Morrison Mann MacBride (August 20, 1877 June 5, 1938) 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 C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who represented the riding of

Brant South Brant South was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1923. It was also called the South ...

from 1919 to 1926 and the riding of

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

from 1934 to 1938. He served in the cabinet of

Mitchell Hepburn Mitchell Frederick Hepburn (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th premier of Ontario, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, appointed at age 37. He was the only Ontario Liberal Party leader in the 20th cent ...

. He entered politics as a member of the Labour party. From 1934 to 1937 he served as an Independent and from 1937 to 1938 he was a member of the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

party.

Background

Born in

White Lake, Ontario White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

in 1877 to Archibald MacBride and Janet Strang. MacBride was educated nearby in

Arnprior Arnprior is a town in Renfrew County, in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located west of Downtown Ottawa, at the confluence of the Madawaska River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Arnprior has experienced sig ...

. He was the nephew of John Ferguson, who represented Renfrew South from 1887 to 1900, and was also related to

Richard McBride Sir Richard McBride, (December 15, 1870 – August 6, 1917) was a British Columbia politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 ...

, a former Premier of

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, ...

. He was married to Louisa Elizabeth Hoff in 1899. He learned the printing trade and reported for the ''Ottawa Free Press''. In 1900, MacBride went to

to play with its

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

team until 1903. From 1904 to 1905, he worked in the composing room of the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'', and in 1908 he returned to Brantford to set up a printing company there. MacBride was also a poet (in a style similar to that of

Edgar Guest Edgar Albert Guest (20 August 1881 – 5 August 1959) was a British-born American poet who became known as the People's Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. Early life Guest was born in Birmingham ...

), having published many poems over the years through various media, and his works were collated and published in several volumes after his death.

Politics

MacBride was elected as an alderman in Brantford in 1917 and went on to become mayor four separate times, from 1918 to 1920, in 1925, from 1933 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1937. Always active in pursuing economic opportunities for his city, he once met Herbert Fisk Johnson, Sr. on a train, and convinced him to set up the Canadian head office of S. C. Johnson & Son in Brantford. He represented

in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1919 to 1926 as a Labour member. MacBride broke with 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 ...

-Independent Labour Party coalition that took power following the election after the Labour contingent voted to nominate Walter Rollo rather than MacBride for the position of Minister of Labour. MacBride, however, argued that his departure from the caucus was due to its acquiescence to the United Farmers in the selection of cabinet members. MacBride remained a Labour MLA but sat in the Opposition benches and ran for re-election as a Conservative-Labour candidate in 1923. After his second term in the legislature ended in 1926, he did not run for re-election and was appointed Supervisor of Highways by the Conservative provincial government of

Howard Ferguson George Howard Ferguson, PC (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provinci ...

. He returned to the legislature in the 1934 provincial election, representing

from 1934 to 1938 as an Independent Liberal member. He served as Minister of Labour in the provincial cabinet from 1937 to 1938. He died in Brantford in 1938, while still in office.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macbride, Morrison Mann 1877 births 1938 deaths Labour MPPs in Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Mayors of Brantford People from Renfrew County