Leslie Frost

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leslie Miscampbell Frost
The Hon. Leslie Miscampbell Frost
16th Premier of Ontario
In office May 04, 1949 – November 08, 1961
Preceded by	Thomas Kennedy
Succeeded by	John Robarts
Born	September 20, 1895 Orillia, Ontario
Died	May 04, 1973 (aged 77) Lindsay, Ontario
Political party	Ontario PC Party
Spouse	Gertrude Jane Carew
Religion	Methodism, United

Leslie Miscampbell Frost, P.C., C.C., Q.C., LL.D., D.C.L. (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was Premier of Ontario from 1949 to 1961. Due to his long time as Premier of Ontario, he gained the nickname "Mr. Ontario"

Contents 1 Early years 2 Political career 3 Premier 4 Retirement 5 Honours 6 Selected bibliography 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early years

Born in Orillia, Ontario, the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker, he attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School. During World War I, he served with the 20th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers in France and Belgium. In 1918, after being wounded, he was discharged with the rank of Captain. He was called to the Bar in 1921 and practiced law.

In 1926, he married Gertrude Jane Carew. They had no children.

[edit] Political career

In 1937, he was first elected to the Ontario legislature and thereafter never lost an election. He was the Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Mines.

Frost was chosen as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party following Premier George Drew's decision to enter federal politics. Dubbed "Old Man Ontario" and "The Laird of Lindsay", Frost led the province during the economic boom of the 1950s. Combining small town values with progressive policies, he took the Tories through three successive electoral victories winning majority governments in 1951, 1955 and 1959.

[edit] Premier

Frost's government introduced the Ontario Human Rights Code, and greater public investment in the economy including the creation of the 400 series of superhighways. His government attempted to wrest control of the income tax from the federal government, but failed, resulting in the introduction of a provincial sales tax. It also was the first to pass laws providing penalties for racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination on private property; these laws, introduced in the early 1950s as the Fair Employment Practices Act and Fair Accommodation Practices Act, started a movement in Ontario politics that produced the Ontario Human Rights Code in 1962 and later legislation. Frost resigned in 1961, and was succeeded as Tory leader and Premier by John Robarts.

[edit] Retirement

He was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto. As well, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Montreal, KVP, Canada Life, and Trans Canada Air. He served as Chancellor of Trent University from 1967 to 1973.

[edit] Honours

In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour.

The Frost Building, which houses the Ontario Ministry of Finance and the Ontario Management Board Secretariat, at Queen's Park, was named in his honour.

A proposal to name Ontario Highway 401 in his honour after his retirement in 1961 was not carried out.

[edit] Selected bibliography

• Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point (1965)
• Fighting Men, with a foreword by Thomas H.B. Symons (1967)
• Forgotten Pathways of the Trent (1973, ISBN 0-88768-037-2)
• The record on Sir Sam Hughes set straight

[edit] References

• Frost Taping Project. Trent University. Retrieved on June 18, 2006.
• Graham, Roger (1990). Old Man Ontario: Leslie M. Frost. University of Toronto Press. 

[edit] External links

• Order of Canada Citation

Political offices
Preceded by Thomas Laird Kennedy	Premier of Ontario 1949-1961	Succeeded by John Robarts
	Leader of the Ontario PC Party 1949-1961
Preceded by Arthur Gordon	Treasurer of Ontario 1943-1955	Succeeded by Dana Harris Porter
Preceded by Dana Harris Porter	Minister in charge of the Department of Economics 1958	Succeeded by James Allan
Academic Offices
Preceded by New position	Chancellor of Trent University 1967–1973	Succeeded by Eugene Forsey

Premiers of Ontario
Macdonald | Blake | Mowat | Hardy | Ross | Whitney | Hearst | Drury | Ferguson | Henry | Hepburn | Conant | Nixon | Drew | Kennedy | Frost | Robarts | Davis | Miller | Peterson | Rae | Harris | Eves | McGuinty

	Leaders of the Ontario PC Party
Macdonald | Cameron | Meredith | Marter | Whitney | Hearst | Ferguson | Henry | Rowe | Drew | Kennedy | Frost | Robarts | Davis | Miller | Grossman | Brandt | Harris | Eves | Tory