Addison Alexander MacKenzie, (1 November 1885 – 13 May 1970) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who represented

York North York North was a federal riding in Ontario, Canada, that was in the House of Commons of Canada from Confederation in 1867 until 2004. The federal riding was eliminated in 2003 when it was redistributed between two new ridings of Newmarket—A ...

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 1945 to 1967 as a Progressive Conservative member.

Background

MacKenzie was born to Douglas MacKenzie and Lydia Ann Addison in

Woodbridge, Ontario Woodbridge is a very large suburban community in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, along the city's border with Toronto. It occupies the city's entire southwest quadrant, west of Ontario Highway 400, Highway 400, east of Ontario Highway 50, Highway 50, n ...

(today a district in the City of Vaughan) on a farm (Lot 5 Concession 7) that was originally a land grant to his great-grandfather (and settled by his grandfather William MacKenzie (1819-1904) in 1842). He was educated in Woodbridge and then worked at a variety of jobs across the country. In 1914, at the start of

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 ...

, he enlisted in the

4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles The 4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles was authorized on 7 November 1914 as the 4th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF and embarked for Britain on 18 July 1915. It disembarked in France on 24 October 1915, where it fought as part of the 2nd ...

and quickly rose to the rank of Major, due to his previous experience serving in the militia (

The Governor General's Body Guard The Governor General's Body Guard was royal guard regiment of the Canadian Army that formed part of the country's Household Division. The Body Guard was the senior regiment of the Canadian Army and the equivalent of the British Army's Life Guards ( ...

). During the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, MacKenzie led a reconnaissance party to observe the effects of the artillery fire and later led his men and assaulted the Germans positions. His efforts that day would earn him the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. The citation read: "For conspicuous gallantry in action. He carried out a daring reconnaissance of the enemy's wire in daylight. Later he led his Company with great courage and determination, greatly assisting the bombers by sniping the enemy as they brought up reinforcements." MacKenzie went on to participate in the

Battle of Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions o ...

, leading the 4th company. During the action he was hit by shrapnel from an artillery shell and was seriously wounded. After the battle, he praised the men of his command, "What I say about our Toronto boys is true in every other branch of the army. We fought Monday, not for cities, but for Canada. Every Canadian battalion did well." His wounds were serious enough that he spent the rest of the war behind the front lines. He returned to farming after the war. Every Thanksgiving he held a turkey dinner for his neighbours.

Politics

He developed an interest in politics and served on Woodbridge Town Council before running for provincial office. He ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in

in 1943 but was defeated by

CCF CCF can refer to: Computing * Confidential Consortium Framework, a free and open source blockchain infrastructure framework developed by Microsoft * Customer Care Framework, a Microsoft product Finance * Credit conversion factor converts the a ...

member, George Mitchell. In 1945 he ran again, this time defeating Mitchell. He served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

member of the house for the next 22 years, finally retiring in 1967. He was not known as a strong speaker having made only two speeches but was remembered as a strong advocate for his riding constituents.

Later life

After retiring from politics, MacKenzie sat on the Board of the Metropolitan Toronto Conservation Authority and he was a charter member of the Woodbridge Horticultural Society. Just before his death he was on his way to

Peel Memorial Hospital Peel Memorial Hospital (PMH) was a 367-bed acute care hospital located in central Brampton, Ontario. PMH was founded in 1925 and became a part of the William Osler Health Centre in 1998. It previously served approximately 400,000 residents in Br ...

when his ambulance was slowed by a parade. Upon learning who was in the ambulance, the marching pipers insisted on escorting him to the hospital. In recognition of his long public service, Major Mackenzie Drive, a main east–west thoroughfare in York Region, and

Alexander Mackenzie High School Alexander Mackenzie High School, formerly known as Don Head Secondary School is a public secondary school with classes for students in grades 9 through 12, located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The school opened in 1969 as Don Head Secondary ...

, in

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central Regional Municipality of York, York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and th ...

, were named after him, as is

Royal Canadian Legion The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization (veterans' organization) founded in 1925. Membership includes people who have served as military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, Royal ...

Branch 414, in Woodbridge, Vaughan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacKenzie, Addison Alexander 1885 births 1970 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs