George William Ross

George William Ross
The Hon. Sir George William Ross
5th Premier of Ontario
In office October 21, 1899 – February 8, 1905
Monarch	Victoria Edward VII
Lieutenant Governor	Oliver Mowat William Mortimer Clark
Preceded by	Arthur Sturgis Hardy
Succeeded by	James Whitney
Personal details
Born	(1841-09-18)September 18, 1841 Nairn, Upper Canada
Died	Toronto, Ontario
Resting place	Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Political party	Ontario Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Christina Campbell Catherine Boston Mildred Margaret Peel
Religion	Presbyterian

Sir George William Ross (September 18, 1841 – March 7, 1914) was an educator and politician in Ontario, Canada. He was the fifth Premier of Ontario from 1899 to 1905.

Early life

Born near Nairn, in Middlesex County, Upper Canada, he worked as a school teacher, school inspector and newspaper publisher before going into politics.

Ross's parents had emigrated from Tain in the Highlands of Scotland in 1831, and so the language of his youth was Scottish Gaelic. He held a lifelong love for the language and his fellow Canadian Gaels and a short but poignant biographical account of Ross was printed in Gaelic, in Ontario, in the year following his death.

Political career

Early years

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal in the 1872 election, and was re-elected in the 1874 and 1878 elections. During his time as an MP, he actively defended the Canada Temperance Act, which favoured the "local option" approach for implementing prohibition.

He was initially declared re-elected again in the 1882 election, but his victory was challenged, and the next year the vote was declared void.

Rather than run again, Ross moved to provincial politics when he was offered the position of Minister of Education for Ontario in the Liberal government of Sir Oliver Mowat in 1883. He oversaw the construction of over 300 libraries, the expansion of the kindergarten system, and the creation of a provincial School of Pedagogy for the training of school inspectors and masters. Ross increased grants to the education system, expanded the authority of the provincial Department of Education, and oversaw the expansion of the university system and the federation of a number of smaller colleges with the University of Toronto. He also, controversially, established an oligopoly for the supply of textbooks to Ontario schools that was in effect from 1885 to 1907.

The Conservative opposition protested against the possibility of increased support for the Catholic Separate school system, while the Catholic minority agitated for the same high schools and other facilities that the public (Protestant) school system enjoyed. The Protestant Protective Association was formed by Orangemen in the 1890s to oppose the expansion of Catholic rights, and to attempt to exclude Catholics from public life in the province.

Premier of Ontario

After Mowat's retirement as Premier, and a short interregnum by Arthur S. Hardy, Ross became Premier (and Provincial Treasurer) on October 21, 1899. Nicknamed the "Father of New Ontario", he was instrumental in the development of Northern Ontario:

• promoting the development of its natural resources through extending manufacturing conditions already in effect for pine timber to spruce and other softwood,
• introducing a bounty on the refining of nickel ore within the province,
• initiating a survey of Northern Ontario, which promoted the potential of the Great Clay Belt for settlement, and
• establishing the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway.

The Liberal government was tired, however, after almost thirty years in office, and Ross could do little to revive its fortunes. In the provincial election of 1902, the Liberal majority was cut to one seat, but at a time when parties lacked the discipline over their members they would later develop, that was not enough for a secure government.

The Ross administration was rocked by a series of controversies in its second term:

• a vote-buying scandal based on allegations brought forward by Robert Roswell Gamey engulfed the government,
• demands for prohibition split the party,
• support for the insolvent industrial empire of Francis Hector Clergue in Sault Ste. Marie led to charges of favouritism, and
• its reluctance towards the cause of public ownership of electricity generation was strongly criticized by the Opposition under James Pliny Whitney, especially when it was revealed that The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (of which Ross was President) was a significant investor in the Electrical Development Company.

Leading a stagnating and drifting government, Ross called an election for January 25, 1905, in which the Liberals lost twenty-two seats and the Conservatives under James P. Whitney won sixty-nine, making Whitney the new Premier.

Senator

Ross remained Liberal leader until 1907, when he was appointed to the Canadian Senate. In 1910, Ross received a knighthood from King George V for his years of public service in both Federal and Provincial politics. He wrote two books about his life in politics, and died in 1914.

Family

Ross was the father of Duncan Campbell Ross, who sat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing Middlesex West from 1907 to 1908 and Middlesex North from 1908 to 1909, and later as an MP for Middlesex West from 1909 to 1921.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History

• George William Ross – Parliament of Canada biography

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Angus Peter McDonald	Member of Parliament for Middlesex West 1872–1883	Succeeded by Donald Mackenzie Cameron
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Preceded by John Watterworth	MLA for Middlesex West 1883–1908	Succeeded by John Campbell Elliott
Political offices
Preceded by Arthur S. Hardy	Premier of Ontario 1899–1905	Succeeded by Sir James P. Whitney
Preceded by Richard Harcourt	Treasurer of Ontario 1899–1905	Succeeded by Arthur Matheson
Party political offices
Preceded by Arthur S. Hardy	Ontario Liberal leaders 1899–1907	Succeeded by George P. Graham
Government offices
Preceded by Richard John Cartwright	Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada 1912–1914	Succeeded by Hewitt Bostock