Angus MacLean

John Angus MacLean PC OC DFC (May 15, 1914 February 15, 2000) was a politician and farmer in Prince Edward Island, Canada.


Angus MacLean

25th Premier of Prince Edward Island
In office
May 3, 1979  November 17, 1981
MonarchElizabeth II
Lieutenant GovernorGordon L. Bennett
Joseph Aubin Doiron
Preceded byW. Bennett Campbell
Succeeded byJames Lee
MLA (Assemblyman) for 4th Queens
In office
November 8, 1976  September 27, 1982
Preceded byVernon MacIntyre
Succeeded byWilbur MacDonald
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island
In office
September 25, 1976  November 7, 1981
Preceded byLloyd MacPhail (interim)
Succeeded byJames Lee
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Malpeque
In office
June 25, 1968  October 20, 1976
Preceded byDistrict created
Succeeded byDon Wood
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Queen's
In office
June 25, 1951  June 25, 1968
Preceded byJames Lester Douglas
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
Personal details
Born
John Angus MacLean

(1914-05-15)May 15, 1914
Lewes, Prince Edward Island, Canada
DiedFebruary 15, 2000(2000-02-15) (aged 85)
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Political partyProgressive Conservative
Other political
affiliations
Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island
Spouse(s)
Gwendolyn Esther Burwash
(
m. 1952)
Children4
Alma materMount Allison University
University of British Columbia
CabinetFederal:
Ministers of Fisheries (1957–1963)
Postmaster General (acting) (1962–1963) Provincial:
Minister Responsible for Cultural Affairs (1979–1980)

He was an alumnus of both Mount Allison University and the University of British Columbia with degrees in science. MacLean left farming to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, serving from 1939–1947 and achieving the rank of Wing Commander.

MacLean's bomber was shot down, and he evaded capture in Nazi-occupied Europe with the help of the Belgian escape-line Comète with Andrée De Jongh.

MacLean returned to Prince Edward Island after the war, and ran for a seat in the House of Commons of Canada as a Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate, but was defeated in the 1945 and 1949 federal elections.

He was first elected to Parliament in a 1951 by-election and held his seat continuously until he left federal politics in 1976. MacLean served in the cabinet of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker as Minister of Fisheries from 1957 until the government's defeat in the 1963 election.

In 1976, MacLean was persuaded to leave federal politics and take the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island which had languished in opposition for a decade.[1] On 8 November 1976, MacLean was elected to the provincial legislature in a by-election.[2] MacLean led the party to victory in 1979,[3] and formed a government that emphasized rural community life, banned new shopping malls and instituted a Royal Commission to examine land use and sprawl. His government cancelled the province's participation in the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in New Brunswick.

On 17 August 1981, MacLean announced his intention to resign as premier upon the election of a new party leader.[4] MacLean retired as premier on 17 November 1981,[5] when James Lee was sworn-in as his successor and did not run in the 1982 provincial election. He returned to the family farm that he redeveloped for low-intensity blueberry farming. A respected steward of the land and of rural communities, MacLean was a committed Presbyterian of Scottish descent. In 1991, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

He died in Charlottetown on February 15, 2000.[6]

References

  1. "MacLean quits after 25 years". The Globe and Mail. 25 October 1976.
  2. "Tories capture 3 of 4 seats in PEI voting". The Globe and Mail. 9 November 1976.
  3. "PEI Tory win costs Liberals last province". The Globe and Mail. 24 April 1979.
  4. "PEI leader since '79, MacLean announces plans to step down". The Globe and Mail. 18 August 1981.
  5. "James Lee sworn in as Premier of PEI". The Globe and Mail. 18 November 1981.
  6. "Former premier Angus MacLean dies". CBC News. 15 February 2000. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
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