Michael Starr

Michael Starr, (born Michael Starchewsky; November 14, 1910 – March 16, 2000) was a Canadian politician and the first Canadian cabinet minister of Ukrainian descent, his parents having emigrated from Halychyna (Galicia), then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now Western Ukraine. Life and career Born in Copper Cliff, Ontario, Starr was an alderman for the Oshawa City Council from 1944 to 1949. From 1949 to 1952, he was the mayor of Oshawa. In 1951, he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. First elected to the House of Commons in 1952 as a Progressive Conservative, Starr was re-elected six times until he was narrowly defeated in the 1968 election by future New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Ed Broadbent. Starr served as Minister of Labour in the government of John Diefenbaker from 1957 to 1963, and served as Opposition House Leader from 1965 to 1968. In 1967, Starr stood as a candidate at the PC leadership convention, but was eliminated on the second ballot.