Early Life and Career
MacKay was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. His father, Elmer MacKay, is a former PC cabinet minister, lumber businessman, and lawyer. His mother, Macha MacKay (née Delap), is a psychologist and peace activist; through her, MacKay is descended from James Alexander, 3rd Earl of Caledon and James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. MacKay grew up in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with his three siblings. He graduated from Horton High School in Greenwich, Nova Scotia, and then went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Acadia University/Carleton University in 1987, MacKay then studied Law at Dalhousie University and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in June 1991. He worked for Thyssen Henschel, steel producer, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in Düsseldorf and Kassel, Germany.
In 1993, MacKay accepted an appointment as Crown Attorney for the Central Region of Nova Scotia. He prosecuted cases at all levels, including youth and provincial courts as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. MacKay has publicly stated that the major impetus for his entry into federal politics was his frustrations with the shortcomings in the justice system, particularly his perception that the courts do not care about the impact crime has on victims.
Read more about this topic: Peter MacKay
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“I do not know that I meet, in any of my Walks, Objects which move both my Spleen and Laughter so effectually, as those Young Fellows ... who rise early for no other Purpose but to publish their Laziness.”
—Richard Steele (16721729)
“We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.”
—Sigmund Freud (18561939)
“He was at a starting point which makes many a mans career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)