Michael Starr

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The Hon. Michael Starr

Michael Starr, PC (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 immigrated from Ukraine, then a part of the Russian Empire.

Born in Copper Cliff, Ontario, he was an Alderman for the City of Oshawa 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 George 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.

When Robert Stanfield became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1967, Starr became Leader of the Opposition for two months until Stanfield won a seat in the House through a by-election. He lost his seat by fifteen votes in 1968 to Ed Broadbent, failing to retake it in 1972.

From 1968 to 1972, he was a Citizenship Court Judge in Toronto. Starr was appointed chairman of the Workers' Compensation Board of Ontario in 1973, and served in that position until 1980.[1]

He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, Canadian Centennial Medal, and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.

He was predeceased by his wife Anne Zaritsky, whom he married in 1933, and his son, Dr. Robert Starr. His daughter, Joan Nicol, survived him.