Meighen, Arthur

Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen (1874-1960), Canadian lawyer and statesman, was born June 16 1874 at Anderson, Perth co., Ontario. After studying law, he practised for some years in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the general election of 1908, and was reà«lected in 1911 and 1917. In 1913 he was appointed Solicitor-General in the Borden administration and in 1915 was sworn of the Privy Council for Canada. He became Secretary of State and Minister of Mines in 1917, and the same year was made Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General for Indian Affairs. In 1918 he went to England with the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Borden, to attend the Imperial Conference. Following the retirement of Sir Robert Borden in 1919 he was chosen to succeed him as leader of the Union Government. He became Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs July 10 1920, and was appointed a member of the King’s Privy Council in October of the same year. He attended the conference of Prime Ministers in London in June 1921. But he resigned office on the heavy defeat of his party at the elections in December.

Opposition leader and Prime Minister Again

Meighen continued to lead the Conservative Party (which had reverted to its traditional name), and was returned to Parliament in 1922.

Because of the possibility of losing a vote in the Commons, due to insufficient numbers, while Meighen and his ministers were in the process of being re-elected (a relic of British law dating to 1701 that was repealed in Canada in 1938), Meighen advised that the Governor General make the ministers of the Crown “acting”only, and not take the oath of office. King created an uproar about this tactic, attracting Progressive support to take down the government. Byng called the Canadian federal election, 1926, and Meighen himself was again defeated. His second term as Prime Minister lasted just three months.

Meighen resigned as Conservative Party leader shortly thereafter, and moved to Toronto to practice law.

Senate appointment and Comeback attempt

Meighen was appointed to the Senate in 1932. He served as Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister without Portfolio from February 3, 1932, to October 22, 1935. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1935 until he resigned from the upper house in January 1942.

In late 1941, Meighen was prevailed upon by a unanimous vote in a national conference of the party to become leader of the Conservative Party for the duration of the war. He accepted the party leadership on November 13, 1941. As leader, Meighen continued to champion the concept of a National Government including all parties, which the party had advocated in the 1940 federal election. Such an arrangement had been seen in Canada during World War I, and was also used in Britain during World War II. However, Canadians did not support this idea.

Following his second political retirement, Meighen returned to the practice of law in Toronto.

 

Further Reading

  • The greatest Englishman of history. Toronto : S.B. Gundy; Oxford University Press, 1936. 39 p.
  • The greatest Englishman of history. Fort Erie, Ont. : The Review Co.; 1954. 43 p.
  • Overseas addresses, June-July 1921. Toronto : Musson Book Co.; 1921. 82 p.
  • Unrevised and unrepented II : debating speeches and others by the Right Honourable Arthur Meighen ; foreword by Prime Minister Stephen Harper ; afterword by Senator Michael A. Meighen ; edited by Arthur Milnes.
  • Kingston, Ont. : School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University ; Montreal : McGill-Queen’s University Press [distributor]; c2011. xiv, 321 p.
  • Unrevised and unrepented; foreword by M. Grattan O’Leary.
  • Toronto : Clarke, Irwin & Co.; 1949. 470 p.
  • Twenty-five years afterwards by Arthur Meighen [et al.].
  • [Ottawa] : League of Nations Society in Canada; 1939. 20 p.

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

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