Hepburn ministry

Hepburn ministry

11th ministry of Ontario
Hon. Mitchell Frederick Hepburn
Date formedJuly 10, 1934 (1934-07-10)
Date dissolvedAugust 17, 1943 (1943-08-17)
Monarch & Vice Regals
People and organisations
Monarch
Premier
Mitch Hepburn
Gordon Conant
Harry Nixon
No. of ministers
10 (initial)
14 (max, 1937-10-12)
Total no. of members
23
Member party
Ontario Liberal Party
Status in legislature
  • Majority
    1934
    1937
Opposition party
Conservative Party
Opposition leader
History
Incoming formation
1934 election
Elections1934, 1937
Legislature term
PredecessorFerguson ministry
SuccessorDrew ministry

The Hepburn ministry, formally speaking the Hepburn-Conant-Nixon ministry, was the cabinet that directed the Government of Ontario (formally the Executive Council of Ontario) over a nine-year period from July 10, 1934 to August 17, 1943. Liberal Premier Mitch Hepburn, at age thirty seven, the youngest premier in Ontario's history, composed the ministry initially and led it for more than eight of its nine-year tenure. His two successors, Gordon Conant and Harry Nixon, made adjustments to the ministry during their respective six-month and three-month premiership, but with the same group of ministers.

The ministry was formed as a result of the Liberal Party's victory in the 1934 Ontario general election. After being in the wilderness for almost thirty years, they ousted the incumbent Conservative Henry ministry in spectacular fashion, securing more than two-third of the seats in the 19th Parliament of Ontario on their own, and in addition have formed an alliance with the Progressive Party (whose members contested the election as Liberal-Progressives), United Farmers, and Liberal-Labour. The ministry renewed its governing mandate in the 1937 election, again securing more than two-third of the seats in the 20th Parliament of Ontario.

Despite the Liberal Party having secured a substantial majority electoral mandate, the council of ministers included members who were formally affiliated with the Progressive Party or the United Farmers of Ontario when they entered cabinet, or have been members of the government caucus during the United Farmer-Labour Drury ministry a decade earlier. Among them was Progressive Party leader Harry Nixon, the Provincial Secretary in the Drury ministry who would lead this Liberal ministry in its final months. Hepburn was able to build this unusual governing alliance in part thanks to his own background as a one-time United Farmers activist. Those members were all eventually integrated into the Liberal Party formally during the tenure of the ministry. Two of those members, Nixon and Farquhar Oliver, would later become leaders of the Liberal Party.

An unabashed populist, Hepburn presided over the ministry for the latter part of the great depression and the beginning of the Second World War. The ministry carried out sweeping cost-saving measures, played an active role in the development and management of the province's resources sector, aggressively pursued industrial and social reform, while parting ways with the party's past stance on liquor sales and energy that had restricted its popularity. Hepburn's strong personality also alienated some key stakeholders, first among them national Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mackenzie King. His antagonistic approach toward organized labour would lead to serious division in his party and the forced departures of two popular senior ministers, Attorney General Arthur Roebuck and municipal affairs minister David Croll, just months before the 1937 election.

Hepburn resigned as Premier of Ontario in October, 1942, and orchestrated to have his designated successor, Gordon Conant, appointed as Premier without having secured buy-ins from his cabinet, parliamentary caucus or party. The swift push back from the Liberal caucus and the party's rank and file that followed forced Hepburn to call a formal leadership convention and Conant to contest the leadership while leading a ministry he had neither chosen nor secured the backing from. Hepburn's unilateral decision sent the Liberal Party through a tumultuous period of internal conflict and triggered a leadership convention on the eve of a general election that was already delayed by the ongoing World War II. Harry Nixon won the leadership convention in May 1943 and notional led the ministry for two months before leading a divided party to its devastating defeat. The ministry was replaced by the Progressive Conservative Drew ministry.

Changes to composition

Two ministers, Peter Heenan and Thomas McQuesten, served through the entirety of the ministry under all three premiers, with McQuesten having held the highways portfolio the entire time.

Ousting of Roebuck and Croll (April 1937)

It would take almost three years before the first departures from the ministry occurred. The workers at General Motors in Oshawa had gone on strike in early April 1937. One of their demands was for recognition of their union, the new United Auto Workers, an affiliate of the Committee of Industrial Organization, which Hepburn was obsessively antagonistic toward. To break the strike, Hepburn even deployed a special police force, known irreverently as "Hepburn's Hussars" and "Sons-of-Mitches." Given the deep labour ties of Attorney General Arthur Roebuck and municipal affairs minister David Croll, they were vocal opponents of the Premier's action. While the conflict had been simmering, the Premier's sudden demand for their resignation on April 15 still caught most by surprise. While Croll quickly complied and expressed relief, Roebuck sought and was denied an audience with the Premier, went home and arranged to have his resignation later in the day.[1]

Cox's Short-lived presence (December 1936 to October 1937)

To demonstrate his commitment to cost saving, Hepburn initial cabinet only had 10 members. He specifically declined to name any minister without portfolio. During the 19th parliament, Hepburn only brought one new member into the ministry, Charles Winnans Cox from Fort William (now Thunday Bay), as a minister without portfolio in December 1936. Cox's cabinet tenure was short-lived. Two month after being promoted, he was involved in a bizarre incident of a soured lover throwing acid at him and seriously injured him. While he was not immediately dismissed and managed to win re-election, he was relieved of his cabinet duty at the post election shuffle.

Eight new minister via post re-election shuffle (October 1937)

Two ministers, agriculture minister Duncan Marshall and health minister James Faulkner, were defeated in the 1937 election.

Hepburn conducted the only major cabinet shuffle during this ministry soon after securing a second majority mandate. Eight new ministers entered cabinet in October 1937, including three newly elected members. Expanding the council of minister to 14 members. Among the rookies were Gordon Conant, a former mayor of Oshawa elected in the electoral district of Ontario, which Hepburn see as a sign of affirmation from the local electorate for his tough approach to the Oshawa strike. Conant was given the prestigious Attorney General role.

Brief savoring of a prized long denied (Sumner 1938)

Morrison MacBride was first elected a Labour Party member in 1919 and was instrumental in negotiating the coalition government that led to the Drury ministry, but broke with party when it opted to put forward another member for the coalition cabinet. He finally obtained the cabinet seat that was denied of him for eighteen years in the post 1937 election shuffled, but did not get to savour it for long. A heart attacked claimed his life in June the following year when he was only 60.

Norman Hipel took MacBride's place a few months later. In doing do he gave up the speakership of the legislature.

Unexpected passing, unprecedent promotion (August 1940)

In the summer 1940, education minister Leonard Simpson unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Four days later in a highly unusual move, Hepburn appointed Duncan McArthur, who the Liberals brought in a few years earlier as the education department's civil service head, to succeed his political master directly. A month later in an even more unusual move, the Premier called the by-election for the seat left vacant by Simpsons with McArthur as the candidate, in hopes of the opposition being deterred by the ongoing war from contesting the by-election.[2] The bet played out as the Premier expected. McArthur was returned by acclamation as Simpson's successor in the legislature.[3]

Steady administration through political calamity (October 1942 onward)

In view of the political upheaval triggered by Hepburn unilaterally anointing Conant as premier, the cabinet remained reasonably stable. While the four senior central administration posts were all affected as they were all held by Hepburn, Conant and Nixon at the time, the ministers heading seven of the other ten functional portfolios remained in place through both transition. Conant made no change to the ministry upon his assumption of the premiership, and only requested the resignation of one minister during his six months at the helm, from Hepburn as Provincial Treasurer, and replaced him with Liquor Board chairman and minister without portfolio St. Clair Gordon, who continued under Nixon. Only two ministers, Harry Nixon and Farquhar Oliver resigned from in protest, and they both resumed their previous portfolio following Nixon's assumption of the premiership, with Nixon acting as his own Provincial Secretary. During Conant's premiership, Nixon's provincial secretary portfolio was covered by lands and forests minister Norman Hipel, while Oliver's Public Works and Public Welfare portfolio was covered respectively by highways minister McQuesten and health minister Harold Kirby. The only other change Nixon made in his brief tenure was to bring back former minister Eric Cross to replace the outgoing premier as Attorney General and to release McQueston of the municipal affairs portfolio.

Cursed portfolio (July 1943)

The ministry would suffer one final departure while Nixon was at its helm. Education minister Duncan McArthur, like his predecessor Leonard Simpson, died unexpectedly two weeks before the ministry's defeat at the 1943 election. The two education ministers from the Hepburn ministry were to this day the only Ontario education ministers who have died in office.

Lasting Legacy

Upon his selection as Ontario Liberal leader, Hepburn stated his benchmark for legacy simply, "I am going to do my best. I am going to make some contribution to the welfare of this Province. I hope when my span is over on this earth it will be better than when I came in."[4]

Under Hepburn's leadership, the ministry undoubtedly made well more than just some contribution to the welfare of this Province. Despite its stated initial objective of austerity, the ministry nonetheless expand the role of government in its citizen's day-to-day lives through systemic broadening of social programs to meet the evolving need of growing population, and instituted practices (the most cited example being the mandatory pasteurization of milk) that later became standard that were taken for granted. The ministry invested in care for the mentally ill and in new hospitals and pursued progressive reforms in public education. Despite his obsessive animosity toward international labour unions, his ministry actually took major strides in regulating and lifting employment standards. Despite Hepburn's penchant for dramatic quarrels in the political arena, he quietly defused religious resentment from the equalization tax revenues for Catholic school boards with increased provincial grants.

While many other factors contributed to Ontario's improved economic condition, deliberate policy decision by the ministry and Hepburn's role as his own government's Treasurer played apparent roles to the scale of Ontario's economic recovery following The Great Depression. As treasurer, Hepburn produced budgetary surpluses while overly instigated growth through highway construction, selective support for resource industries and more direct role in hydroelectricity management. Driven by his instinctive misgiving toward wealthy elite and government waste, Hepburn's aggressive streamlining of civil service redundancy and push for diligent collections of estate duties earn him enmity from some powerful corners, but revenue enabled him to expand the provincial government footprint while instituting progressive to personal and corporate income-tax changes and assuming costs from the cash-strapped municipalities.[5]

The Hepburn ministry was arguably more defined by its namesake's colourful personality than most, if not all, other ministries that governed Ontario. Hepburn's strong will and larger-than-life presence were undoubtedly crucial ingredients that made him the only Ontario Liberal leader to have led the party from opposition into promised land in a period spanning over a century.[a] Those ingredients lifted a moribund Liberal Party back on its feet and gave its the fight needed to oust an incumbent government for the first time in over sixty years. Those same ingredients also inflicted needless yet lasting damages on the party, exiling it from government despite many achievements, and set the course for its four-decade long wandering in the wilderness.

List of ministers

List of ministers ordered by precedence

Minister Entered
ministry		 Exited
ministry		 Electoral district [b]First
elected		 Note
Mitch Hepburn[6] 1934-07-10 1943-02-28 Elgin 1934 Resigned from ministry
Harry Nixon[7] (1919-11-19) Brant 1919 Drury ministry
1934-07-10 1942-10-22 Resigned from ministry[c]
1943-05-18 1943-08-17
Peter Heenan 1934-07-10 1943-08-17 Kenora 1919 Served entire duration of ministry; federal King ministry (1926–30)
Leonard Simpson[8] 1934-07-10 1940-08-18 Simcoe Centre 1929 Died in office
Arthur Roebuck[9] 1934-07-10 1937-04-14 Bellwoods 1934 Resigned from ministry[d]
Duncan Marshall[10] 1934-07-10 1937-10-12 Peel 1934 Defeated (1937 election)
Thomas McQuesten[11] 1934-07-10 1943-08-17 Hamilton—Wentworth 1934 Served entire duration of ministry
David Croll[12] 1934-07-10 1937-04-14 Windsor—Walkerville 1934 Resigned from ministry[d]
Paul Leduc[13] 1934-07-10 1940-09-30 Ottawa East 1934 Resigned to accept appointment [e]
James Albert Faulkner[14] 1934-07-10 1937-10-12 Hastings West 1934 Defeated (1937 election)
Charles Winnans Cox 1936-12-18 1937-10-12 Port Arthur 1934 Resigned from ministry[f]
Morrison Mann MacBride 1937-10-12 1938-06-05 Brantford 1919 Died in office
Patrick Michael Dewan[15] 1937-10-12 1943-08-17 Oxford 1934
Harold Kirby[16] 1937-10-12 1943-08-17 Eglinton 1934
St. Clair Gordon[17] 1937-10-12 1943-08-17 Kent West 1934
William Houck 1937-10-12 1943-05-18 Niagara Falls 1934
Colin Campbell[18] 1937-10-12 1941-01-23 Sault Ste. Marie 1937
Gordon Conant[19] 1937-10-12 1943-05-18 Ontario 1937 Resigned from ministry
Eric Cross[20] 1937-10-12 1940-11-22 Haldimand—Norfolk 1937
1943-05-18 1943-08-17 1937
Norman Hipel[21] 1938-09-02 1943-08-17 Waterloo South 1930
Duncan McArthur[22] 1940-08-18 1943-07-20 Simcoe Centre 1940 Died in office
Robert Laurier[23] 1940-10-07 1943-08-17 Ottawa East 1940
Farquhar Oliver[24] 1941-01-23 1942-10-27 Grey South 1926 Resigned from ministry[c]
1943-05-18 1943-08-17 1926

List of minister by portfolio

  Held portfolio through both transitions
  Held portfolio through Hepburn-Conant transition
  Held portfolio through Conant-Nixon transition

PortfolioMinisterStartEndNotes
Central administration portfolios
Premier of OntarioMitchell Hepburn1934-07-101942-10-21
Gordon Conant1942-10-211943-05-18
Harry Nixon1943-05-181943-08-17
Attorney GeneralArthur Roebuck1934-07-101937-04-14
Paul Leduc1937-04-151937-10-12interim
Gordon Conant1937-10-121943-05-18while premier (from 1942-10-21)
Eric Cross1943-05-181943-08-17
TreasurerMitchell Hepburn1934-07-101943-02-28while premier (until 1942-10-21)
St. Clair Gordon1943-03-031943-08-17
Provincial Secretary & RegistrarHarry Nixon1934-07-101942-10-22[g]
Norman Hipel1942-10-271943-05-18
Harry Nixon1943-05-181943-08-17while premier
Resources and economy portfolio
Minister of Lands and ForestsPeter Heenan1934-07-101941-05-27
Norman Hipel1941-05-271943-08-17
Minister of MinesPaul Leduc1934-07-101940-09-30
Thomas McQuesten1940-09-301940-10-07interim
Robert Laurier1940-10-071943-08-17
Minister of AgricultureDuncan Marshall1934-07-101937-10-12
Patrick Michael Dewan1937-10-121943-08-17
Minister in charge of Game and FisheriesHarry Nixon1934-07-101942-10-21[g]
Public assets portfolios
Minister of Public WorksThomas McQuesten1934-07-101937-10-12
Colin Campbell1937-10-121941-01-23
Farquhar Oliver1941-01-231942-10-27
Thomas McQuesten1942-10-271943-05-18
Farquhar Oliver1943-05-181943-08-17
Ministry of HighwaysThomas McQuesten1934-07-101943-08-17
Minister of Municipal AffairsDavid Croll1934-07-101937-04-14
Mitchell Hepburn1937-04-151937-10-12interim while Premier
Eric Cross1937-10-121940-11-22
Thomas McQuesten1940-11-221943-05-18
Eric Cross1943-05-181943-08-17
Social & human services portfolio
Minister of Education Leonard Simpson1934-07-101940-08-18
Duncan McArthur1940-08-221943-07-20
Minister of Labour Arthur Roebuck1934-07-101935-05-21
David Croll1935-05-211937-04-14
Mitchell Hepburn1937-04-151937-10-12interim while Premier
Morrison Mann MacBride1937-10-121938-06-05
Peter Heenan1938-06-141938-09-02interim
Norman Hipel1938-09-021941-05-27
Peter Heenan1941-05-271943-08-17
Minister of HealthJames Albert Faulkner1934-07-101937-10-12
Harold Kirby1937-10-121943-08-17
Minister of Public WelfareDavid Croll1934-07-101937-04-14
Mitchell Hepburn1937-04-141937-10-12interim while Premier
Eric Cross1937-10-121940-11-22
Norman Hipel1940-11-221941-05-27
Farquhar Oliver1941-05-271942-10-27
Harold Kirby1942-10-271943-05-18
Farquhar Oliver1943-05-181943-08-17
Ministers without portfolio
Minister Without PortfolioCharles Winnans Cox1936-12-181937-10-12
St. Clair Gordon1937-10-121943-03-03
William Limburg Houck1937-10-121943-08-17designated as Hydro Commissioner
  1. ↑ The previous instance was 1871 under the leadership of Edward Blake; the next instance was 1985 under the leadership of David Peterson
  2. ↑ Indicate that year's Ontario general election unless otherwise noted
  3. 1 2 In protest of Hepburn unilateral decision to install Conant.
  4. 1 2 Over 1937 Oshawa auto strike
  5. ↑ as registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada
  6. ↑ Relieved from duty following a scandal of him being seriously injured by a lover, was not appointed back to cabinet.
  7. 1 2 Resigned on March 11, 1940, but the resignation was withdrawn two days later.

Composition timeline

Events[a] [b] [c] [d][e] [f][g] [h][i][j] [k][l] [m] [n][o][p]
Portfolio19341935 193619371938 193919401941 19421943
PremierMitchell HepburnConantNixon
Attorney Gen.Arthur RoebuckLeducGordon ConantCross
TreasurerMitchell HepburnGordon
SecretaryHarry NixonHipelNixon
AgricultureDuncan MarshallPatrick Dewan
Lands & ForestPeter HeenanNorman Hipel
MinesPaul LeducRobert Laurier
Public WorksThomas McQuestenColin CampbellFarquhar OliverMcQuestenOliver
HighwaysThomas McQuesten
MunicipalDavid CrollHepburnEric CrossThomas McQuestenCross
EducationLeonard SimpsonDuncan McArthur[q]
LabourA. RoebuckDavid CrollHepburnMacBrideHeenanNorman HipelPeter Heenan
Public WelfareDavid CrollHepburnEric CrossHipelFarquhar OliverH. KirbyOliver
HealthJames FaulknerHarold Kirby
without portfolioC.W. CoxWilliam Houck
St. Clair Gordon
  1. ↑ 1934-07-10: Hepburn ministry took office
  2. ↑ 1935-05-21: David Croll took over labour portfolio from Arthur Roebuck
  3. ↑ 1936-12-18: Charles Winnans Cox enter cabinet as minister without portfolio
  4. ↑ 1937-04-14: Hepburn demanded and accepted resignations of David Croll & Arthur Roebuck over disgreement on the Oshawa auto worker strike
  5. ↑ 1937-10-12: Post-election shuffle; Duncan Marshall, James Faulkner left cabinet following electoral defeat; Charles Cox left cabinet; eight new ministers entered cabinet
  6. ↑ 1938-06-05: Morrison MacBride died in office
  7. ↑ 1938-09-02: Norman Hipel entered cabinet as public welfare minister
  8. ↑ 1940-03-11: Harry Nixon resigned from cabinet, but was persuaded to rescind resignation two days later
  9. ↑ 1940-08-18: Leonard Simpson died in office; 1940-08-22: deputy minister Duncan McArthur succeeded both as minister, and later as MPP
  10. ↑ 1940-09-30: Paul Leduc left cabinet and legislature, Robert Laurier succeeded as minister and later as MPP; 1940-11-22: Eric Cross left cabinet
  11. ↑ 1941-01-23: Farquhar Oliver entered cabinet as public works minister
  12. ↑ 1941-05-27: Peter Heenan and Norman Hipel exchanged portfolios; Farquhar Oliver took on additional public welfare portfolio
  13. ↑ 1942-10-21: Hepburn resigned as first minister and unilaterally installed Gordon Conant; 1942-10-21: Harry Nixon resigned in protest; 1942-10-27: Farquhar Oliver resigned in protest
  14. ↑ 1943-03-03: Conant requested Hepburn's resignation as Treasurer; St Clair Gordon became Treasurer
  15. ↑ 1943-04-30: Harry Nixon elected party leader; 1943-05-18: Nixon assumed premiership, Farquhar Oliver and Eric Cross returned to ministry
  16. ↑ 1943-07-20: Duncan McArthur died in office, a week before general election; 1943-08-04: Nixon led Liberals defeated in general election; 1943-08-17: ministry resigned from office.
  17. ↑ Vacant following McArthur's death

Notes

References

  1. ↑ "NO THIRD PARTY LED BY CROLL: "I Am Definitely a Liberal," Says Former Minister of Labor ROEBUCK IN SECLUSION Oshawa Strikers Ask Attitude of Hon. Peter Heenan in Crisis". The Globe and Mail. April 15, 1937. p. 1.
  2. ↑ "ACCLAMATION FOR M'ARTHUR LIBERAL HOPE: By- Election Date Set for Simcoe Centre, but May Not Need Vote AWAIT TORY MOVE". The Globe and Mail. September 25, 1940. p. 4.
  3. ↑ "Hon. D. McArthur Dies Suddenly, 58". Montreal Gazette. July 21, 1943. p. 12. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ Glassford, Larry (2013). "Hepburn, Mitchel Frederick". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XVIII (1951–1960) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  5. ↑ Glassford 2013.
  6. ↑ "Mitchell Frederick Hepburn | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  7. ↑ "Harry Corwin Nixon | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  8. ↑ "Leonard Jennett Simpson | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  9. ↑ "Arthur Wentworth Roebuck | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  10. ↑ "Duncan McLean Marshall | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  11. ↑ "Thomas Baker McQuesten | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  12. ↑ "David Arnold Croll | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  13. ↑ "Marie Charles Denis Paul Leduc | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  14. ↑ "James Albert Faulkner | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  15. ↑ "Patrick Michael Dewan | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  16. ↑ "Harold James Kirby | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  17. ↑ "Arthur St. Clair Gordon | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  18. ↑ "Colin Alexander Campbell | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  19. ↑ "Gordon Daniel Conant | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  20. ↑ "Eric William Blake Cross | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  21. ↑ "Norman Otto Hipel | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  22. ↑ "Duncan McArthur | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  23. ↑ "Robert Laurier | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
  24. ↑ "Farquhar Robert Oliver | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org.
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