Former Canadian Senator, Hugh Segal, has passed away at the age of 72.

Mr. Segal was a Canadian Senator from 2009 to 2014, following which he became Master, and later Principal, of Masset College in Toronto.

Prior to this Mr. Segal was Chief of Staff to Ontario Premier Bill Davis and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He was never elected to office, but ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the riding of Ottawa Centre in the 1972 and 1974 federal elections, and ran for leader of the Progressive Conservatives in 1998 before pulling out and supporting the eventual winner, Joe Clark.

Mr. Segal, as a Senator, served as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and later as the Chairman of the Special Senate Committee on Anti-Terrorism. He was pushed out as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in 2007 when the Harper Government wanted someone in the position who was more aligned with their platform.

He also served as a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group.

He was an old school Red Tory, who was inspired to enter politics when Prime Minister John Diefenbaker visited his school in 1962.

Mr. Segal was born on October 13th, 1950 in Montreal, Quebec. He wrote two books: Two Freedoms: Canada’s Global Future, and Bootstraps Need Boots: One Tory’s Lonely Fight to End Poverty in Canada.

Mr. Segal died in Kingston, Ontario on August 9th, 2023. He waas 72.

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Hugh Segal, former senator and chief of staff to PM Mulroney, dead at 72