Background
He was born in Ontario, but was raised in Manitoba. Pickersgill was born in Wyecombe, Ontario on June 23, 1905.
He was born in Ontario, but was raised in Manitoba. Pickersgill was born in Wyecombe, Ontario on June 23, 1905.
He was educated at the University of Manitoba and the University of Oxford, and taught history in Winnipeg.
He was the Clerk for the Canadian Government"s Privy Council in the early 1950s. He was first elected to federal parliament in 1953, representing a Newfoundland electoral district, and serving in prime minister Louis Saint Laurent"s cabinet. In the mid-1960s, he served again in cabinet, this time under prime minister Lester B. Pearson.
He resigned from parliament in 1967 to become the president of the Canadian Transport Commission.
He was awarded the highest level of the Order of Canada in 1970. In his later years he wrote books on Canadian history.
He died in 1997 in Ottawa. His family moved to Ashern, Manitoba when he was a young child.
He is the older brother of Frank Pickersgill.
He joined the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa, and was soon working at the Prime Minister" General’ s Office as Assistant Private Secretary to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. In 1945, he became Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, and was officially in charge of the Prime Minister" General’ s Office. He stayed on to work for King"s successor, Louis Saint Laurent, and became Clerk of the Privy Council in 1952.
He was a senior and trusted adviser to both Prime Ministers: "Clear it with Jack" was the byword on Parliament Hill for years.
Mr. Pickersgill had no prior connection to the island. He entered the Canadian Cabinet as Secretary of State for Canada in 1953, and was named Minister for Citizenship and Immigration in 1954.
When the Liberal government was defeated in the 1957 election, Pickersgill was re-elected as an Member of Parliament, and became a leading tormentor of the new government of John George Diefenbaker from the opposition benches. With the 1963 election and the coming to power of Lester Pearson as Prime Minister, Pickersgill returned to Cabinet, first as Secretary of State for Canada and Government House Leader, and then as Minister of Transport.
In 1967, he retired from politics to become president of the Canadian Transport Commission.
Pickersgill had become involved in Newfoundland politics at the informal request of leading federal politicians in the late 1940s and was instrumental in supporting Newfoundland"s pro-confederacy movement. During an interview with Geoff Stirling in the 1980s he stated that powerful interests in Canada wanted to see Newfoundland join Canada.
Pickersgill entered the Canadian House of Commons as Liberal Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Bonavista-Twillingate, Newfoundland as a result of the 1953 election. He was later bestowed the title "The Right Honourable", usually reserved in Canada for certain members of the Privy Council (which he was a member of and its Clerk from 1952–1954), for Prime Ministers, Governors-General and Chief Justices, as recognition of his service.