Peter MacKay

MacKay was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the son of PC cabinet minister Elmer MacKay[?].

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons on June 2, 1997 for Pictou-Antigonish-Guysborough, a riding in northeastern Nova Scotia and served as Justice Critic and House Leader.

In an arrangement described some angry PC Party insiders as "a deal with the devil," MacKay won the party leadership on May 31, 2003 with the help of controversial leadership candidate David Orchard[?]. Mackay promised a revue of the NAFTA free=trade agreement, and also promised that no deal would be made to split up Canada between the tories and Canadian Alliance. The deal created a storm of bad publicity after Mackay win, but in reality it has very few real effects, except to have won Mr. Orchard a great deal of publicity.

He is engaged to Lisa Michelle Merrithew[?], daughter of former Conservative party Cabinet Minister (1984-1993), Gerald Stairs Merrithew.