Michael J. L. Kirby | |
---|---|
Senator for South Shore, Nova Scotia | |
In office 1984–2006 | |
Appointed by | Pierre Trudeau |
Personal details | |
Born | Montreal,Quebec,Canada | August 5,1941
Political party | Liberal |
Committees | Chair,Standing Committee on Banking,Trade and Commerce (1994–1999) Chair,Standing Committee on Social Affairs,Science and Technology (1999–2006) |
Michael J. L. Kirby OC (born August 5,1941) is a Canadian politician. He sat in the Senate of Canada as a Liberal representing Nova Scotia. He is the former chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Born in Montreal,Kirby earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in mathematics from Dalhousie University where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity,and,also a Doctor of Philosophy in applied mathematics from Northwestern University.
In the 1960s Kirby was a professor of business administration and public administration at Dalhousie and also taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Kent.
Kirby worked as principal assistant to the Premier of Nova Scotia Gerald Regan from 1970 to 1973 and Assistant Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1974 to 1976. He served as President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy from 1977 to 1980.
Kirby chaired the federal Task Force on Atlantic Fisheries which was established to recommend how to achieve and maintain a viable Atlantic fishing industry. It issued its report in 1982. [1]
Kirby returned to public service in the 1980s as Secretary to the Canadian Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations and Deputy Clerk of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. As such he participated in the federal-provincial negotiations that led to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. He was elevated to the Canadian Senate by Pierre Trudeau in January 1984 weeks before the prime minister announced his intention to retire.
He remained active in the private sector serving as vice-president of Goldfarb Consultants from 1984 to 1994 at a period when the polling firm was often employed by the Liberal Party of Canada. Kirby also served as a backroom advisor to the Liberals and frequently appeared on television as a political pundit during the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2001,Kirby joined Chapters' board of directors. [2]
Kirby was the principal author of a 2002 report by the committee on Canada's health care system. The report urged greater private sector involvement in health care delivery and was seen as a rival to the royal commission report on health care released by Roy Romanow. Kirby was criticised for having a conflict of interest in his role in writing the report due to his service on the boards of directors of various private health care companies.
On August 15,2006,Kirby announced his resignation from the Canadian Senate effective on October 31,2006. [3] His retirement came nearly a decade before his mandatory retirement in August 2016. [4]
In 2007,he was asked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to become the first Chair of the newly created Mental Health Commission of Canada,a not-for-profit organization that was created in response to his 2003 Senate report on mental health. [5]
In 2008,he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. [6]
Kirby founded Partners for Mental Health [7] and served as its first chair. The organization closed in 2017. [8]
There is a Michael Kirby fonds at Library and Archives Canada. [9]
The Senate of Canada is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons,they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada.
Allan Joseph MacEachen 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.
Scott A. Brison is a former Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. Brison served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Kings-Hants from the 1997 federal election until July 2000,then from November 2000 to February 2019. He was the first openly gay MP to sit as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 2003,just days after the Progressive Conservatives and the more socially conservative Canadian Alliance voted to merge into the Conservative Party of Canada,Brison crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party.
A. Anne McLellan is a Canadian politician and academic who served as the ninth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006. She was a cabinet minister in the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin,and represented Edmonton in the House of Commons of Canada. She also held the positions of solicitor general,minister of health,and minister of justice of Canada.
Robert Lorne Stanfield was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1967 to 1976.
Donald Frank Mazankowski was a Canadian politician who served as a cabinet minister under prime ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney,including as deputy prime minister under Mulroney.
Joseph James Guillaume Paul Martin,often referred to as Paul Martin Sr.,was a noted Canadian politician and diplomat. He was the father of Paul Martin,who served as 21st prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School,it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada. It adopted its current name in October 2009 after receiving a $20-million endowment from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich.
Jean-Luc Pépin was a Canadian academic,politician and Cabinet minister.
Marc Lalonde was a Canadian politician who served as a cabinet minister,political staffer and lawyer. A lifelong member of the Liberal Party,he is best known for having served in various positions of government from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s,including serving as the Minister of Finance.
James Colin Ramsey Kenny is a former Canadian Senator. A member of the Liberal Party,he was appointed to the Senate in 1984 by Pierre Trudeau to represent the Rideau region of Ontario.
James S. Cowan is a Canadian lawyer,a senator from Nova Scotia from 2005 to 2017,and was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 2008 to 2015 and leader of the Independent Liberal caucus until June 15,2016. Cowan was a lawyer and a partner at the legal firm Stewart McKelvey from 1967 until 2020. He retired from the senate on January 22,2017,having reached the mandatory retirement age for senators.
George J. Furey is a Canadian politician who served as the speaker of the Senate of Canada from 2015 to 2023. Furey was appointed as a senator from Newfoundland and Labrador in 1999 and was the longest-serving member of the Senate at the time of his retirement.
Michael Holcombe Wilson was a Canadian businessman,politician and diplomat who served as minister of finance from 1984 to 1991 and minister of international trade from 1991 to 1993 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Augustus Irvine Barrow was a Canadian chartered accountant and Senator.
Robert B. Oliphant is a Canadian politician and a United Church minister. He served in the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Don Valley West from 2008 to 2011. He returned to office after re-election in 2015 and subsequently in 2019 and 2021.
Stephen Greene is a Canadian politician and an independent member of the Senate of Canada. He was appointed on the advice of Stephen Harper to the Senate on January 2,2009,and sat as a Conservative Senator until May 2017,when Senate Leader Larry Smith removed him for his support for Senate reform proposals put forth by the governing Liberal Party. Greene then decided to sit as an "Independent Reform" Senator.
Majid Jowhari is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament for the electoral district of Richmond Hill in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015. He is a member of the Liberal Party. He was the first federal nominee and candidate of Iranian heritage. Jowhari is the first Iranian-born member of Parliament of Iranian heritage. Jowhari is one of the first two Iranian-Canadian members of parliament,with the other being Ali Ehsassi.
Stanley Paul Kutcher is a Canadian Senator and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on 12 December 2018.