Eric Kierans
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Eric William Kierans (February 2 1914 - May 9 2004) was a Canadian economist and politician.
After serving as director of the school of commerce at McGill University and president of the Montreal Stock Exchange, Kierans entered provincial politics in 1963. He was appointed Minister of Revenue and then Minister of Health in the Quebec Liberal government of Premier Jean Lesage at the time of the Quiet Revolution.
Kierans became president of the Quebec Liberal Party and clashed with fellow cabinet minister Rene Levesque in 1967, daring him to give up the idea of Quebec separatism or quit the Liberal Party. Levesque did quit the Liberal Party, and established the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, which became Quebec's leading sovereigntist party as the Parti Québécois.
Initially a critic of Walter L. Gordon's economic nationalism, Kierans' experience in government changed his mind, and he became a believer in the need for state intervention in the economy.
In 1968, Kierans entered federal politics running unsuccessfully for the leadership of teh Liberal Party of Canada at its 1968 leadership convention. He was elected to the House of Commons in the 1968 federal election. Kierans served as Postmaster-General and Minister of Communications in the cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He did not run for re-election in the 1972 election, partly as a result of his criticisms of Trudeau's economic policy.
He considered running for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 1975, but declined in favour of Ed Broadbent.
After leaving politics, Kierans taught at McGill and Dalhousie University. In the 1980s, he became a familiar voice appearing with Dalton Camp and Stephen Lewis as part of a weekly political panel on Peter Gzowski's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio show, Morningside.
In 1994, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
External links
- Eric Kierans, 90 (http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040510.wkier0510/BNStory/National/) Globe and Mail obituary
- Eric Kierens, 90, respected for candour (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1084227010836&call_pageid=968332188492) Toronto Star obituarypl:Eric Kierans