Джон Норман Маккей: Биография канадского политика

Canadian politician

John Norman McKay (born 21 March 1948) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Scarborough Guildwood. McKay was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 during the government of Paul Martin, then served as an opposition MP and critic until November 2015 during the government of Stephen Harper. He currently serves as Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence; Chair of the Canadian Section of the Canada United States Permanent Joint Board on Defence; and Co Chair of the Canada United States Inter Parliamentary Group. McKay was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 12 December 2003, and carries the designations of Honourable and Privy Councillor (PC) for life. Born in Toronto, Ontario, McKay has lived most of his life in Scarborough district of Toronto. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto at Scarborough and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen's University. He attends an evangelical church in Toronto. After practising private law, he was elected to represent Scarborough East in 1997 and was re elected in 2000. In 2003 the Scarborough East riding was abolished and McKay went on to win election to the new Scarborough—Guildwood riding in 2004. McKay has been re elected in each subsequent elections for the riding, most recently in 2021.

A lifelong resident of Scarborough, McKay went to five of the area's public schools. He attended and graduated at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute. McKay attended the University of Toronto Scarborough campus where he earned his Bachelor of Arts. He later earned his Bachelor of Laws from Queen's University. After completing his degree he went into private practice as a real estate attorney, assuming positions of leadership in the legal community. Most notably, he was the President of the Durham Bar Association, an Executive Member of County and District Law Association, Real Estate Executive of the Canadian Bar Association, and a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada's Committee on Title Insurance.

McKay was first elected to the House of Commons in June 1997 as a Liberal during the general election of the 36th Canadian Parliament. McKay was twice elected to the former electoral district of Scarborough East, in 1997 and 2000, with 54.3 and 59.8 percent of the vote respectively. After 2000, the riding of Scarborough East was abolished and became Scarborough Guildwood, which acquired parts of Scarborough Southwest and Scarborough Centre. McKay is as of 2015 the Member of Parliament for Scarborough Guildwood and was elected as the representative for the riding in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021 with 57.5, 53.3, 50.2, 36.2, 60.0, 61, and again with 61 percent of the vote respectively.

From 2003 to 2006, McKay served as Parliamentary Secretary to then Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. Paul Martin, during his tenure as Prime Minister, implemented a number of reforms aimed at making parliament more democratic. One of these reforms gave greater authority to MPs serving as Parliamentary Secretary to a Minister, in contrast to their previous role that had been largely clerical with little purview over government policy. To this end, McKay was given ministerial responsibility for the improvement of partnerships between the public and private sectors. During the 2003–2006 period the Ministry of Finance tabled two consecutive balanced budgets and implemented its productivity strategy, aimed at improving economic growth through innovation, elimination of domestic trade barriers, competitive taxes, and improved infrastructure among other initiatives.

Between 2015 and 2019 McKay served as the Parliamentary Secretary to then Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan.

McKay was the vice chairman of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (2001–2003), Member of the Standing Committee of Finance (2004–2011), Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations (2011–2012), and vice chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence (2011–2013). He was a member of the Standing Committee on Environment from 2013 to 2015. Currently (April 2019), he serves as Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security; Chair of the Canadian Section of the Canada United States Permanent Joint Board on Defence; and vice president of the Canada United Kingdom Inter Parliamentary Association, along with membership in several other groups and committees.

In 2002 McKay introduced Bill C 260, an amendment to the already existing Hazardous Products Act, which forces tobacco manufacturers to produce fire safe cigarettes in response to the threat of fire posed by cigarettes left unattended. The Bill requires that cigarettes meet regulated ignition propensity standards (RIPs) by law and provide evidence to the Minister of Health of compliance with the regulation. As of 1 October 2005, all cigarettes in Canada are manufactured to self extinguish before burning to the cigarette filter, thus reducing the risk that it will start a fire when forgotten or when the smoker falls asleep. Prior to the C 260, the Canadian Ministry of Health estimated that unattended cigarettes resulted in 2085 fires, 70 deaths and $28.1 million in damages to property. Health Canada further estimated that RIP cigarettes would prevent 34 68% of fire loss damages. After C 260 received Royal Assent in 2003, Canada became the first country to introduce nationwide ignition propensity regulations on cigarettes, and has become an example used by advocacy groups in other nations for the imposition of such regulations.

On 26 February 2013, McKay tabled Bill C 474, or "The Sunshine Bill," borrowing from former U. S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Bradeis’ famous phrase on transparency, 'sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.' Responding to allegations of corrupt corporate payments made to foreign entities, the bill would have required Canadian extractive sector companies to submit an audited, annual transparency report to the Government of Canada disclosing all payments to foreign governments. The bill would also have given the Government of Canada the power to conduct investigations of payments to foreign governments, as well as levy a fine of up to $5 million and allow for complaints to be tried in a court with jurisdiction over the company. According to McKay, "the Sunshine Bill" was modelled on the United States’ Cardin Lugar amendment (2016) to the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act that required oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments or potentially be de listed from U. S. stock exchanges. Said McKay in the House of Commons on 24 May 2013: "This is serious stuff. The common pattern is the conviction gets registered, the officials get fired, the stock gets hammered, so there is a bunch of unhappy people and the most unhappy of all are the shareholders. All of us are shareholders in many of these companies because they are all on the TSX and our Canada pension plan has large holdings on many of these companies." He continued in a speech on 31 January 2014: "The best companies operate at the highest ethical standards, but they are frankly helpless when less ethical companies bribe their way into lucrative concessions (i)t frustrates the CEOs who want to do the right thing. It makes him or her unnecessarily vulnerable and, frankly, it trashes Canada's reputation." The Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act requires, oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign entities. Penalties for offenses under the Act include fines and the potential for summary conviction.

In October of 2018 McKay participated in the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights study on child labour and modern slavery that resulted in A Call to Action: Ending the Use of All Forms of Child Labour in Supply Chains. The Committee released a set of recommendations for the Government of Canada on how to reduce child labour in supply chains. The Committee concludes the report by calling on the Government of Canada to take action against the use of child and forced labour in supply chains, arguing that taking concerted international action to implement the recommendations of the subcommittee is the best way to achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating all forms of child labour worldwide. As a result of the report, the Government of Canada began to explore legislation to stop child and forced labour in supply chains.

Bill C 423, or The Modern Slavery Act, was introduced by McKay in December 2018 following the committee report released in October saying "(t)his bill gives an opportunity for consumers to know whether, in fact, anywhere along the supply chain of the product they are buying or the service they are using, slave or forced labour conditions applied." The purpose of the Modern Slavery Act is to implement Canada's international commitment to confirm supply chain transparency and contribute to the fight against modern slavery. The Act requires companies that have assets over CAD $20 million and revenue over CAD $40 million to ensure that their supply chains are transparent and free of goods produced by slavery if they wish to do business in Canada. If passed, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness through the Canadian Border Services Agency could impose an import ban on goods or materials partially or fully produced by forced labour. Entities found to have imported tainted goods can be subjected to a fine of up to CAD $250,000. This is in addition to the reputational damages, which often far exceeds the costs of fines or import bans. However, Bill C 423 did not proceed in the House of Commons due to the 2019 Federal Election.

Following the 2019 Federal Election, McKay continued his work on modern slavery legislation with the All Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery as a co chair. Senator Julie Miville Deschene, a co chair of the APPG, introduced S 216 into the Senate in February 2020. S 216 was initially introduced into the House of Commons as McKay's Private Members Bill C 423. However, like its predecessor, S 216 did not advance due to the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. During the 2021 Federal Election, the Liberal and Conservative Parties of Canada outlined platform commitments for supply chain legislation to end modern slavery in Canadian supply chains. The APPG is expected to introduce a third version of the bill once the 44th parliament resumes.

From 1998 to 2000, McKay represented the Federal Government as a board member on the Rouge Park Alliance, a group of government representatives and community leaders dedicated to the conservation, ecological protection, and enhancement of the Rouge River watershed and lakefront areas (The former riding of Scarborough East bordered on the Rouge River area). McKay has also helped with efforts to extend the Waterfront Trail along parts of the Scarborough shoreline and enhance its public accessibility.

McKay is a leading social conservative in the Liberal Party. He strongly opposed his own party's bill which legalised same sex marriage in Canada in 2005. McKay is a past board member of the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.