Alfred Wallace Downer (May 1, 1904 – August 3, 1994) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and longtime member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

Background

Downer was born near

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual ( French and English) community has a populat ...

Simcoe County, Ontario Simcoe County is located in the Central Ontario, central portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. The county is just north of the Greater Toronto Area, stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west. Simcoe County f ...

. He was educated at Cookstown Continuation School, Alliston High School, the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and

Wycliffe College Wycliffe College () is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from ...

. After completing his schooling, he was ordained an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest. He was a vicar and then a canon in the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

and a member of the Conservative Party.

Politics

He ran unsuccessfully in the provincial riding of

Wellington Northeast Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by met ...

in 1929 and then was first elected to the legislature as the member for

Dufferin—Simcoe Dufferin—Simcoe was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Dufferin and Simcoe South ridings. I ...

in the 1937 election. He served as Member of Provincial Parliament until 1975,Alfred Downer's parliamentary history, Ontario Legislature
/ref> winning a provincial record of ten consecutive elections. While an elected MPP, he also served in the military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving as chaplain of the Queen's York Rangers in North Africa and Europe. From 1955 until 1959, he served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the legislative assembly. He also served as a liquor control commissioner beginning in 1960. Downer was a candidate in the 1961 PC leadership convention, but was eliminated on the third ballot. Downer had expected to run in the 1975 election and had expected to win his party's nomination by acclamation but was upset by another candidate,

George McCague George Raymond McCague (December 5, 1929 – July 14, 2014) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the governments o ...

, at the Progressive Conservative nomination meeting. In 1994, Downer died at the age of 90. in

Collingwood, Ontario Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay. Collingwood is well known as a tourist destination, for its skiing in the winter, and limestone caves along the Nia ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downer, Alfred 1904 births 1994 deaths Canadian Anglican priests Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs World War II chaplains