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James Whitney (politician)

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James Whitney
The Hon. Sir James Pliny Whitney
6th Premier of Ontario
In office
February 8, 1905 – September 25, 1914
MonarchsEdward VII
George V
Lieutenant GovernorWilliam Mortimer Clark
John Morison Gibson
John Strathearn Hendrie
Preceded byGeorge William Ross
Succeeded byWilliam Howard Hearst
Member of the Legislative Assembly
In office
January 31, 1888 – September 25, 1914[1]
Preceded byTheodore F. Chamberlain
Succeeded byIrwin Foster Hilliard
ConstituencyDundas
Personal details
Born(1843-10-02)October 2, 1843
Williamsburgh Township, Upper Canada
DiedSeptember 25, 1914(1914-09-25) (aged 70)
Toronto, Ontario
Resting placeHoly Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Morrisburg, Ontario
Political partyOntario Conservative Party
SpouseAlice Park
AwardsCanada General Service Medal
Military service
AllegianceCanadian Militia
Branch/serviceCornwall Volunteer Infantry
Dundas Reserve Militia
RankSergeant
Lieutenant-Colonel
Battles/wars

Sir James Pliny Whitney KCMG KC (October 2, 1843 – September 25, 1914) was a Canadian politician and lawyer in the province of Ontario. He served as Conservative member of the legislature for Dundas in Eastern Ontario from 1888 and as the sixth premier of Ontario from 1905 until his death in 1914. He is the only premier of Ontario to have died while in office.

Early life

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Whitney was born in Williamsburgh Township in 1843 and attended Cornwall Grammar School before articling at the law office of John Sandfield Macdonald in the 1860s, but did not resume his legal studies until 1871. He was called to the bar in 1875, and practised law in Morrisburg.[2]

Whitney was active in the Militia at Cornwall, serving as a Private in a volunteer company during the Trent Affair and then a Sergeant with the Cornwall Volunteer Infantry during the Fenian Raids. He continued to serve in the militia, being appointed a Lieutenant Colonel in the Dundas Reserve Militia, an appointment he held until his death.

Early political career

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Whitney was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1888.[2] He became leader of Ontario's Conservative Party in 1896. His mentor was William Ralph Meredith, who deeply influenced many of Whitney's later measures as premier like worker's compensation and dealing with the University of Toronto.

Premiership

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In the 1905 election, he led his party to victory for the first time in 33 years by defeating the tired Liberal government of George William Ross.[3]

Statue of Sir James Whitney by Hamilton MacCarthy, Queen's Park, Toronto.

Whitney's government laid the basis for Ontario's industrial development by creating the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario,[4] with Sir Adam Beck as its chairman and driving force. His government created the Ontario Railway and Municipal Board in 1906 and also passed significant temperance[5] and workmen's compensation[6] legislation.

Early in his premiership, Whitney sought to remedy the troubled University of Toronto by improving its finances and finding a successor to its unpopular president James Loudon. According to his biographer, "The legislation for the University of Toronto has to be ranked as one of the major achievements of Whitney's entire period as Premier of Ontario. It provided the institution with a foundation for growth in the twentieth century and it represented a complete break with almost every aspect of Liberal policy towards the University of Toronto."[7]

He also supported the anti-Catholic and anti-French-Canadian sentiments of supporters of the Orange Order in his caucus (such as George Howard Ferguson) by passing Regulation 17, which banned the teaching of French in schools beyond the first three years of school. The measure inflamed French-Canadian opinion across Canada, particularly in Quebec, and divided the country as it entered World War I.

Death and legacy

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Whitney died in office shortly after he had won the 1914 election. Whitney had a suspected heart attack during his convalescence in New York City in 1913 and returned to Toronto staying at Toronto General Hospital.[8]

A 1920s government building across from Queen's Park is named the Whitney Block after him. A statue of him stands on the Queen's Park grounds. Whitney Hall, a residential building at nearby University College, of the University of Toronto, is also named after him.[9]

Further Reading

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  • Charles W. Humphries, 'Honest Enough to be Bold': the Life and Times of Sir James Pliny Whitney. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985. ISBN 9781487590369.
  • Charles W. Humphries, "James P. Whitney and the University of Toronto," in Profiles of a Province: Studies in the History of Ontario, (Toronto: Ontario Historical Society, 1967), 118-125.

References

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  1. ^ "James Pliny Whitney, MPP". Legislative Assembly of Ontario Past Members. Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario. 2011. Archived from the original on 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  2. ^ a b Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Whitney, James Pliny" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  3. ^ https://www.tvo.org/article/how-to-celebrate-a-new-premier-like-its-1905
  4. ^ An act to provide for the Transmission of Electrical Power to Municipalities, S.O. 1906, c. 15
  5. ^ An act to amend The Liquor License Laws, S.O. 1906, c. 47
  6. ^ The Workmen's Compensation Act, S.O. 1914, c. 25
  7. ^ Charles W. Humphries, "James P. Whitney and the University of Toronto," in Profiles of a Province: Studies in the History of Ontario, (Toronto: Ontario Historical Society, 1987), 118-125.
  8. ^ "Biography – WHITNEY, Sir JAMES PLINY – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography".
  9. ^ Profile of Whitney Hall; University of Toronto. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
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