Jim Coutts
{{short description|Canadian politician}}
{{other people|James Coutts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Jim Coutts
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|05|16|}}
|birth_place = High River, Alberta, Canada
|death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2013|12|31|1938|05|16}}
|death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|other_names =
|known_for =
|alma_mater = University of Alberta
Harvard School of Business
| occupation = lawyer, business person
}}
James Allan Coutts {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|size=100%|CM}} (May 16, 1938 – December 31, 2013) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and advisor to two prime ministers.
Biography
Born in High River, Alberta, he was raised in Nanton, Alberta. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 and a law degree in 1961 from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968. He was called to the Bar of Alberta in 1962.
From 1961 to 1963, he practiced law in Calgary, Alberta. From 1963 to 1966, he was a Secretary to Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. After receiving his MBA, he was a Consultant with McKinsey & Company from 1968 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975, he was a Partner with the Canada Consulting Group. From 1975 to 1981, he was the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
In 1981, Trudeau appointed Liberal MP Peter Stollery to the Senate so Coutts could run for the House of Commons of Canada in what was thought of as the safe Ontario riding of Spadina. The plan backfired when Coutts narrowly lost to New Democrat Dan Heap despite personal interventions from Trudeau. Coutts ran again, but lost by a heavier margin in the 1984 election.
He subsequently left politics and entered business with an international career in industrial explosives. He was a principal of Lowther Consultants Limited and the chairman and chief executive officer of CIC Canadian Investment Capital Limited.{{cite news|title=Jim Coutts, key adviser to former PMs Pearson and Trudeau, dies of cancer|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/key-adviser-to-former-pms-pearson-trudeau-dies-of-cancer/article16160079/|accessdate=January 1, 2014|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=January 1, 2014|location=Toronto}}
He was also a philanthropist and a major donor to the University of Lethbridge. He was a member of the Board and Foundation of The Hospital for Sick Children and was a co-founder of the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize.
In 2001, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Coutts died of cancer on December 31, 2013.{{cite news|author=Gallant, Jacques|date=January 1, 2014| url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/01/jim_coutts_pearson_and_trudeau_advisor_dead_at_75.html |title=Jim Coutts, Pearson and Trudeau advisor, dead at 75| newspaper=Toronto Star|accessdate=June 2, 2014}}
Electoral history
{{1981 Canadian federal by-elections/Spadina}}
{{1984 Canadian federal election/Spadina}}
Archives
There is a James A. Coutts fonds at Library and Archives Canada.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=November 25, 2016|title=James A. Coutts fonds, Library and Archives Canada|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=4238700&lang=eng|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 18, 2020|website=}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite web|url=http://www.utpress.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/cw2w3.cgi?p=corn&t=96297&d=1388 |title=Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry |publisher=University of Toronto Press }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.ualberta.ca/ALUMNI/newtrail/01-1/trudeau3.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060929092817/http://www.ualberta.ca/ALUMNI/newtrail/01-1/trudeau3.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 September 2006 |title=Their Trudeau Years |publisher=University of Alberta }}
- {{cite encyclopedia |last=Bothwell |first=Robert |title=Jim Coutts |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=5 June 2014 |publisher=Historica Canada |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jim-coutts |access-date=June 26, 2023 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930060626/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001971 |url-status=dead }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutts, Jim}}
Category:Canadian businesspeople
Category:Harvard Business School alumni
Category:Candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election
Category:McKinsey & Company people
Category:Members of the Order of Canada
Category:Members of the United Church of Canada
Category:People from Foothills County
Category:People from the Municipal District of Willow Creek No. 26
Category:University of Alberta alumni
Category:People from High River
Category:Deaths from cancer in Ontario
Category:Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons