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The Schulich School of Law extends our sincerest sympathy to the family and friends of former Tory MP for Cumberland County Robert Coates (LLB ’54), who died on Jan. 11 at the age of 87 after a short illness.

The long-time member of the Progressive Conservative Party was first elected to represent the Amherst area in 1957 and went on to become defence minister in Brian Mulroney’s cabinet. He served over 30 years as an MP and was a highly regarded Member of Parliament.

In the lead-up to the 1988 election, which was fought largely over the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, Coates continued to be part of Mulroney’s inner circle of advisers. Mulroney put together a small committee of people to advise him on political strategy, and he included Coates with former premiers Peter Lougheed, Bill Davis, and Frank Moores, as well as political strategist Derek Burney, in monthly meetings.

Mulroney told The Canadian Press that Coates had a hand in files ranging from the creation of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and the offshore mineral rights deal cut with former Nova Scotia premier John Buchanan.

Political collaborator and friend

John Buchanan (LLB ’58) and Coates were both attending Mount Allison Unviersity in 1949 – Buchanan was taking science, Coates arts – when they met at a restaurant in Amherst while dining there with fellow students. “Bob Coates was one of my best friends for over 60 years and the best politician I’ve known in over 40 years,” says Buchanan.

“Bob was a 'people’s politician'– he loved people and doing things for them.” – former Nova Scotia premier John Buchanan 

Now practicing law part-time with Clyde A. Paul & Associates Inc. in Halifax, Buchanan has many fond memories of his friend. He recalls when he and Coates piled into a car with six other Mount Allison students to drive to Prince Edward Island to watch the Sydney Millionaires, an early Canadian professional hockey team, play the rival Charlottetown Islanders. “When we sat in our seats, Bob shouted out that I was from Cape Breton and we had to move to escape the jeers,” recalls Buchanan.

Coates collaborated with Buchanan on the drafting of two offshore agreements, one with Pierre Trudeau in 1982 and the other with Mulroney in 1986. “Bob spent many hours with me in Halifax and Ottawa working on both agreements,” says Buchanan. “His great knowledge of Nova Scotia was very helpful to me during my 14 years as premier.”

According to Buchanan, Coates really listened to people, and they meant more to him than politics. “Bob was a 'people’s politician'– he was kind, and he loved people and doing things for them,” says Buchanan. “He urged me to run for the PC leadership in 1971. Whenever I needed him, as a friend or in politics, he was there for me.”