Senator Heath MacQuarrie was born 18 September 1919 in Victoria, Prince Edward Island, to Wilfred MacQuarrie and Mary Mallard. On 27 December 1949, Heath married Jean Isabel Stewart with whom he had three children.

Heath studied Political Science at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown and later attended Manitoba, New Brunswick, and McGill Universities. He was a professor and lecturer at several Canadian universities between 1947 and 1957. In 1957, Heath was elected as a Progressive Conservative to the House of Commons for Queens County, Prince Edward Island. During his time in Parliament, Heath lectured all over Canada, in much of the United States and at educational institutions in Europe, the Caribbean and the Arab Middle East. He also served as the Canadian delegate to four United Nations General Assemblies and acted as Parliamentary Secretary to the State for External Affairs between 17 August 1962 and 6 February 1963. In February 1978, Heath retired from political life and joined the staff of Mount Allison University. His retirement, however, was short lived as he was appointed to the Senate in October 1978 at the age of 60.

Heath was the author of "The Conservative Party", editor of the Carleton Library edition of "Sir Robert Laird Borden: His Memories", and co-author of "Canada and the Third World". He also wrote a book about his political career entitled "Elections and Reflections". In addition, Heath contributed articles to several journals and newspapers including the "Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science", "Dalhousie Review", "Collins Encyclopedia", "Atlantic Advocate", "Globe and Mail", "Ottawa Citizen", "Toronto Telegram", "Journal-Pioneer", "Charlottetown Guardian", and "Halifax Herald".