George McCague

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = George McCague

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| office1 = Ontario MPP

| term_start1 = 1987

| term_end1 = 1990

| predecessor1 = New riding

| successor1 = Jim Wilson

| constituency1 = Simcoe West

| term_start2 = 1975

| term_end2 = 1987

| predecessor2 = Wally Downer

| successor2 = Riding abolished

| constituency2 = Dufferin—Simcoe

| party = Progressive Conservative

| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|12|05}}

| birth_place = Essa Township, Ontario

| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|7|14|1929|12|05}}

| death_place = Alliston, Ontario

| spouse = Brigitte McCague

| occupation = Farmer

}}

George Raymond McCague (December 5, 1929 – July 14, 2014) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.

Background

McCague was born in Essa Township, north of Alliston, Ontario. He was son of J. J. E. McCague, who owned Glenafton Farms which was one of the best known dairy farms of its time. He was educated at Burns Public School, Alliston High School (both schools since closed) and the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario. He worked as a sod and potato farmer and executive and owned a real estate company in Alliston.

Politics

McCague was a councillor in Alliston from 1960 to 1961, deputy reeve from 1962 to 1964, reeve from 1965 to 1966, a public school board member from 1967 to 1968 and Mayor from 1969 to 1973. He was chair of the Board of Governors for Georgian College from 1967 to 1974 and Simcoe County warden in 1966. He also served as chair of the Niagara Escarpment Commission in the early 1970s.{{cite news |title=Former MPP George McCague was a community builder |newspaper=Alliston Herald |first=Brad |last=Pritchard |url=http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/4633152-former-mpp-george-mccague-was-a-community-builder/ |date=July 15, 2014}}

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, after defeating long serving Dufferin Simcoe MP Wally Downer for the Progressive Conservative nomination. He defeated Liberal Bob Beattie by 1,691 votes in the riding of Dufferin—Simcoe.{{cite news |title=Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 19, 1975 |page=C12}} He was elected by greater margins in the elections of 1977,{{cite news |title=Ontario provincial election results riding by riding |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=June 10, 1977 |page=D9}} 1981,{{cite news|author=Canadian Press |title=Winds of change, sea of security |newspaper=The Windsor Star |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0NtYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QlIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1444%2C1388326 |date=1981-03-20 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=22 |accessdate=2014-04-01}} and 1985.{{cite news |title=Results of vote in Ontario election |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 3, 1985 |page=13}}

McCague served as parliamentary assistant to the Treasurer just before the 1977 election, and was brought into Bill Davis's cabinet on September 21, 1977, as Minister of Government Services.{{cite news |title=Three join Cabinet and speak out on beer, jails, farms |last1=Johnson |first1=Arthur |last2=Mosher |first2=Peter|newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=September 22, 1977 |page=1}} On January 21, 1978, he was shifted to the Ministry of the Environment.{{cite news |title=Scrivener's removal from Cabinet, Baetz posting to cause most talk|last1=Williamson |first1=Robert |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=January 23, 1978 |page=5}} He was named Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet on August 18, 1978.{{cite news |title=McCague, Baetz are demoted in cabinet shuffle |last1=Oziewicz |first1=Stan |last2=Yaffe |first2=Barbara |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=August 19, 1978 |pages=1, 2}} He retained this position until Davis resigned as Premier in 1985. McCague tried to convince Davis to remain in office for another election, but afterwards endorsed Frank Miller to succeed him as party leader.

When Miller replaced Davis as Premier on February 8, 1985, he appointed McCague as Minister of Transportation and Communications.{{cite news |title=The Ontario Cabinet |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=February 9, 1985 |page=4}} Soon after this, the Tories were reduced to a tenuous minority government in the 1985 election under Miller's leadership. McCague was retained in his portfolio after the election, but did little of significance before the government was defeated in the house. He sat in opposition for the remainder of his time in the legislature.

McCague was narrowly re-elected in the 1987 election, defeating Liberal candidate Gary Johnson by only 306 votes in the redistributed constituency of Simcoe West.{{cite news |title=Results from individual ridings |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=September 11, 1987 |page=F2}} He did not seek re-election in 1990. He returned to municipal politics, and served as mayor of Tecumseth from 1992 to 1994.

McCague is considered a mentor to his successor in the legislature, former cabinet minister Jim Wilson. He continued to support the federal Progressive Conservative Party over the Reform Party in the 1990s. After leaving provincial politics, McCague served as the mayor of the newly amalgamated town of New Tecumseth from 1992 to 1994.

Shortly after Mike Harris returned the Progressive Conservatives to government in 1995, McCague was appointed as a government negotiator in talks with the Ontario Medical Association. He was a founding member, and first chair, of the Board Governors of Georgian College, in Barrie.