Alvin "Al" Mackling was born on December 31,1927 and is a longtime Canadian Democratic Socialist and a retired lawyer.
19 Facts About Al Mackling
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Al Mackling was an alderman in the former city of St James from 1961 to 1969 and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1969 to 1973 and from 1981 to 1988.
3.
Al Mackling was a cabinet minister in the New Democratic Party governments of Edward Schreyer and Howard Pawley.
4.
The son of John Al Mackling, he was born in 1927 and educated in St James.
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Al Mackling became an active member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Young People's Movement, becoming its President.
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Al Mackling worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a yardman for a year, then entered the Manitoba Law School in 1954, graduating in 1958.
7.
Al Mackling ran in the constituency of Assiniboia and was only narrowly defeated by the incumbent MLA, Reg Wightman.
8.
Al Mackling ran unsuccessfully in several subsequent Provincial elections and once as a Federal CCF candidate in 1957.
9.
Al Mackling was finally elected to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly in the 1969 election.
10.
Al Mackling was named Attorney General of Manitoba on July 16,1969, and held the position for the Schreyer government's first term in office.
11.
Al Mackling served as Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs from December 18,1969, to August 1970.
12.
Al Mackling established the first Human Rights Commission, the first Ombudsman's Office, the first Law Reform Commission, the first publicly funded Legal Aid system, and the first Criminal Injuries Compensation Program.
13.
Al Mackling was regarded as unnecessarily dogmatic by some members of the NDP Caucus and by some civil libertarians for shutting down a theatre which was screening the film Last Tango in Paris without consulting other government ministers.
14.
Al Mackling's position was that as Attorney General he could not and would not allow possible political repercussions to influence law enforcement.
15.
Al Mackling won and defeated George Minaker, a Progressive Conservative government minister who had defeated him in 1973.
16.
In 1985 following the death of then Labour Minister Mary Beth Dolin, Al Mackling was appointed Minister of Labour with responsibility for the Manitoba Telephone System Act, the Civil Service Act, the Civil Service Superannuation Act, the Civil Service Supplementary Severance Benefit Act, and the Public Servants' Insurance Act.
17.
Al Mackling was reelected in the 1986 election against a challenge from a popular Progressive Conservative, Eldon Ross.
18.
Al Mackling decided not to contest the 1988 election and has not returned to provincial political life since that time.
19.
Al Mackling was the NDP candidate in the federal riding of Provencher during the 2011 federal election.