Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay
Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QCis a lawyer and politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defence, and Minister of Foreign Affairsin the Cabinet of Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. MacKay was the final leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and he agreed to merge the party with Stephen Harper's Canadian Alliance in 2003, forming the Conservative...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth27 September 1965
CountryCanada
In fact, I'm told more who came from the other side of the legacy party (were affected), so this isn't something that is along party divisions or affiliations, it has nothing to do with that.
Before the government moves ahead with this legislation, Parliament needs to ensure that any new surveillance powers are complemented with adequate judicial oversight,
I learned a long time ago that you never say 'never', but this is all about timing and it's all about the commitment that I've given to the party and to the leader and to my constituents,
It's political blame, that's what is important here. Canadians will get their ultimate say and they will be the ones who will render a final judgment on Mr. Martin and the Liberal party. There's no separating the two.
They'll sign deals with the NDP. They'll buy members of Parliament. They'll make appointments. These are the things that caused the Parliament to descend into the type of acrimony we saw in the last session.
There's a very small window of opportunity and I think the government is going to take that opportunity away by ensuring that we don't have anything that would possibly trigger a vote of confidence or could be construed as such.
There's a lot of possibility that there could be a motion (on Thursday) that could be tantamount to confidence.
I don't think we're ever going to be in a position where we can say this is the template, this is the checklist, that must be met [for intervention].
My gut tells me and continues to tell me that the Conservative party is on a road back to government.
It's not as if our party has a leadership campaign underway.
We have to stress our conservative credentials and emphasize that we are the natural, national alternative to the Liberals. Clearly the Alliance has shown it can't break out of its Western box. The Alliance is at single-digit support in three quarters of the country.
I want to lead the Progressive Conservative Party, a party that will promote true conservative values and principles. I can tell you right now, I am not the merger candidate. I am not interested in institutional marriages with other parties.
If the United States leads a multinational force into Iraq without United Nations backing, Canada should fight beside its neighbour. We've gone from being a middle power to a muddle power on this one.
We have to be focused on growing the party and getting young people to see us as a viable option.