Kenneth Charles Bolton (August 18, 1906– May 1, 1996) was a politician in

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 ...

, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of 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 1969 to 1971 representing the riding of Middlesex South. Other than his two years as MPP, he was 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 and

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

serving in Ontario and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Background

Born in

Birmingham, England Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Bolton immigrated to Canada and settled in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

in 1925. He studied arts and theology at St. John's College, where he studied for the ministry and was ordained an Anglican priest in 1932. He served as a minister throughout Canada and was later chaplain of

Huron University College Huron University College is a university college affiliated with the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Huron was incorporated on 5 May 1863 and the founding institution of the University of Western Ontario. It was est ...

and associate professor of pastoral theology at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

as well as Archdeacon of Bishop Cronyn Memorial Anglican Church in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. He married Lucy Mary Margaret Cheyne December 1936. Together they raise 5 children, Robin, Margaret, David, Ken and Patricia. Bolton was active in social justice causes with groups such as

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Politics

He was elected to the legislature in a 1969

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. The victory was a surprise coming in an area where the NDP did not traditionally win seats. His campaign was a struggle which was complicated because of traffic accident three month before the by-election in which he broke several bones. His victory was credited to campaigning on the issue of Medicare at a time when the Progressive Conservative government 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 ...

was reluctant to join the plan. His victory is credited with helping to pressure the government to agree to bring the province into the plan. As an MPP he was correctional services critic. He was defeated in the 1971 general election by

Robert G. Eaton Robert Gordon Eaton (June 23, 1937 – January 7, 2009) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Wil ...

after serving in office for two years. His son, Kenneth, ran for the NDP in the 2008 federal election in the riding of

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. He finished fourth.

Later life

In 1971, he became a missionary in the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. He also served for a short time in 1975 as acting secretary of the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. Later, he assisted at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Anglican Church in

before moving to

in 1995 to be closer to his children. He died of heart failure during a flight from London, England to Vancouver, BC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Kenneth 1906 births 1996 deaths Canadian Anglican priests Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs People from Birmingham, West Midlands British emigrants to Canada