John Buchanan

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John MacLennan Buchanan, PC, QC (born April 22, 1931) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as Premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.

Buchanan was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He graduated from Mount Allison University in 1954 with a Bachelor of Science Degree and an Engineering Certificate. He then went on to study at Dalhousie Law School and after graduating in 1958 entered the practise of law where he was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1972.

He was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1967. He became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia in 1971, and became Premier of Nova Scotia in the 1978 provincial election. His highwater mark came in the 1984 election, when he led his party to victory, capturing 42 of the 52 seats in the legislature.

Buchanan played a large part in the constitution patriation as a member of the "Gang of Eight," and would play an even larger part as one of Brian Mulroney's top allies during the Meech Lake Accord negotiations. Controversy ensued when he said that if Meech Lake failed, that Nova Scotia should consider joining the United States. He would backtrack on his comments the next day after considerable outcry.

In 1990, he left provincial politics and was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Mulroney. This was highly unpopular in most of the country, as Buchanan was under investigation for corruption charges; the appointment was part of a large influx of appointments for the upcoming Goods and Services Tax vote. The Ottawa Citizen called the appointment "the Mulroney government's most contemptuous and appalling act of patronage." Buchanan had offered some of Nova Scotia's Senate seats to the Western provinces during Meech Lake negotiations, and if his offer had been accepted, there would not have been a seat for him.

Buchanan sat as a Progressive Conservative senator until 2004, when the party merged with the Canadian Alliance. He sat as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada from 2004 until his retirement at age 75 on April 22, 2006.

He married Mavis Forsyth in September 1954, and they had five children: Murdoch Buchanan, Travis Buchanan, Nicola Buchanan, Natalie Buchanan, Natasha Buchanan.

[edit] External links

• Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament