Kathryn Blaze Carlson profiles the Defence Minister.
Mr. Pearson said he believes that Mr. MacKay’s “hands are tied,” and that if the minister was “free to be less partisan, he would.” He said the minister last year reached out to discuss future military deployments — proving Mr. MacKay’s willingness, he said, to include opposition MPs in his decision-making. “If we were in a different kind of House of Commons, under Brian Mulroney or Joe Clark, for example, I think Peter MacKay would be more in his element,” Mr. Pearson said. “I think he would come into his own.”