1921-07-06)July 6, 1921
Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada
DiedSeptember 12, 2017(2017-09-12) (aged 96)
Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Political partyLiberal
Alma mater
Profession
  • Politician
  • Economist
  • Professor

Early life

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Born in Inverness on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, MacEachen graduated from St. Francis Xavier University, and lectured in economics for several years at the school. He was the son of Annie Gillies and Angus MacEachen, a coal miner from Inverness County, Nova Scotia. MacEachen's maternal grandfather immigrated to Cape Breton Island from Morar, Scotland, in 1865. MacEachen's parents both spoke the distinctive Nova Scotia dialect of Scottish Gaelic at home and MacEachen himself was a fluent speaker.[1]

Early political career

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MacEachen was elected for the first time to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1953 election as a Liberal under the leadership of Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent. MacEachen was re-elected in the 1957 election but was defeated in the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker sweep in the 1958 election, the largest federal electoral victory in Canadian history.

MacEachen was re-elected to Parliament in the 1962 general election and again in the 1963, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1979, and 1980 elections.

Cabinet minister

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When Lester B. Pearson formed a Liberal government in 1963, he appointed MacEachen to cabinet as Minister of Labour. It was the beginning of a lengthy career in cabinet in which MacEachen served in several portfolios under Prime Ministers Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and John Turner. Over the course of his career, MacEachen held the following portfolios: Labour, National Health and Welfare, Manpower and Immigration, Privy Council, External Affairs, and Finance.

In addition to his ministerial responsibilities, MacEachen served as Government House Leader on three occasions and became the first Deputy Prime Minister of Canada in 1977 under Trudeau, a post that was held whenever Trudeau was in office until the latter retired.

In his memoirs, published in 1993, Trudeau wrote that MacEachen "had a very good strategic sense, both in and out of Parliament, and he lived and breathed politics." For Trudeau, he "was always a source of shrewd advice" and "was the kind of man I respected, because he had no ulterior motives; he said what he thought, and the reasons he would give were always his real reasons."[2]

In 1968 MacEachen contested the leadership of the Liberal Party but did not do well, largely because there was a second Nova Scotian on the ballot. He was courted to run for leader again in 1984 but opted to support John Turner, the eventual winner.

In 1979, when the Liberals lost the election to Joe Clark's Conservatives, MacEachen served as interim Leader of the Opposition when Trudeau announced his retirement from politics. Trudeau's short-lived retirement ended with the defeat of Clark's government in a vote of confidence of his budget and the Liberals' return to power with a majority government on February 18, 1980.

MacEachen took the role of Finance Minister and announced the National Energy Policy as part of his 1980 budget. He also angered public sector unions in his 1982 budget by imposing a wage restraint package dubbed "six and five," which limited wage increases to 6% and 5% for the next two years.[3] That was while double-digit interest rates and inflation were common.

Senator

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Turner, the new party leader and prime minister, recommended MacEachen for appointment to the Senate, where MacEachen became Leader of the Government in the Senate. MacEachen was in that position only briefly, as Turner lost the 1984 election, but MacEachen started the practice of allowing opposition senators to chair a number of committees, a practice that continues today.

From 1984 to 1991, he served as leader of the opposition in the Senate, where he was regarded as the primary opposition to the Conservative Brian Mulroney's first term because of Mulroney's substantial majority in the Commons, with an opposition that was spread nearly equally between Turner's Liberals and Ed Broadbent's New Democratic Party. In 1988, after a request by Turner, MacEachen blocked the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in the Senate to force an election before the issue was settled. The agreement was the main issue of the 1988 election. After Mulroney's victory, MacEachen and the Senate passed the agreement.

After the election, MacEachen again used the Senate to block the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax. Mulroney recommended for appointment several new senators and used an emergency power in the Constitution Act, 1867, to allow him to recommend for appointment eight new senators. MacEachen then led a filibuster against the bill, with Liberal members defying Speaker Guy Charbonneau, who voted for Conservative motions. The Liberal senators used other tactics to delay Senate business. Soon, the motion was passed, and the Progressive Conservative majority passed new rules for the Senate to forbid such actions.

MacEachen retired from the Senate in 1996 after he had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75, and he became a dollar-per-year adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Further controversy ensued in 1998, when it was discovered that he was still using a full Senate office.

Retirement and death

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After leaving the Senate, MacEachen retired to Nova Scotia spending the rest of his life at his house on Lake Ainslie in Inverness County, Cape Breton and in Antigonish.[4] In 2006, MacEachen endorsed Bob Rae's candidacy to lead the Liberal Party, and was appointed honorary campaign chair of Rae's campaign.[5]

MacEachen died at the age of 96 on September 12, 2017, at St. Martha's Hospital in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.[6][7]

Honours

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In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[8]

St. Francis Xavier University holds the annual Allan J. MacEachen lecture in his honour. In 2000, the Allan J. MacEachen International Academic and Cultural Centre was opened in Mabou, Nova Scotia. The complex consists of a secondary school, Dalbrae Academy, and Strathspey Place, a performing arts centre. Dalhousie University's MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance is also named after him.[9][10]

In 2021, Beaton Street, which is where MacEachen was raised in Inverness, Nova Scotia, was renamed Allan J. Memorial Avenue. The renaming coincided with the hundredth anniversary of MacEachen's birth, and was widely celebrated by many in the small Cape Breton community. Project chair Ben MacKay remarked at the unveiling ceremony that “There is no better example to leave behind for my generation, and all future generations of young people in this country.”[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Allan MacEachen, overseer of social reform and skilled politician, dies at 96". National Post. The Canadian Press. September 13, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Trudeau, Pierre Elliott (1993). Memoirs. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. pp. 176–177. ISBN 0-7710-8588-5.
  3. ^ "The Leader-Post". news.google.com. 29 June 1982. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  4. ^ Tutton, Michael (September 13, 2017). "Allan MacEachen, former federal Liberal cabinet minister, dies at age 96". The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  5. ^ [1] Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ McMillan, Elizabeth (September 13, 2017). "Former Nova Scotia politician Allan J. MacEachen dead at 96". CBC News. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  7. ^ "Former federal Liberal cabinet minister Allan MacEachen dies at age 96". National Post. The Canadian Press. September 13, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  8. ^ "Governor General Announces New Appointments to the Order of Canada". Archived from the original on 2009-01-21.
  9. ^ Pottie, Erin (September 13, 2017). "Political giant Allan J. MacEachen remembered as the 'Laird of Lake Ainslie'". Cape Breton Post. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  10. ^ "MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance". Dalhousie University. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  11. ^ "Allan J's Canada". Inverness Miners Museum. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
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23rd Ministry – Cabinet of John Turner
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Bud Olson Leader of the Government in the Senate
June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984
Duff Roblin
22nd Ministry – Second cabinet of Pierre Trudeau
Cabinet posts (3)
Predecessor Office Successor
Mark MacGuigan Secretary of State for External Affairs
September 10, 1982 – June 30, 1984
Jean Chrétien
John Crosbie Minister of Finance
March 3, 1980 – September 9, 1982
Marc Lalonde
himself, then vacant Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
March 3, 1980 – June 30, 1984
Jean Chrétien
20th Ministry – First cabinet of Pierre Trudeau
Cabinet posts (8)
Predecessor Office Successor
position created / previous Senior Minister Paul Hellyer Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
September 16, 1977 – June 4, 1979
vacant, then himself
Mitchell Sharp President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
September 14, 1976 – June 4, 1979
Walter David Baker
Mitchell Sharp Secretary of State for External Affairs
August 8, 1974 – September 13, 1976
Donald Jamieson
Donald Stovel Macdonald President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
September 24, 1970 – August 7, 1974
Mitchell Sharp
Jean Marchand Minister of Manpower and Immigration
July 6, 1968 – September 23, 1970
Otto Lang
Pierre Trudeau President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (acting)
May 2, 1968 – 5 July 1968
Donald Stovel Macdonald
cont'd from 19th Min. Minister of Amateur Sport
April 20, 1968 – July 5, 1968
 
cont'd from 19th Min. Minister of National Health and Welfare
April 20, 1968 – July 5, 1968
John Munro
Special Parliamentary Responsibilities
Predecessor Title Successor
Mitchell Sharp Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
September 14, 1976 – March 26, 1979
Walter David Baker
Donald Stovel Macdonald Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
September 24, 1970 – May 9, 1974
Mitchell Sharp
19th Ministry – Cabinet of Lester B. Pearson
Cabinet posts (3)
Predecessor Office Successor
Judy LaMarsh Minister of National Health and Welfare
18 December 1965 – 20 April 1968
cont'd into 20th Min.
  Minister of Amateur Sport
18 December 1965 – 20 April 1968
cont'd into 20th Min.
Michael Starr Minister of Labour
22 April 1963 – 17 December 1965
John Robert Nicholson
Special Parliamentary Responsibilities
Predecessor Title Successor
George James McIlraith Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
May 4, 1967 – April 20, 1968
Donald Stovel Macdonald
Party political offices
Preceded by
position created
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
1977–1984
Succeeded by
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Inverness—Richmond
1953–1958
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Robert MacLellan
Member of Parliament for Inverness—Richmond
1962–1968
Succeeded by
riding abolished
Preceded by
riding created
Member of Parliament for Cape Breton Highlands—Canso
1968–1984
Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada
September 16, 1984 – November 30, 1991
Succeeded by