Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
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, who served as the province's 16th
premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man Ontario"; he was also known as "the Silver Fox".
Early years
Born in
Orillia, Ontario, he was the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker.
His father was a jeweller and mayor of Orillia; his mother was an important figure in the early days of
The Salvation Army. He attended the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
and
Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...
.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, he was an officer with "C"Company
157th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters), CEF, and served with the 20th Battalion,
Queen's York Rangers
la, celer et audax, lit=swift and bold
, colors = Green and amethyst blue
, identification_symbol =
, identification_symbol_label =
, march = "Braganza"
, notable_commanders ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
. In 1918, after being wounded, he was discharged with the rank of Captain. He was called to the Bar in 1921.
In 1926, he married Gertrude Jane Carew. They had no children. The couple lived in
Lindsay, Ontario, but Frost preferred his property at Pleasant Point on
Sturgeon Lake north of Lindsay. When Frost and his brother, Cecil Gray Frost, first moved to Lindsay to establish a law practice, they rented a building at Pleasant Point that had been the community store and commuted to town by steamer. Frost bought the property in 1925 and, in about 1950, bought adjacent property where he built the winterized log cabin that was his refuge while he was premier and in retirement.
Early political career
In
1937, he was first elected to the Ontario legislature and thereafter never lost an election. He was the
Treasurer of Ontario
The Ministry of Finance is a portfolio in the Executive Council of Ontario, commonly known as the Cabinet (government), cabinet. The Minister of Finance is responsible for managing the fiscal policy, fiscal, financial and related regulatory affair ...
and Minister of Mines from 1943 to 1955.
Frost was chosen as leader of the
Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (the "
Tories") following
Premier George Drew's decision to enter federal politics.
Premier of Ontario
Dubbed "The Old Man Ontario" and "The Laird of Lindsay", Frost led the province during the economic boom of the 1950s. His low-key approach garnered him the nickname "The Great Tranquilizer". Combining small-town values with progressive policies, he took the Tories through three successive electoral victories winning
majority governments in
1951,
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...
and
1959.
Economic policy
Frost's government also attempted to wrest control of the
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...
from the federal government, but failed, resulting in the introduction of a provincial
sales tax. The Frost government introduced public hospital insurance to the province; it would be expanded by his successors to become the modern
OHIP
The Ontario Health Insurance Plan ( French: ''Assurance-Santé de l'Ontario''), commonly known in both official languages by the acronym OHIP (pronounced ), is the government-run health insurance plan for the Canadian province of Ontario. OHIP ...
system of
Medicare.
Frost's government oversaw substantial expansion in public services and substantially increased public investment in the economy, as well as through strong fiscal policies.
Education policy
Under Frost, the number of universities in Ontario increased from four to twelve. As finance minister in 1943, the total provincial investment in education was just over $13 million. Upon his retirement in 1961, the education budget for Ontario was $250 million.
Social policy
The Frost government was the first to pass laws providing penalties for racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination on private property; these laws, introduced in the early 1950s as the Fair Employment Practices Act and Fair Accommodation Practices Act, started a movement in Ontario politics that produced the
Ontario Human Rights Code in 1962 and later legislation. Frost's government also introduced legislation to ensure women received equal wages. His government also introduced voting rights for
First Nations.
Frost's government oversaw great expansion in the role of government. Under his leadership, Ontario greatly expanded its schools, highways and hospitals.
Under his leadership Ontario created the
400 series of superhighways, most notably the
Macdonald-Cartier Freeway
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
better known as Highway 401.
Frost's government oversaw the federation of the
old City of Toronto with twelve surrounding municipalities to become
Metropolitan Toronto.
Retirement
Frost resigned in 1961, and was succeeded as Tory leader and Premier by
John Robarts.
After politics
Upon retirement from politics, Frost served on the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto. As well, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Montreal, KVP, Canada Life, and Trans Canada Air. Between 1954 and 1969 he also served as Vice-President of the
Champlain Society and as its Honorary Vice-President from 1969 to 1973. He served as Chancellor of
Trent University from 1967 to 1973. In retirement, he continued his interest in the outdoors. Near the end of his life, he undertook for the government of Ontario an exhaustive investigation of the state and potential of
Algonquin Provincial Park. In the last interview he gave, just before he died, to the ''Toronto Star'', he declared: "I am an environmentalist."
Frost was an excellent amateur historian. His book ''Fighting Men'' covered the history of the 35th Regiment of Simcoe Foresters from
Orillia, Ontario in the context of the First World War. Within that he connects the Canadian home front to the war front in France, and connects the events within the regiment to the bigger picture of the war and Canada's subsequent role in world affairs. His Forgotten Pathways of the Trent (published just after he died) challenged historians' previous conclusions about Indian trade and warfare routes in southern Ontario. He was an avid U.S. Civil War buff and kept on the mantelpiece in his large library a piece of wood that was supposed to have come from Abraham Lincoln's original log cabin.
Honours
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
, Canada's highest civilian honour.
Various places across Ontario are named for Frost:
*
Frost Building,
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 anch ...
- houses the Ontario Ministry of Finance and the Ontario Management Board Secretariat, at
Queen's Park, was named in his honour.
*
Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies,
Peterborough, Ontario - at
Trent University,
*
Leslie Frost Library at
Glendon College (
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...
),
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 anch ...
*
Frost Campus at
Fleming College
Fleming College, also known as Sir Sandford Fleming College, is an Ontario College of Applied Arts and Technology located in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The college has an enrollment of more than 6,800 full-time and 10,000 part-time studen ...
,
Lindsay, Ontario
*
Leslie Frost Public School,
Lindsay, Ontario - a school
*
Leslie Frost Place - a street in
Lindsay, Ontario
*
Frost Centre Institute - formerly the Leslie M. Frost Natural Resource Centre, operated a private educational facility in
Haliburton County offering secondary school credits.
* Portrait of Frost resides at Trent University
Selected bibliography
* ''Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point'' (1965)
* ''Fighting Men'', with a foreword by
Thomas H.B. Symons (1967)
* ''Forgotten Pathways of the Trent'' (1973, )
* ''The record on Sir Sam Hughes set straight''
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
Leslie M. Frost fonds Archives of Ontario
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Leslie
1895 births
1973 deaths
Lawyers in Ontario
Canadian King's Counsel
Canadian Expeditionary Force officers
University of Toronto alumni
Chancellors of Trent University
Companions of the Order of Canada
Finance ministers of Ontario
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Members of the United Church of Canada
Premiers of Ontario
People from Orillia
Osgoode Hall Law School alumni