George Howard Ferguson,
PC (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth
premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provincial riding of
Grenville.
Background
The son of
Charles Frederick Ferguson
Charles Frederick Ferguson (20 July 1834 – 29 September 1909) was an Ontario physician and political figure. He represented Leeds North and Grenville North in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal-Conservative member from 1874 to 1896 ...
, who served in the
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicam ...
, Ferguson studied at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
and
Osgoode Hall
Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...
, was called to the Ontario bar in 1894, and returned to
Kemptville
Kemptville is a community located in the Municipality of North Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Canada in the northernmost part of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. It is located approximately south of the downtown core of Ottawa and s ...
to practise. Ferguson was elected to the municipal council and served three years as reeve of Kemptville. He married Ella Cumming in 1896.
Early political career
First elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the
1905 election, Ferguson served as Minister of Lands, Forest, and Mines in the government of
William Howard Hearst from 1914 to 1919. Ferguson approved the reservation of of pulpwood on
crown land to the
Mead Corporation
Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining charact ...
, and a further to
Abitibi Power and Paper Company
Abitibi Power and Paper Company Limited was a forest products business based in Montreal, Quebec, that was founded in 1914. The firm was a mainstay of the Canadian newsprint industry in the first half of the 20th century, and now forms part of A ...
although the Crown Timber Act required pulp limits to be sold by public tender. He declared, "My ambition has been to see the largest paper industry in the world established in the Province, and my attitude towards the
pulp and paper industry has been directed towards assisting in bringing this about." After becoming
Premier of Ontario in 1923, Ferguson reserved a further to Abitibi.
In addition, he sold timber limits to the Shevlin-Clarke Lumber Company (headed by the fellow Conservative
James Arthur Mathieu) for less than half the price they would have normally fetched, and the company later paid a fine of $1.5 million for breaching the Crown Timber Act. The transactions were criticized in a subsequent inquiry,
in which the commission reported:
Ferguson became leader of the Conservative Party upon the defeat of the Hearst government that year.
Premiership
In the
1923 election, the
Ontario Conservative Party came to power under Ferguson's leadership by defeating the
United Farmers of Ontario
The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.
History
Foundation and r ...
-
Labour coalition government of
Ernest C. Drury
Ernest Charles Drury (January 22, 1878 – February 17, 1968) was a farmer, politician and writer who served as the eighth premier of Ontario, from 1919 to 1923 as the head of a United Farmers of Ontario– Labour coalition government ...
. 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 the
1926 election with 72 seats and in 1929 with 90 seats.
French policy
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 was
French-Canadian.
Sectarian politics was still rife in Ontario, and the Conservatives relied on a base of
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
support. Ferguson was prepared to pander to the Orangemen with
anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...
and anti-French rhetoric.
In 1912, the Ontario government passed
Regulation 17
Regulation 17 (french: Règlement 17) was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July ...
, which greatly restricted the use of French language instruction. The legislation outraged
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and was an irritant to national unity during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. 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 Catholic
separate schools past Grade 8.
Ferguson's reversal on Regulation 17 was a concession needed for his alliance with
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
Premier
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau (; March 5, 1867 – July 6, 1952) was the 14th premier of Quebec from 1920 to 1936. He was a member of the Parti libéral du Québec.
Early life
Taschereau was born in Quebec City, Quebec, the son of Jean-Thoma ...
. 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).
Liquor policy
The Ferguson government, eager for new tax revenue, held a
plebiscite in 1924 to soften the province's
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
laws. A slim majority voted against
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
, which led Ferguson's government to permit the sale of
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
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 the
Ontario Temperance Act
The ''Ontario Temperance Act'' was a law passed in 1916 that led to the prohibition of alcohol in Ontario, Canada. When the Act was first enacted, the sale of alcohol was prohibited, but liquor could still be manufactured in the province or importe ...
and to permit controlled sales of liquor in government owned stores.
Attorney-General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
William 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 the
Liquor Control Board of Ontario
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Provinces of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Legislati ...
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.
Other issues
The Tories remained hostile to
labour and
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
and were not prepared to provide social relief when the
Great Depression threw thousands out of work and into poverty. The Ferguson government also opposed federal government plans for an old-age
pension.
Later life
In December 1930, Ferguson left provincial politics to accept an appointment as Canadian
High Commissioner in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. He was succeeded as party leader and premier by
George Stewart Henry
George Stewart Henry (July 16, 1871 – September 2, 1958) was a farmer, businessman and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as the tenth premier of Ontario from 1930 to 1934. He had acted as minister of highways while Ontario greatly ex ...
.
From 1945 to 1946, he served as Chancellor of the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
.
He also gave his name to the
Ferguson 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.
References
Further reading
Bibliography
*Oliver, Peter. ''G. Howard Ferguson : Ontario Tory''. Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1977.
*Oliver, Peter. ''Public & private persons : the Ontario political culture 1914–1934''. Toronto :
Clarke Irwin, 1975.
*Chambers, EJ ''Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1916''
Other
*
External links
*
Howard Ferguson fonds Archives of Ontario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, George Howard
1870 births
1946 deaths
Premiers of Ontario
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Chancellors of the University of Western Ontario
High Commissioners of Canada to the United Kingdom
Canadian Anglicans
University of Toronto alumni