Erik Nielsen
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The Honourable Erik Nielsen PC, DFC, QC |
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|---|---|
| 3rd Deputy Prime Minister of Canada | |
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In office 17 September 1984 – 29 June 1986 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Jean Chrétien |
| Succeeded by | Don Mazankowski |
| Minister of National Defence | |
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In office 27 February 1985 – 29 June 1986 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | Robert Coates |
| Succeeded by | Perrin Beatty |
| President of the Privy Council | |
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In office 17 September 1984 – 26 February 1985 |
|
| Prime Minister | Brian Mulroney |
| Preceded by | André Ouellet |
| Succeeded by | Ray Hnatyshyn |
| Minister of Public Works | |
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In office 4 June 1979 – 2 March 1980 |
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| Prime Minister | Joe Clark |
| Preceded by | André Ouellet |
| Succeeded by | Paul Cosgrove |
| Member of Parliament for Yukon |
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In office 16 December 1957 – 16 January 1987 |
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| Preceded by | James Aubrey Simmons |
| Succeeded by | Audrey McLaughlin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Erik Hersholt Nielsen 24 February 1924 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Died | 4 September 2008 (aged 84) Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Pamela June Nielsen (–1969) Shelley Nielsen (1983–2008) |
| Profession | Barrister, Attorney |
Erik Hersholt Nielsen PC DFC QC (February 24, 1924 – September 4, 2008) was a Canadian politician, and longtime Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Yukon. He was brother of actor Leslie Nielsen.
Born in Regina, Nielsen was elected to parliament in late 1957 (Nielsen lost in the 1957 federal election, but the result was controverted and Nielsen won the resulting byelection) and remained an MP without interruption for 30 years. He was a backbench MP during the Diefenbaker government but became prominent during the Conservative Party's long period in Opposition during the 1960s and 1970s joining the shadow cabinet in 1964. In 1978, he ran for the leadership of the newly formed Yukon Progressive Conservative Party as it prepared for the territory's first partisan elections but was defeated by Hilda Watson by one vote.
With the 1979 federal election, the Tories formed government for the first time in over 15 years and Nielsen was appointed Minister of Public Works in the short-lived minority government of Prime Minister Joe Clark. After the Tories were defeated in the 1980 election, he served as Opposition House Leader from 1981 until 1983, and engineered the "Bell Ringing Affair" to protest the Liberal government's omnibus energy bill. The business of the Canadian House of Commons ground to a halt for three weeks because the Opposition refused to respond to the bell summoning Members of Parliament to come to the chamber to vote.
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