Michael Meighen
Encyclopedia
Michael Arthur Meighen, QC
(born March 25, 1939) is a Canadian
senator
, lawyer and cultural patron. A litigation and commercial lawyer who has practiced in Montreal and Toronto, he is a member of the Bars of both Ontario and Quebec.
Meighen is the son of lawyer and philanthropist Theodore Meighen
and philanthropist Peggy deLancey Robinson, and the grandson of former Prime Minister of Canada
Arthur Meighen
. Following his father's death, his mother was married to Senator Hartland Molson
from 1990 until her death in 2001.
Meighen is a longtime friend, advisor and fundraiser for former Progressive Conservative
leader and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
who appointed Meighen to the Senate in 1990 representing Ontario
. Both he and Mulroney are lawyers at the law firm of Ogilvy Renault
. They also attended law school together at Université Laval
, in Quebec City
along with other prominent Canadian political leaders such as Lucien Bouchard
. He also received a Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1960 from McGill University
, where he became a member of the prestigious Scarlet Key Honor Society
for his leadership. He also holds two honorary doctorates from the University of New Brunswick
and Mount Allison University
.
In the mid 1980s, Meighen was legal counsel to the Deschênes Commission
on War Criminals. Today, Meighen is counsel to the law firm Ogilvy Renault
, which merged with his former firm Meighen Demers in 2001, and is a member of the McGill University Board of Governors, a director of the Cundill Funds, Sentry Select Capital Corp., and J.C. Clark Ltd. of Toronto. In January 2007, Meighen was appointed as a Commissioner of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park
by the Canadian Government.
He and his wife, Kelly Meighen
(née Dillon), are benefactors of the Stratford Festival. In 2004, he became Canadian chair of the Atlantic Salmon Federation which promotes conservation efforts. He is past chair of the Stratford Festival, current chair of the T. R. Meighen Family Foundation and chancellor of the University of King's College
in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Meighen sought election to the Canadian House of Commons
in both the 1972 federal election
and 1974 in the Quebec
riding of Westmount but failed to win the seat.
More recently, Meighen was the only Conservative senator to vote in favour of same-sex marriage
. He is a member of the Banking Trade and Commerce, National Security & Defense and Fisheries committees. Meighen also chairs the Senate Sub-Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Meighen was vice-chair of the Senate Committee on National Defence and Security until February 2007 when he and the chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, fellow moderate Tory Hugh Segal
, were instructed to resign their positions by the Prime Minister's Office. Reportedly, the Prime Minister wished to promote more ideologically conservative Senators.
He has three sons, Ted, Hugh and Max. He lives in Toronto.
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(born March 25, 1939) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
, lawyer and cultural patron. A litigation and commercial lawyer who has practiced in Montreal and Toronto, he is a member of the Bars of both Ontario and Quebec.
Meighen is the son of lawyer and philanthropist Theodore Meighen
Theodore Meighen
Theodore Roosevelt Meighen was a Canadian lawyer and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of former Prime Minister Arthur Meighen and Isabel Cox.-Education:...
and philanthropist Peggy deLancey Robinson, and the grandson of former Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Arthur Meighen
Arthur Meighen
Arthur Meighen, PC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada: from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921; and from June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding...
. Following his father's death, his mother was married to Senator Hartland Molson
Hartland Molson
Hartland de Montarville Molson, was an Anglo-Quebecer statesman, Canadian Senator and a member of the prominent Molson family of brewers.-Education:...
from 1990 until her death in 2001.
Meighen is a longtime friend, advisor and fundraiser for former Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
leader and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
who appointed Meighen to the Senate in 1990 representing Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Both he and Mulroney are lawyers at the law firm of Ogilvy Renault
Ogilvy Renault
Ogilvy Renault LLP was a Canadian law firm with 450 members in offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Calgary and London, England. Ogilvy Renault offered services in the areas of business law, litigation and ADR, employment and labour law and intellectual property...
. They also attended law school together at Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
, in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
along with other prominent Canadian political leaders such as Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
. He also received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1960 from McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, where he became a member of the prestigious Scarlet Key Honor Society
Scarlet Key Honor Society
The "Scarlet Key Honor Society" is a leadership award that recognizes and celebrates the extra-curricular accomplishments of students at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
for his leadership. He also holds two honorary doctorates from the University of New Brunswick
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...
and Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University is a primarily undergraduate Canadian liberal arts and science university situated in Sackville, New Brunswick. It is located about a half hour from the regional city of Moncton and 20 minutes from the Greater Moncton International Airport...
.
In the mid 1980s, Meighen was legal counsel to the Deschênes Commission
Deschênes Commission
The Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, often referred to as the Deschênes Commission, was established by the government of Canada in February 1985 to investigate claims that Canada had become a haven for Nazi war criminals...
on War Criminals. Today, Meighen is counsel to the law firm Ogilvy Renault
Ogilvy Renault
Ogilvy Renault LLP was a Canadian law firm with 450 members in offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto, Calgary and London, England. Ogilvy Renault offered services in the areas of business law, litigation and ADR, employment and labour law and intellectual property...
, which merged with his former firm Meighen Demers in 2001, and is a member of the McGill University Board of Governors, a director of the Cundill Funds, Sentry Select Capital Corp., and J.C. Clark Ltd. of Toronto. In January 2007, Meighen was appointed as a Commissioner of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park
Roosevelt Campobello International Park
Roosevelt Campobello International Park preserves the house and surrounding landscape of the Roosevelt summer retreat where, in August 1921, future president Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis at the age of 39. The park occupies most of the southern end of Campobello Island, New...
by the Canadian Government.
He and his wife, Kelly Meighen
Kelly Meighen
Kelly Meighen, née Dillon is the wife of Senator Michael Meighen. She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston....
(née Dillon), are benefactors of the Stratford Festival. In 2004, he became Canadian chair of the Atlantic Salmon Federation which promotes conservation efforts. He is past chair of the Stratford Festival, current chair of the T. R. Meighen Family Foundation and chancellor of the University of King's College
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....
in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Meighen sought election to the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in both the 1972 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1972
The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive...
and 1974 in the Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
riding of Westmount but failed to win the seat.
More recently, Meighen was the only Conservative senator to vote in favour of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
. He is a member of the Banking Trade and Commerce, National Security & Defense and Fisheries committees. Meighen also chairs the Senate Sub-Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Meighen was vice-chair of the Senate Committee on National Defence and Security until February 2007 when he and the chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, fellow moderate Tory Hugh Segal
Hugh Segal
Hugh Segal, CM is a Canadian senator, political strategist, author, and commentator. Segal is credited with helping Stephen Harper become Prime Minister by moderating his image.-Life and career:...
, were instructed to resign their positions by the Prime Minister's Office. Reportedly, the Prime Minister wished to promote more ideologically conservative Senators.
He has three sons, Ted, Hugh and Max. He lives in Toronto.