Michael Forrestall

John Michael William Curphey Forrestall (September 23, 1932 June 8, 2006), known as Michael Forrestall, was a Canadian politician. Forrestall served in both the Senate of Canada and House of Commons of Canada.


Michael Forrestall

Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Halifax
In office
1965–1968
Preceded byGerald Regan
Succeeded byRiding dissolved
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour
In office
1968–1988
Preceded byRiding created
Succeeded byRon MacDonald
Personal details
Born
John Michael William Curphey Forrestall

(1932-09-23)September 23, 1932
Deep Brook, Nova Scotia
DiedJune 8, 2006(2006-06-08) (aged 73)
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Political partyProgressive Conservative
ProfessionJournalist, businessman

Political career

A Nova Scotia journalist and businessman, Forrestall was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1965 federal election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was elected the MP for Dartmouth—Halifax East in the 1968 election, and remained in the House for a total of twenty-three years.

During the Brian Mulroney government, Forrestall served as a parliamentary secretary to a succession of ministers until he was defeated in what was by then the riding of Dartmouth in the 1988 federal election. Many Conservative MPs in the Maritime provinces were defeated because of the unpopularity of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in Atlantic Canada. In November 1990, Prime Minister Mulroney appointed Forrestall to the Senate of Canada, where he sat as a Progressive Conservative until February 2004, when he and most of the Tory caucus joined the new Conservative Party of Canada. Forrestall was active on a number of causes, including benefits for Canadian Merchant Navy veterans and the protection of lighthouses.

In 2000, he introduced a Private Members Bill in the Senate Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act, a bill which was also supported by Senator Pat Carney who championed it after Forrestall's death and which is close to passing in the House of Commons in 2007.[1] Forrestall's brother is the Canadian realist painter, Tom Forrestall; their sister Katherine was the mother of singer-songwriter Matthew Grimson.[2]

Death

Forrestall died on June 8, 2006 at age 73;[3] he had been admitted to a Halifax-area hospital with serious breathing problems five days earlier.[4]

References

  1. "Lighthouse Bill Protecting Our Lighthouses - The Icons of Canada's Maritime Heritage", Canadian Heritage Foundation Featured Heritage Buildings by Douglas Franklin here Archived 2008-05-13 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Matthew George Grimson: Mar 9, 1968 – Jun 19, 2018". Legacy.com.
  3. Michael Forrestall – Parliament of Canada biography
  4. "Senator in hospital". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
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