William George Beech (June 4, 1898 – May 28, 1971) was a mid-20th century Canadian politician who represented York Township at all three levels of government.

Background

Beech was born in London, England and moved to Canada with his parents when he was very young. Beech served with the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division ...

during World War I, joining the army at 16, and was wounded at Vimy Ridge. He was an industrial engineer, and then in 1950 owned a travel agency in the York Township.

Politics

Beech was a member of the council for York Township and was

reeve Reeve may refer to: Titles *Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents *Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord *High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...

from 1948 to 1951. He defeated Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader Ted Jolliffe to represent York South 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 ...

for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in 1951. He was defeated by the new CCF leader,

Donald C. MacDonald Donald Cameron MacDonald (December 7, 1913 – March 8, 2008) was a Canadian politician. Referred to in the media as the "best premier Ontario never had," he represented the provincial riding of York South in the Legislative Assembly of O ...

, in the provincial election held in 1955 but was elected to a seat in the House of Commons two years later and again in 1958. Beech was defeated in his re-election attempt for the federal seat in 1962 by David Lewis of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

(NDP), a future leader of the federal NDP. It was notable that Beech won or lost his seats to three different leaders of the CCF/NDP. He ran again, and was defeated in the April 1963 Canadian general election. He died on May 28, 1971, in the Borough of York (as York Township was renamed in 1967), after a brief illness.

References

External links

* * 1898 births 1971 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Mayors of York, Ontario {{ProgressiveConservative-Ontario-MPP-stub