Eric Kierans

The Honourable
Eric Kierans
PC OC
MLA for Montréal–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
In office
1963–1966
Preceded by Paul Earl
Succeeded by None, district abolished
MLA / MNA for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
In office
1966–1968
Preceded by None, district created
Succeeded by William Tetley
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Duvernay
In office
1968–1972
Preceded by District was created in 1966
Succeeded by Yves Demers
Personal details
Born Eric William Kierans
(1914-02-02)February 2, 1914
Montreal, Quebec
Died May 9, 2004(2004-05-09) (aged 90)
Montreal, Quebec
Nationality Canadian
Political party Liberal, NDP
Cabinet Quebec:
Minister of Revenue (1963–1965)
Minister of Health (1965–1966)
Federal:
Postmaster General (1968–1971)
Minister of Communications (1969–1971)

Eric William Kierans, PC OC (February 2, 1914 – May 9, 2004) was a Canadian economist and politician.

Life and career

Born in Montreal, Kierans grew up in the working-class Saint-Henri neighbourhood of Montreal; his father worked at Canadian Car and Foundry and his mother came to Canada as a domestic. After serving as director of the school of commerce at McGill University and president of the Montreal Stock Exchange, Kierans entered provincial politics in 1963. Nicknamed the "Socialist Millionaire", he was appointed Minister of Revenue and then Minister of Health in the Quebec Liberal government of Premier Jean Lesage at the time of the Quiet Revolution.

Kierans became president of the Quebec Liberal Party and clashed with former cabinet minister and colleague René Lévesque in 1967, daring him to give up the idea of Quebec separatism or quit the Liberal Party. Lévesque later quit the Liberal Party and established the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which became Quebec's leading sovereigntist party as the Parti Québécois.

Initially a critic of Walter L. Gordon's economic nationalism, Kierans' experience in government changed his mind, and he became a believer in the need for state intervention in the economy.

In 1968, Kierans entered federal politics running unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada at its 1968 leadership convention. He was elected to the House of Commons in the 1968 federal election. Kierans served as Postmaster-General and Minister of Communications in the cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He did not run for re-election in the 1972 election, partly as a result of his criticisms of Trudeau's economic policy.

Kierans called for Canada to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1969. He argued that the organization might have served a useful purpose on its initial formation, but had since become anachronistic.[1] Some others with the Trudeau government agreed with Kierans, while others strongly disagreed. The Trudeau government did not ultimately withdraw Canada from NATO but reduced Canada's troop deployment.

He considered running for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 1975 but declined in favour of Ed Broadbent.

After leaving politics, Kierans taught at McGill and Dalhousie University. In the 1980s, he became a familiar voice appearing with Dalton Camp and Stephen Lewis as part of a weekly political panel on Peter Gzowski's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio show, Morningside.

In 1994, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

References

  1. ↑ Winnipeg Free Press, 27 January 1969, p. 9.
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