[2][3] He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Nova through a 1971 by-election.
[5] In the subsequent 1984 election, Mulroney ran in his home riding of Manicouagan, Quebec, and MacKay was again returned to the House as Central Nova's MP.
MacKay is a longtime associate of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who were negotiating the purchase of Airbus aircraft for Air Canada in 1988.
Documents show that MacKay drafted a letter that was eventually released by Schreiber as evidence that Scheiber's and Mulroney's business dealings were legitimate.
[11] Although MacKay was closely involved with Mulroney and Schreiber during the time of the Airbus purchases, he has never been formally charged for wrongdoing in the scandal.