Arthur Allison Wishart, (June 11, 1903 – November 23, 1986) was a politician and in the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1963 to 1971. He was a Progressive Conservative member who served in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

s of

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

and

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

Background

Born in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Wishart obtained his law degree from

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

in 1930, and then practised in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

and Blind River.

Politics

He served as mayor of Blind River before moving to Sault Ste. Marie. In the 1963 provincial election, he was elected the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Sault Ste. Marie. He entered the cabinet within a year as

Attorney General of Ontario The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The Attorney General is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario (the cabinet) and ...

under then

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. He served in that senior cabinet portfolio for seven years, and is credited with shepherding many important pieces of legislation, including the ''Legal Aid Act'' of 1966 and the ''Law Enforcement Compensation Act'' of 1967. In 1967, Wishart fired

Morton Shulman Morton Shulman (25 April 1925 – 18 August 2000) was a Canadian politician, businessman, broadcaster, columnist, coroner, and physician. He was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1925 to a Jewish family. He first came to fame as Ontario's Chief Coron ...

from his position as Chief

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

as a result of Shulman's criticisms of the government's failure to follow various recommendations made in coroner's inquiries. The dismissal propelled Shulman, until then a long-time Tory, into politics as a candidate and then MPP for the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

. In early 1971, Wishart became Minister of Financial and Consumer Affairs under Robarts's successor,

, and served until retiring from politics at the 1971 provincial election. Wishart was very active on the issue of

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

s while he was Minister of Finance and Minister of Consumer and Commercial Affairs. He initiated the Grange Commission, an inquiry held into the financial abuse of franchisees by franchisors. The ''Arthur Wishart (Franchise Disclosure) Act'', passed in 2000 was named in his honour.

Cabinet positions

Later life

After leaving politics, he served the province as chairman of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and later of the Commission on Election Contributions and Expenses. He returned to Queen's Park in 1973 as a liaison between Premier Davis and the Progressive Conservative caucus. Wishart was a supporter of Sault Ste. Marie's local university,

Algoma University Algoma University, commonly shortened to Algoma U or Algoma, is a public university with its main campus located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. With a particular focus on the needs of Northern Ontario, Algoma U is a teaching-focused and s ...

, and in 1989 a new wing was built at Algoma to house the Arthur A. Wishart Library. In 1976, he was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. He died on November 23, 1986.

References

External links

*
Ontario Hansard - 23-October1986

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wishart, Arthur 1903 births 1986 deaths Attorneys General of Ontario Members of the Order of Canada People from Queens County, New Brunswick People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 20th-century Canadian lawyers