Gordon Robert Carton (July 14, 1921 - April 6, 2017) was a Canadian politician from

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He was a Progressive Conservative member 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 1975 who represented the riding of Armourdale. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of

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

Carton was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario in 1921. His parents were Arthur Carton and Lucinda Bain. He was educated at Victoria College where he received a degree in 1946. He went to Osgoode Hall Law School and graduated in 1949. He worked as a lawyer before entering politics. He married Marjorie Davis. Together they raised two daughters Heather and Janice.

Politics

Carton was active in politics his teen years. His first political effort was campaigning on behalf of the first

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

MP elected in Canada, Joe Noseworthy, in 1942. He was elected in the 1963 provincial election in the new riding of Armourdale where he defeated Liberal candidate Allan Hollingworth. He was re-elected in the general elections in 1967 and 1971. During his first term as an MPP, Carton criticized the policies of his own government when it came to treating property owners adjacent to new or expanded highways. As a result of an extremely controversial speech he gave in the Ontario Legislature, the government reversed its policies and began to offer compensation to property owners adversely affected by highway construction. Carton supported

for the leadership of 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 ...

in January 1971. After Davis won the leadership, he appointed Carton as the

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

from March 1, 1971. He served briefly for two months as Minister of Financial and Commercial Affairs after

Arthur Wishart Arthur Allison Wishart, (June 11, 1903 – November 23, 1986) was a politician and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1971. He was a Progressive Conservative member who served in the cabinets of John Robarts and Bill Davis. ...

. On February 2, 1972 he was appointed as the Minister of Transportation and Communications. On February 27, 1974, Davis shuffled his Cabinet and Carton was removed from the Transportation portfolio and not given another post. Some argued that this was due to a difference of opinion between Davis and Carton regarding the construction of new expressways in Ontario. He decided to retire before the 1975 election.

Cabinet posts

Later life

In 1975, Carton became the Vice-President of Silverwood Dairies Ltd., which later became Silcorp Ltd. In that role, he oversaw the introduction of

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

ice cream to Canada. He created an organization called the Ideal Advisory Board and in 2009 he was appointed to an advisory board for Connexall, a global communications company.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carton, Gordon 1921 births 2017 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs