Peter MacKay

Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC ( born September 27, 1965 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia ) is a Canadian lawyer and politician from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. He is a member of the Canadian Parliament and current Secretary of Defense. MacKay was the last leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2003 and decided together with the Chairman of the Canadian Alliance Stephen Harper, the merger of the two parties to the new Conservative Party.

Early life and career

MacKay was born as the son of the former Kabinettsmigliedes, timber merchant and lawyer Elmer MacKay. His mother is a psychologist and peace activist and lives in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where MacKay and his three siblings grew up. He attended the Horton District High School in Greenwich, Nova Scotia and graduated in 1987 his studies at Acadia University / Carleton University with a Bachelor from. He then studied law at Dalhousie University and was appointed in June 1991 in the Bar Association of Nova Scotia. Later he worked for Thyssen Henschel in Halifax, Dusseldorf and Kassel.

He was appointed Queen's Counsel in Nova Scotia, where he represented cases before all courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada in 1993. MacKay expressed publicly that the reason for his entry into politics, the frustration with the legal system was, above all, the courts would care too little about what impact a crime on the victim.

Member of Parliament

MacKay was elected in 1997 for the first time in the Canadian House of Commons. He was one of the so-called " Young Turks " who were 35 years old when they were elected and were considered as potential leaders of that could lead back to its heyday, the Conservatives. During his first term he was Fraktionsvorsitzernder the Progressive Conservative Party in Parliament. He was a member of the Committee on domestic economy, and the Committee on Justice and Human Rights. In addition, he was a member of the Committees on Canadian Heritage, Finance and the Subcommittee for Sports Studies. MacKay was re- elected in 2000 and was henceforth bertrachtet a possible successor to Joe Clark as party chairman.

He became chairman of the newly formed group of progressive - conservative and the Democratic- via representatives Group 2001. As this coalition broke up in August 2002 joined Joe Clark back as Party Leader of the Progressive Conservative and MacKay was again brought into play as a possible successor.

Party Chairman

2003 MacKay was elected at a party congress chairman, however, until the fourth ballot. This showed the disarray of the party, which emerged weakened from this congress.

Merger of the conservative parties

After criticism from within the ranks and poor survey results MacKay 2003 prompted discussions with the Chairman of the Canadian Alliance on a merger of the two parties to counteract all the possible meaninglessness of his party. The delegates of both parties agreed to the proposal to the end of the same year.

In 2004, he rejected a bid for the party presidency of the new party, however, was appointed Deputy Chairman. In the election in the same year he was re-elected again.

Minister in the Harper government

Secretary of State

As was a conservative minority government under Stephen Harper into office due to early elections, MacKay was appointed foreign minister. The dominant theme of his tenure was the Lebanon war of 2006. His statements, with whom he sided with Israel, sparked a national debate, especially among Arabs and muslismischen Canadians. During this period MacKay and the Conservative Party rejected just as the Bush administration from those required by the UN ceasefire.

Minister of Defence

In August 2007, MacKay joined due to a reshuffle in the footsteps of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor. On 6 November 2007, he remained in an attack on a military base in Afghanistan, where he was staying for talks, unharmed. 2008 MacKay announced a program with a term of 25 years to improve the equipment of the Canadian Forces. Since in this case no detailed information was known, nor the existence of such was claimed, was an early election expected. These were then announced in August of the same year. In this election, MacKay was re-elected with 46 % of votes. In November 2009, a torture scandal in Afghanistan was known, as a result, the opposition called for MacKay's resignation.

In January 2012, MacKay married the former beauty queen Nazanin Afshin - Jam.