George Howard Ferguson | |
|---|---|
 The Hon. George Howard Ferguson | |
| 9thPremier of Ontario | |
| In office July 16, 1923 – December 15, 1930 | |
| Monarch | George V |
| Lieutenant Governor | Henry Cockshutt William Donald Ross |
| Preceded by | Ernest Charles Drury |
| Succeeded by | George Stewart Henry |
| Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| In office 1930–1935 | |
| Prime Minister | R.B. Bennett, W.L. Mackenzie King |
| Preceded by | Lucien Turcotte Pacaud (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Vincent Massey |
| Ontario MPP | |
| In office January 25, 1905 – December 15, 1930 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Joynt |
| Succeeded by | James Alfred Sanderson |
| Constituency | Grenville |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1870-06-18)June 18, 1870 Kemptville, Ontario |
| Died | February 21, 1946(1946-02-21) (aged 75) Toronto,Ontario, Canada |
| Resting place | Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Ella Cumming |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto Osgoode Hall Law School |
George Howard FergusonPC (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninthpremier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was aConservative member of theLegislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provincial riding ofGrenville.
The son ofCharles Frederick Ferguson, who served in theCanadian House of Commons, Ferguson studied at theUniversity of Toronto andOsgoode Hall, was called to the Ontario bar in 1894 and returned toKemptville to practise. Ferguson was elected to the municipal council and served three years as reeve of Kemptville. He married Ella Cumming in 1896.
First elected to theLegislative Assembly of Ontario in the1905 election, Ferguson served as Minister of Lands, Forest, and Mines in the government ofWilliam Howard Hearst from 1914 to 1919. Ferguson approved the reservation of 5,000 square miles (12,950 km2) of pulpwood oncrown land to theMead Corporation,[1] and a further 1,500 square miles (3,885 km2) toAbitibi Power and Paper Company[2] although theCrown Timber Act required pulp limits to be sold by public tender.[1] He declared, "My ambition has been to see the largest paper industry in the world established in the Province, and my attitude towards thepulp and paper industry has been directed towards assisting in bringing this about."[2] After becomingPremier of Ontario in 1923, Ferguson reserved a further 3,000 square miles (7,770 km2) to Abitibi.[3]
In addition, he sold timber limits to the Shevlin-Clarke Lumber Company (headed by the fellow ConservativeJames Arthur Mathieu) for less than half the price they would have normally fetched,[4] and the company later paid a fine of $1.5 million for breaching theCrown Timber Act.[5] The transactions were criticized in a subsequent inquiry,[6] in which the commission reported:
We are of the opinion that no officer, Minister or otherwise, should have the power to grant rights over large areas of the public domain at will without regard to Regulation; that power was never contemplated by the statutes; it does not at present exist, and should not be given to any individual. Such an arbitrary power subject to no control is obviously open to abuse.[1]
Ferguson became leader of the Conservative Party upon the defeat of the Hearst government that year.
In the1923 election, theOntario Conservative Party came to power under Ferguson's leadership by defeating theUnited Farmers of Ontario-Labourcoalition government ofErnest C. Drury. The Conservatives won 75 of the 111 seats in the legislature. Ferguson's government encouraged private investment in industry and the development of the province's natural resources as a means of achieving prosperity. It was re-elected in the1926 election with 72 seats and in 1929 with 90 seats.
In 1911, Ferguson argued in the legislature that "no language other than English should be used as a medium of instruction in the schools of this Province" although that a significant proportion of the population wasFrench-Canadian.Sectarian politics was still rife in Ontario, and the Conservatives relied on a base ofOrange support. Ferguson was prepared to pander to the Orangemen withanti-Catholic and anti-French rhetoric.
In 1912, the Ontario government passedRegulation 17, which greatly restricted the use of French language instruction. The legislation outragedQuebec and was an irritant to national unity during theFirst World War. When Ferguson became premier, he reversed himself by moderating the legislation and allowing more French-language instruction. His government, however, refused to extend funding for the Catholicseparate schools past Grade 8.
Ferguson's reversal on Regulation 17 was a concession needed for his alliance withQuebec PremierLouis-Alexandre Taschereau. Ferguson and Taschereau formed an axis against the federal government to demand more provincial rights and defend the provinces' ownership of natural resources such as water power (hydro-electric generation).
The Ferguson government, eager for new tax revenue, held aplebiscite in 1924 to soften the province'stemperance laws. A slim majority voted againstprohibition, which led Ferguson's government to permit the sale ofbeer with an alcohol content of no more than 4.4 proof, about 2.2%. Such brew became known as Fergie's foam.
The 1926 provincial election was fought on the issue of the government's proposal to repeal theOntario Temperance Act and to permit controlled sales of liquor in government-owned stores.Attorney-GeneralWilliam Folger Nickle, who had supported the government's earlier decision to allow the sale of low-alcohol beer, was opposed to going any further softening of temperance laws and resigned from Cabinet to run against the government as a Prohibitionist candidate against the repeal of the law. Ferguson's Conservatives were re-elected with a slightly reduced majority.
In 1927, the government introduced legislation to establish theLiquor Control Board of Ontario and to allow the sale of alcohol by government-owned and operated liquor stores. That moderate stance on temperance allowed the government to isolate the Liberals, who until 1930 took a hard prohibitionist stance by opposing even regulated liquor sales and so alienated all but the most hardline temperance advocates.
The Tories remained hostile tolabour andimmigrants and were not prepared to provide social relief when theGreat Depression threw thousands out of work and into poverty. The Ferguson government also opposed federal government plans for an old-agepension.
In September of 1949, the Kemptville Nursery located in Ferguson's home town ofKemptville was renamed to the Ferguson Forest Center in honour of Ferguson.[7]
In December 1930, Ferguson left provincial politics to accept an appointment as CanadianHigh Commissioner inLondon. He was succeeded as party leader and premier byGeorge Stewart Henry.
From 1945 to 1946, he served as Chancellor of theUniversity of Western Ontario.
He also gave his name to theFerguson Block, a government office building at Queen's Park in Toronto as well as the residence cafeteria at University College in the University of Toronto, which is called the Howard Ferguson Dining Hall. A University College scholarship is named after him.
Ferguson died on February 21, 1946, in Toronto.[8]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chancellor of theUniversity of Western Ontario 1945–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Lucien Turcotte Pacaud,acting | Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 1930–1935 | Succeeded by |
Leaders of theProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario and its antecedents | ||
|---|---|---|
| Liberal-Conservative (1867–1873) |  | |
| Conservative (1873–1942) | ||
| Progressive Conservative (1942–present) | ||
| Leadership elections | ||
Interim leaders are in parentheses. | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
