Walter Edward Harris, (January 14, 1904 – January 10, 1999) 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 and lawyer. Harris was first elected to the

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as the

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(MP) for the

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 ...

riding of Grey-Bruce in the 1940 election defeating

Agnes MacPhail Agnes Campbell MacPhail (March 24, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1948 ...

. Despite being a newly elected MP, he enlisted in the military and served for four years, seeing action in

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during

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. He served as parliamentary secretary to Louis St. Laurent when he was

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in the

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Li ...

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. He continued as parliamentary secretary to St. Laurent when he became

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...

in 1948 until 1950 when St. Laurent brought Harris into the

Canadian Cabinet The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the Ca ...

. Harris served as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration until 1954 when he was promoted to

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. He was Finance Minister during a period of great economic growth. During his term of office, he introduced the regulations permitting " Registered Retirement Savings Plans", which have become a staple of the financial planning of millions of Canadians. Before his 1956 budget speech, a journalist from the ''

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'' played a joke on a colleague from '' La Presse'' by pretending that he had received an advance copy of the budget by mistake. Harris was informed of this, and began to draft a letter of resignation until being informed that the whole story was a prank. Harris also served as

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from 1953 until 1957, and thus had to try to manage the government's dealings on the floor of the House of Commons during the 1956

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. The government imposed closure on debate resulting in an outraged

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that complained of "tyranny", and public complaints that the government was acting in an arrogant manner. Harris became a casualty of this, and lost his seat in the 1957 election that brought

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

to power. In 1958, he attempted a move to provincial politics and ran for the leadership of the

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. He led on the first ballot of the

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but was defeated by fewer than fifty votes by

John Wintermeyer John Joseph Wintermeyer (December 4, 1916 – December 20, 1993) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1955 to 1963 who represented the riding of Waterloo North. From 1958 to ...

on the third ballot. Following his defeat, Harris retired from politics and returned to his law practice. Mr. Harris was also president and later chairman of Victoria and Grey Trust.

Heritage

The public library in Markdale, Ontario is named after Walter Harris. There is also a school named after him, located in Oshawa, Ontario. This school is part of the Durham District school board and is French Immersion. There is a Walter Harris

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Walter 1904 births 1999 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs Canadian Ministers of Finance Lawyers in Ontario Canadian Baptists Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada 20th-century Baptists