Epp, Jake, 1939- : Jake Epp, cabinet minister, was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, in 1939. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with specialization in history, from the University of Manitoba in 1961. In 1965 he completed studies for a Bachelor of Education degree from the same institution. For 11 years Jake Epp taught history and social sciences at Steinbach Collegiate Institute. He served as president of the Hanover Division Teachers' Association, and then as town councillor (1970-1972).
Jake Epp was first elected to the House of Commons in 1972, representing the riding of Provencher in Manitoba. In 1973 he was named Progressive Conservative Caucus Chairman for Immigration by the Honourable Robert Stanfield. In 1975, Jake Epp served on the Special Joint Committee which studied the Green Paper on Immigration. He also served on several Standing Committees, including Regional Development and Labour, and then Manpower and Immigration. He also served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast from 1973 to 1976. In 1979, during the short-lived Clark government, Mr. Epp was named Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, as well as Minister of Energy north of the 60th parallel. He also became Chairman of the Committee on Federal-Provincial Relations in 1980, bearing responsibility for matters related to the Canadian Constitution.
Following the fall of the Clark government, in 1983 Jake Epp was named Caucus Chairman for Health and Welfare. When the Progressive Conservative Party won office in 1984, Jake Epp was named Minister of Health and Welfare, a post which he held throughout the whole five-year term of Mr. Mulroney's first administration. Concomitantly, he also served as Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Social Development.
During Mr. Mulroney's second administration, Jake Epp served as Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources. In this capacity, he was responsible for a large number of Crown corporations and boards, namely: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited; Petro-Canada; Petro-Canada International Assistance Corporation; Atomic Energy Control Board; Board of Examiners for Canada Land Surveys; Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names; Energy Supplies Allocation Board; National Energy Board; and the Petroleum Monitoring Agency. He was also a member of several Cabinet Committees: Priorities and Planning; Economic Policy: Cultural Affairs and National Identity; and Environment. As senior minister from Manitoba, Jake Epp also acted as regional minister for the prairie provinces, representing their interests in Cabinet.
He did not stand for election in 1993, in which year he retired from politics.
