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Donald Frank Mazankowski, PC, CC, AOE, politician, Member of Parliament, cabinet member, Treasury Board president (born 27 July 1935 in Viking, AB; died 27 October 2020). Don Mazankowski was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Vegreville, Alberta, from 1968 to 1993. After chairing the Progressive Conservative caucus from 1973 to 1976, Mazankowski held multiple cabinet posts in the governments of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. Most notably, he served as deputy prime minister (1986–93), Treasury Board president (1987–88) and minister of finance (1991–93). Known as a champion of health care in Canada, Mazankowski was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence.
Career Highlights
After a period as president and general manager of an automobile and farm machinery dealership, Don Mazankowski was elected to the House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative MP for Vegreville, Alberta, in 1968. Bright and popular, he chaired the PC caucus from 1973 to 1976. From 1979 to 1980, he served as minister of transport and minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board in the government of Joe Clark. Mazankowski won the respect of the media, opposition politicians and his officials. He registered a series of solid achievements, notably in the area of rail transportation.
Mazankowski was again a popular and successful minister of transport from 1984 to 1986 before becoming Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s deputy prime minister and government house leader in the House of Commons in 1986. In August 1987, Mazankowski was given additional responsibility as president of the Treasury Board. In 1988, he became minister of agriculture and was minister of finance from 1991 to 1993, where he continued the policies of his predecessor, Michael Wilson. Sometimes referred to within his caucus as the “Minister of Everything,” Mazankowski also chaired the cabinet operations committee and played a key role in many important files, including the negotiation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. (See also Canada and NAFTA.)
Retirement
Don Mazankowski retired on 7 June 1993 to join numerous corporate boards including Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. and Great West Life Assurance Company. He was also founding chair of the Institute of Health Economics, chair of the Canadian Genetics Diseases Network, chair of Alberta premier Ralph Klein’s Advisory Council on Health, and a member of the board of governors at the University of Alberta.
Honours
On 18 June 1993, Don Mazankowski was given the honour of receiving the title “Right Honourable,” which is generally reserved for prime ministers, governors general and Supreme Court justices. Mazankowski was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000; he was promoted to Companion in 2013. He was also inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2003. In 2005, the new Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton was named in his honour. Mazankowski’s papers are held at Library and Archives Canada.
