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 Douglas Young - Definition 

M. Douglas (Doug) Young (born September 20 1940) is a Canadian politician. He was first elected to the New Brunswick legislature in 1978 as a Liberal MLA. He was elected Liberal leader in 1982, but resigned within a year of his rising to that post due to a poor showing in the 1982 provincial election. When the Liberals formed a government under Frank McKenna in 1987, Young served as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture. He left provincial politics to run in the 1988 federal election and was successfully elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal Party of Canada MP.

With the election of a Liberal government in the 1993 Canadian election the new Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, appointed Young to the Canadian cabinet as minister of transport. As Transport minister, Young eliminated the Crow Rate which regulated the cost western farmers had to pay to transport their goods via rail, and privatized Canadian National Railways.

In January 1996 he became Minister of Employment and Immigration (subsequently retitled Minister of Human Resources Development) and Minister of Labour and in October 1996 he became Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs.

As Defence Minister, Young generated much criticism when, in 1997, he suspended the formal inquiry into the Somalia Affair in which Canadian troops had been accused of mistreating prisoners in Somalia in 1993.

Young was an outspoken and even bombastic politician, once calling Reform MP Deborah Grey "a slab of bacon" in the House.

In one of the chief upsets of the 1997 Canadian election, Young was defeated in his riding by Yvon Godin of the NDP. Most analysts consider the Liberal governments changes to Unemployment Insurance a key factor in his defeat due to the large number of seasonal workers in Young's riding. This was also a factor in the defeat of Young's Cabinet colleague and fellow Maritimer David Dingwall.

Since his defeat, Young has worked in Ottawa as a lobbyist. Despite his Liberal affiliations, Young supported the candidacy of Tom Long to lead the Canadian Alliance in that party's leadership election in 2000.

Preceded by:
Roger Clinch, Progressive Conservative
Members of Parliament from Acadie—Bathurst Succeeded by:
Yvon Godin, NDP



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