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· collected 2026-09-06 · by Dylan Robertson The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Otto Jelinek, a former world-champion figure skater and federal cabinet minister, has died at the age of 86.
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Jelinek → die → 86
“He was quite the ambitious guy,” his younger brother Henry said Sunday, a day after Jelinek’s death.
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brother → say → death
“He was also sincerely and strongly a Canadian guy, who did everything he could to help this country.”
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he → do → country
Jelinek was born in Prague in 1940, and his family fled Czechoslovakia’s communist government, arriving in Canada in 1952.
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family → bear → 1952
His father owned a successful cork factory in Prague and later rebuilt it in Oakville, Ont., a town between Toronto and Hamilton.
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father → own → Toronto
Jelinek and his sister Maria represented Canada in paired figure skating at the 1960 Winter Olympics in California.
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Jelinek → represent → California
In 1962, the pair won an emotional gold medal back in Prague, as champions of world figure skating.
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pair → win → skating
Henry said his siblings made the family proud by disproving the communist regime’s propaganda of being the best system in the world.
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family → say → world
The pair toured with the Ice Capades entertainment show while Jelinek became a sports commentator for CTV.
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Jelinek → tour → CTV
He also started a company manufacturing hockey and figure skates.
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He → start → hockey
In 1972, Jelinek entered federal politics, representing a Toronto riding before switching to the Oakville area.
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Jelinek → enter → area
His 21 years in Parliament included a term as national revenue minister under then prime minister Brian Mulroney, as well as portfolios in sport and multiculturalism.
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years → include → sport
Jelinek described himself as politically right-of-centre, and he said he had been involved in backroom politics during the era of former prime minister John Diefenbaker.
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he → describe → Diefenbaker
As a young MP, buried deep in the Tory opposition benches during the 1970s, Jelinek baited Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau as a closet communist.
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Jelinek → bury → communist
When the Tories swept to power in 1984, Jelinek became minister of amateur sport, later adding multiculturalism, public works, and supply and services to his resume.
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Jelinek → sweep → resume
In 1989 he became revenue minister, implementing and defending the GST while fighting an uphill battle against cross-border shopping.
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he → become → shopping
Jelinek once remarked that he would make a poor diplomat because he speaks his mind too easily, such as in 1991 when he suggested the Tory government may have taxed Canadians too aggressively — earning him the wrath of some cabinet colleagues.
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government → remark → colleagues
‘I have a view on everything,” he told Hill reporters in 1993, such as saying Canada’s multiculturalism policy “has played its role” and should be shelved.
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policy → have → role
’‘I for one resent being referred to as a hyphenated Canadian.
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I → resent → Canadian
I believe we have to get rid of hyphenated Canadians,” he told reporters in a scrum.
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he → believe → scrum
Jelinek also said it was unfair Ottawa spends so much on health care “just because every time a little kid has a runny nose the mother takes him to a doctor.”
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mother → say → doctor
That year, Jelinek was shuffled out of cabinet and he said he would not seek election.
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he → shuffle → election
Jelinek announced his eventual retirement from politics to reporters, saying he had told his riding executive he would run for the party leadership only 24 hours prior.
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he → announce → leadership
“I was set to go until I ran into these guys — my wife and my two boys, aged 10 and five years old.
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I → set → guys
And suddenly life’s reality hit home,” Jelinek was quoted saying in a Canadian Press report, which noted his voice was cracking, with tears welling up in his eyes.
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tears → hit → eyes
“It hit right where it counts — in the heart.
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it → hit → heart
Because these children have been growing up with a part-time father.
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children → grow → father
After politics, Jelinek took a job with a company that partnered with a firm that won the right to operate part of Pearson International Airport in Toronto, a move he said complied with conflict-of-interest rules.
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he → take → rules
The privatization of the airport was cancelled and became a major election issue.
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privatization → cancel → airport
In 1994, Jelinek was among those who refused to testify to Parliament about the cancelled deal.
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who → refuse → deal
The Bloc Québécois at the time threatened to subpoena him and others.
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Québécois → threaten → him
Jelinek later moved to the Czech Republic and launched a consultancy in Prague, focused on helping Canadian and U.S. businesses get established in eastern Europe.
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businesses → move → Europe
He returned to Canada to retire.
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He → return → Canada
In 2013, then-prime minister Stephen Harper appointed Jelinek as Canadian Ambassador to the Czech Republic.
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Harper → appoint → Republic
The role included overseeing the lifting of visa requirements for Czech nations, which had become a thorny issue that threatened to derail a free trade-agreement with the European Union.
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that → include → Union
Henry Jelinek said the family marveled that they went from fleeing communism to having Jelinek represent Canada as ambassador in the country of his birth.
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Jelinek → say → birth
Jelinek said his brother spent much of his retirement alongside Lake Ontario, where he loved gardening, golf, tennis, Frank Sinatra songs and parties.
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he → say → gardening
“He loves to tell stories which he often exaggerates a little bit,” Henry Jelinek said.
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Jelinek → love → which
“If somebody would need something, he would be there — always.”
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he → need → something
Jelinek died peacefully Saturday at the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ont., after living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years, his brother said.
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brother → die → years
…and 2 more, not listed.
