Jack Pickersgill

Jack Pickersgill (Known as "John Whitney Pickersgill")

Clerk of the Privy Council, Senior Cabinet Minister, The Sage of Ottawa

Born 23 June 1905

Wyecombe, Canada

Passed Away 14 November 1997 Ottawa, Canada

Lifespan 92 years old

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"Good policy is born of institutional memory, clear administrative rules, and unyielding loyalty to the public interest."

Archival Overview

Influential public servant and cabinet minister who served Mackenzie King, St. Laurent, and Pearson for three decades, drafting key immigration and transport policies.

Biographical Record

John Whitney "Jack" Pickersgill was one of the most powerful and influential unelected and elected officials in 20th-century Ottawa. Educated at the University of Manitoba and Oxford, Pickersgill served as personal private secretary to William Lyon Mackenzie King and later became Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet under Louis St. Laurent.

Elected to Parliament for Bonavista-Twillingate, Newfoundland, Pickersgill served as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and Minister of Transport under Lester B. Pearson, authoring the National Transportation Act of 1967 and founding the Canadian Transport Commission. He wrote definitive historical memoirs of the King and St. Laurent governments.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Beechwood Cemetery
Ottawa, Canada

                         GPS: 45.4450, -75.6600                    

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