Dr. Michael J. L. Kirby, Ph.D, MA, B.Sc, (born August 5, 1941) is a Canadian politician. He sat
in the Canadian Senate as a Liberal
representing Nova Scotia.
Born in Montreal, Kirby earned a Bachelor of
Science and Master of Arts in Mathematics from Dalhousie University and a Doctor of Philosophy in
Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University.
In the 1960s Kirby was a professor of Business Administration and Public Administration at
Dalhousie and also taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Kent.
Kirby worked as principal assistant to the Premier of Nova Scotia
Gerald Regan from 1970 to 1973
and Assistant Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1974 to 1976. He served
as President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy from 1977 to 1980.
Kirby returned to public service in the 1980's as Secretary to the Canadian Cabinet
for Federal-Provincial Relations and Deputy Clerk of the Queen's Privy Council
for Canada. As such he participated in the federal-provincial negotiations that led to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. He was elevated to the Canadian Senate by Pierre Trudeau in January 1984 weeks
before the prime minister announced his intention to retire.
He remained active in the private sector serving as vice-president of Goldfarb Consultants from 1984 to 1994 at a period when the polling firm was often employed by the
Liberal Party of Canada. Kirby also served as a backroom advisor to the Liberals
and frequently appeared on television as a political pundit during the 1980s and 1990's.
Since 1999, Kirby has been chair of the Senate Social Affairs Committee and was the principal author of a 2002 report by the
committee on, Canada's health care system. The report urged greater private sector involvement in health care delivery and was
seen as a rival to the royal commission report on health care released by
Roy Romanow. Kirby was criticised for having a conflict of interest in his role in writing
the report due to his service on the boards of directors of various private health care companies.
On August 15, 2006, Kirby announced his resignation from the
Canadian Senate effective on October 31, 2006. [1] His retirement came nearly a decade before his mandatory
retirement in August 2016. [2]
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
