George Ellis Gomme (January 16, 1912 – March 3, 1996) was a Canadian politician, who represented

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

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 1958 to 1971 as a Progressive Conservative member.

Background

Gomme was born in London, England in 1912. He was the owner and operator of a local business, Almonte Lumber Store. Gomme was married to Rose Edith Watchorn (died 1991) and had two children, William George (Bill) and Jennifer.

Politics

Gomme served as the Mayor of

Almonte, Ontario Almonte ( ; ) is a former mill town in Lanark County, in the eastern portion of Ontario, Canada. Formerly a separate municipality, Almonte is a ward of the town of Mississippi Mills, which was created on January 1, 1998, by the merging of Almont ...

. Gomme was elected in a by-election to replace John Arthur McCue who died after having served for only one year. He was re-elected in the general election of 1959 and 1963. He was appointed as a

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

on January 12, 1966, and then as

Minister of Highways Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

on November 24, 1966. A time of tremendous growth in Ontario, particularly in Toronto and surrounding suburbs, Gomme was actively involved in the development of new highways, such as

Highway 410 The following highways are numbered 410: Canada *Manitoba Provincial Road 410 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 410 Route 410, also known as Dorset Trail, is an north-south highway on the northern coast of Newfoundland in the Canadian province o ...

in the Brampton area, as well as the expansion of other

400-series highways The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway ...

. He continued to serve as Minister of Highways until March 1, 1971. at which time he left Cabinet, having already announced that he would not be running in the 1971 general election. He died on March 3, 1996.Obituary – George Gomme: Lanark MPP, cabinet minister also had three retail careers: INAL EditionThe Ottawa Citizen ttawa, OntMarch 5, 1996: B.6.

Cabinet posts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomme, George Ellis 1912 births 1996 deaths Mayors of places in Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs People from Almonte, Ontario British emigrants to Canada