John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

Early life

Robarts was born in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

, to Herbert Roberts and Ellen Florence May Robarts, making him the only Ontario premier not to have been born in Ontario. As a young man, he moved to

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, with his family, where he studied at Central Collegiate (today,

London Central Secondary School London Central Secondary School is a public secondary school located at the corner of Dufferin Avenue and Waterloo Street in downtown London, Ontario. It is a member of the Thames Valley District School Board. It has approximately 1000 students i ...

) and at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

(UWO) in business administration. While attending UWO, he joined the

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...

fraternity.Delta Upsilon UWO alumni
Robarts enrolled to study law at

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 L ...

, but his education was interrupted by service with the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He served as an officer on . After the war, he returned to law school and graduated in 1948.

Early political career

Robarts practiced law in London, Ontario, and was elected to city council in 1948. In 1951, he was elected as a member of provincial parliament (MPP) to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, as a Progressive Conservative (PC) from the city. In that era, MPPs not in cabinet were essentially working part-time due to relatively light legislative duties. Robarts commuted by train from the Queen's Park legislature in

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 ...

–the provincial capital–to his family and law practice in London, effectively combining his legislative work with his legal career. His wife Norah disliked Toronto and remained at home in London for most of their marriage. The couple raised two children.''Robarts'', by A.K. McDougall, 1985 He entered the cabinet of

Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, 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 O ...

in 1958 as minister without portfolio, and was promoted to minister of education in 1959. The province was in the midst of a major building phase with its education system, to accommodate an enormous increase in enrollment following the

Baby Boomer Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...

generation of the post-

era, and Robarts played an important role as education minister, with the establishment of new institutions such as

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Premier of Ontario

In 1961, Robarts became the 17th premier of Ontario, and served in that capacity until 1971. He was an advocate of individual freedoms, and promoted the rights of the provinces against the centralizing initiatives of the federal government. He also promoted

national unity Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

against

Quebec separatism The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...

, and hosted the 1967 "Confederation of Tomorrow" conference in

in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement for a new

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

. He initially opposed Canadian Medicare when it was proposed, but later endorsed it fully following New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Kenneth Bolton's upset

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

victory on the issue in the London-area riding of Middlesex South. As a

civil libertarian Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social no ...

, and a strong believer in the promotion of both official languages, Robarts opened the door to French language education in Ontario schools. In 1972 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 ...

. Nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board" during his tenure, Robarts is remembered for his steps to promote and improve education. He was responsible for the construction of five new universities including York University, the establishment of the

Ontario Science Centre The Ontario Science Centre, formally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology, is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eg ...

and

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

, the creation of numerous

teacher's college Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties ...

s, the creation of the community college system, the

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...

commuter rail system, introducing

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

to Ontario's electricity grid, and launching the

Ontario Scholar Ontario Scholars are high school graduates in the Canadian province of Ontario who attain an average of 80% or greater in their six best Grade 12 courses. The award is granted by the Ontario Ministry of Education, and consists of a certificate f ...

fund for high school students graduating with an A average.

Later life

After retiring from office, Robarts co-chaired the Task Force on Canadian Unity with

Jean-Luc Pépin Jean-Luc Pepin, (November 1, 1924 – September 5, 1995) was a Canadian academic, politician and Cabinet minister. Political biography Pepin was a political science professor at the University of Ottawa when he was first elected to the House o ...

, and joined a Toronto law firm as well as the boards of directors of several major corporations. He served as chancellor of the

from 1971 to 1976. He served as chancellor of York University from 1977 to 1982. Robarts and his wife divorced in the early seventies, and he remarried to a woman 28 years his junior. Robarts died by suicide on October 18, 1982. He had been suffering from depression as a result of the 1977 suicide of his son, Timothy, and a series of debilitating strokes. He is buried in St. James Cemetery, in Toronto.

Legacy

The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at

was founded in 1984 in his name. The John P. Robarts Research Institute (renamed The Robarts Research Institute in 2005) at the University of Western Ontario was officially opened in 1986. Also in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

is the

Robarts School for the Deaf The Robarts School for the Deaf is a provincial school in London, Ontario with residential and day programs serving elementary and secondary deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Along with three ( ECD and SJW) other provincial schools for the deaf ...

, and the John P. Robarts elementary school. The 16-storey John P. Robarts Research Library at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

is also named in his honour.

Biographies

University of Western Ontario professor A. K. McDougall authored the first full-length biography: ''Robarts'', in 1985. Steve Paikin wrote a biography, ''Public Triumph, Private Tragedy: The Double Life of John P. Robarts'' (Viking, 2005).

References

External links

* *
Reference on John Robarts Death

John P. Robarts fonds
Archives of Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Robarts, John 1917 births 1982 suicides 20th-century Canadian lawyers Canadian politicians who committed suicide Canadian King's Counsel Chancellors of the University of Western Ontario Chancellors of York University Companions of the Order of Canada Lawyers in Ontario Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario London, Ontario city councillors Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Osgoode Hall Law School alumni People from Banff, Alberta Premiers of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Royal Canadian Navy officers University of Toronto people University of Western Ontario alumni Burials at St. James Cemetery, Toronto 1982 deaths