Federal Government
He resigned from his position on April 6, 1979 to run for the federal House of Commons, and in the 1979 election narrowly defeated former provincial PC leader Sidney Spivak in Winnipeg—Fort Garry. He was re-elected in the 1980 election, and became a Crown minister in the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He served first as Minister of Employment and Immigration, and then as Minister of Transport.
In the Liberal defeat in the 1984 election, Axworthy was one of only two Liberals west of Ontario to be elected (the other being then Liberal leader John Turner). Axworthy played an important role in opposition, forcefully attacking the government of Brian Mulroney. He was an especially vocal critic of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement.
Read more about this topic: Lloyd Axworthy
Famous quotes related to federal government:
“[M]y conception of liberty does not permit an individual citizen or a group of citizens to commit acts of depredation against nature in such a way as to harm their neighbors and especially to harm the future generations of Americans. If many years ago we had had the necessary knowledge, and especially the necessary willingness on the part of the Federal Government, we would have saved a sum, a sum of money which has cost the taxpayers of America two billion dollars.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)