Henry Perrin Beatty

Beatty, Henry Perrin

Henry Perrin Beatty, politician (b at Toronto 1 June 1950). After graduating from Toronto's Upper Canada College, Beatty received a general BA at University of Western Ontario in 1971. He was active in Progressive Conservative student groups, worked for the Ontario government, and in 1972 was elected MP for Wellington-Dufferin-Simcoe. He was re-elected in 1974, 1979, 1980 and 1984. Beatty became minister of state for the Treasury Board in 1979 during the Joe Clark administration, becoming the youngest person to enter Cabinet to that time.

In early 1984, he headed a panel created by the Opposition Conservatives to hear Canadians' complaints about the tax department, and after the Conservative electoral win of September 1984 was appointed minister of national revenue and minister responsible for Canada Post. In August the following year, he was made solicitor general, and in June 1986 became minister of national defence, where he delivered a White Paper on Defence Policy calling for increased spending on military equipment.

Beatty was defeated in the 1993 federal election. He returned to private life as director of 2 telecommunications companies and wrote a column for the Toronto Sun. In 1995 he became president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which he left in 1999.