William Ralph Brunt (October 24, 1902 – July 7, 1962) was a Canadian Senator and a close, personal friend and advisor of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker."P.M.'s Friend, Senator Brunt is killed, Senator Wall Dies", ''Toronto Daily Star'', July 9, 1962 He was born in Hanover, Ontario, the son of a cattle drover and was educated locally. His final year of high school was at St. Andrews where he won the bronze medal for academic achievement. He then attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School where he earned his law degree in 1928. He married Helen R. Richardson from Rosetown, Saskatchewan. They had two children, Flora Elizabeth ("Tibby") and William Ralph Brunt, Jr. Brunt, a lawyer by profession, was one of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's chief organizers in Ontario. He was appointed to the Senate by Diefenbaker in 1957, shortly after the Conservatives took power, and was deputy Government Leader in the Senate at the time of his death in a car crash. He and Diefenbaker had been friends for decades and Brunt had backed Diefenbaker in his unsuccessful bids for the leadership of the party in 1942 and 1948 as well as his successful drive at the 1956

Progressive Conservative leadership convention The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership convention, leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942), Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chose ...

. Brunt was one of a small circle of friends who spent election night in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

with Diefenbaker in his private railway car and had been at Diefenbaker's side throughout the 1957 election campaign and was also a senior advisor to Diefenbaker during the 1958 election campaign that produced the largest

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

in Canadian history."The Quiet Man Behind the PM", ''Globe and Mail'', July 9, 1962

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* 1902 births 1962 deaths Canadian senators from Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators Canadian political consultants Lawyers in Ontario {{Ontario-politician-stub