About Ray Hnatyshyn
Ramon John "Ray" Hnatyshyn ( nə-TISH-ən; March 16, 1934 – December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as the 24th governor general of Canada from 1990 to 1995. Hnatyshyn was born and educated in Saskatchewan and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force prior to being elected to the House of Commons in 1974. On June 4, 1979, Hnatyshyn was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and served as a minister of the Crown in two non-successive governments until 1988. He was appointed governor general by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He replaced Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé as viceroy, and occupied the post until succeeded by Roméo LeBlanc in 1995. As the Queen's representative, Hnatyshyn followed an egalitarian approach by reversing some exclusive policies of his predecessors, such as by opening up Rideau Hall to ordinary Canadians and tourists alike, and was praised for raising the stature of Ukrainian Canadians. He subsequently practiced law and sat as Chancellor of Carleton University before dying of pancreatitis on December 18, 2002. In the 1974 federal election, Hnatyshyn ran as a Progressive Conservative Party (PC) candidate and narrowly won the riding of Saskatoon—Biggar against New Democratic Party incumbent Alfred Gleave. When Saskatoon—Biggar was abolished ahead of the 1979 election, Hnatyshyn followed most of his constituents into the newly established riding of Saskatoon West, where he won re-election. John practised as a lawyer, but also became involved in politics, running unsuccessfully in three federal elections in the riding of Yorkton before becoming Canada's first Ukrainian-born senator in 1959. The PCs won a minority government in that election, and Hnatyshyn was appointed on June 4 to the Cabinet chaired by Joe Clark as Minister of Energy, Mines, and Resources, as well as Minister of State for Science and Technology.
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