Heath MacQuarrie

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Heath Nelson MacQuarrie (September 18, 1919, Victoria, Prince Edward Island – January 2, 2002) was a Canadian politician, teacher, scholar, and writer. MacQuarrie described himself as a Red Tory, using the term in the title of his autobiography Red Tory Blues.

During the October Crisis of 1970, he agonized over the implementation of the War Measures Act, and was prepared to vote against it, but relented for the sake of keeping the Tory caucus united behind Robert Stanfield. Writing in retrospect, MacQuarrie described his vote in favour of the Act as "fundamentally wrong".[1]

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 1957 federal election that brought John Diefenbaker to power. He served as a Member of Parliament for twenty-two consecutive years, until he was elevated to the Canadian Senate in 1979 on the advice of Joe Clark. He sat in the upper house for a further fifteen years, retiring at the mandatory age of 75 in 1994.

He was publicly loyal to Clark's successor, Brian Mulroney, but privately disagreed with the government on several occasions, once saying during a caucus meeting, "You know, a lot of people think I have a prominent nose because of my enjoyment of a certain beverage. Well, that's all nonsense. I got it that way by having to hold it so often while voting for some of Mulroney's bills."[2]

MacQuarrie remained active following his retirement from the Senate in 1994, by contributing a column to the Hill Times and to newspapers in his home province of Prince Edward Island.

MacQuarrie was educated at Prince of Wales College, the University of Manitoba, the University of British Columbia and McGill University. He earned his doctorate at McGill, choosing for his thesis topic Robert Borden. He lectured at Brandon University and at Mount Allison University, in economics, political science and international relations.[1]

He edited and wrote the introduction to the published edition of Sir Robert Borden's diaries. An admirer of the World War I-era prime minister, MacQuarrie considered Borden to be the architect of Canadian independence.

Heath MacQuarrie died at the age of 82. He was survived by his wife, Isabel and three children: Heather, Flora and Iain.

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by
Neil Matheson, Liberal		 Member of Parliament from Queen's
1957-1968		 Succeeded by
District abolished
Preceded by
District created		 Member of Parliament from Hillsborough
1968-1979		 Succeeded by
Tom McMillan, Prog. Cons.

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Conservative Party (1965)
  • Robert Laird Borden: His Memoirs (1969, 2 vols.) (ed.)
  • Canada and the Third World (1976)
  • Canada and the Palestinians, 1947-1982 (1982), ISBN 0-88628-014-1
  • Red Tory Blues: A Political Memoir (1992), ISBN 0-8020-5958-9

[edit] Sources

[edit] References

  1. ^ Red Tory Blues, by Heath MacQuarrie, University of Toronto Press, 1991.