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 February 2, 1914 Montreal, Quebec |
| Died | May 9, 2004 (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.
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 , 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.
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