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MacEachen was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons on August 8, 1953, as a Liberal under the leadership of Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent. He was re-elected in 1957 but was defeated in the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker sweep of 1958 -- the largest federal electoral victory in the history of Canada.
After a brief stint teaching at his alma materAlma mater is a term of academia derived from the Latin term for "nourishing mother. It is frequently used in the English language in reference to the university or college a person has attended. In American English, it is also in reference to a high scho, St. Francis Xavier University, MacEachen was re-elected to parliamentParliament Hill's Centre Block houses both the Commons and Senate. The Parliament of Canada (in French: le Parlement du Canada is Canada's legislative branch, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. According to Section 17 of the Constitution Act, 1 in the 1962 general electionResults National n. not applicable the party was not recognized in the previous election x less than 0. 005% of the popular vote Canadian federal elections. and was re-elected in 1963Results National n. not applicable the party was not recognized in the previous election x less than 0. 005% of the popular vote Canadian federal elections., 1965National results n. not applicable the party was not recognized in the previous election x less than 0. 005% of the popular vote Canadian federal elections., 1968In the Canadian federal election of June 25, 1968, the Liberal Party won a majority government under its new leader, Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau, who was a relative unknown until he was appointed to the cabinet by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, had won a s, 1972The Canadian federal election of 1972 resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats in the Canadian House of Commons, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives. A further 48 seats were won by othe, 1974, 1979 and 1980.
When Lester B. Pearson formed a government in 1963, he appointed MacEachen to cabinet as Minister of Labour. This was the beginning of a lengthy career in cabinet which would see MacEachen serve in several portfolios under prime ministers Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and John Turner. In addition to Labour, MacEachen held the following portfolios: National Health and Welfare , Manpower and Immigration , Privy Council , External Affairs and Finance.
In addition to his ministerial responsibilities MacEachen served as Government House Leader on three occasions and became the first Deputy Prime Minister of Canada in 1977 under Trudeau, a post he held whenever Trudeau was in office from that time until his retirement.
In 1968, MacEachen contested the leadership of the Liberal Party but did not do well largely because of a second Nova Scotian on the ballot. He was courted to run for leader again in 1984 but opted to support Turner, the eventual winner.
In 1979, when the Liberals lost the election to Joe Clark's Tories, MacEachen served as interim Leader of the Opposition when Trudeau announced he would retire from politics.
Turner named him to the Senate of Canada where he became Leader of the Government in the Senate. Although he was only in this position briefly, as Turner lost the 1984 election, he started the practice of allowing opposition senators to chair a number of committees, a practice that continues today.
From 1984- 1991 he served as leader of the opposition in the Senate, where he was regarded as the primary opposition to Brian Mulroney's first term due to Mulroney's substantial majority in the Commons, with an opposition that was spread nearly equally between Turner's Liberals and Ed Broadbent's NDP. In 1988 MacEachen blocked the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement from passing in the Senate, resulting in that being the sole issue of the 1988 election.
He retired from the Senate in 1996 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 and became a one-dollar-per-year adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
St. Francis Xavier holds the annual Allan J. MacEachen lecture in his honour.
| Preceded by: (position created 1977) |
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada | Succeeded by: Jean Chrétien |
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