Perrin Beatty

Henry Perrin Beatty (born June 1 1950) is a corporate executive and former Canadian politician. Perrin Beatty first won election to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative at the age of 22 in the 1972 Canadian election.

In 1979 he became, at the time, the youngest person ever appointed to a Canadian Cabinet when Joe Clark made Beatty his Minister of State for the Treasury Board in his short-lived government. Beatty returned to the Opposition benches as a result of the 1980 Canadian election.

With the Conservative victory in the 1984 Canadian election, Brian Mulroney made Beatty Minister of National Revenue. He was subsequently promoted to the position of Solicitor General of Canada (1985 - 1986), Defence Minister (1986 - 1989), Minister of National Health and Welfare (1989 - 1991) and Minister of Communications (1991 - 1993).

Despite long being touted as a future Tory leader, Beatty did not run in the 1993 Progressive Conservative leadership convention to succeed Mulroney. He was promoted to Secretary of State for External Affairs in the short lived government of Mulroney's successor, Kim Campbell but lost his seat in the 1993 Canadian election that returned only two Tory MPs.

In 1995 the Liberal government of Jean Chretien appointed Beatty President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a position he held until 1999 when he became president and CEO, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, a professional association that promotes the interest of private industry.

He has been married to his wife, Joan, since 1975. They have two children, Alex Beatty and Sarah Ogston.