Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen (1874-1960) was a Canadian lawyer and prime minister. He was one of the most respected Conservative leaders of government despite his espousal of several unpopular laws.

Arthur Meighen was born on June 16, 1874, near St. Mary's, Ontario, to parents of Ulster stock. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1896, and after a brief period as a high school teacher he went west to Winnipeg. He was called to the Manitoba bar in 1902 and took up the practice of law in the growing town of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, where his ability and unrelenting hard work soon made him a leading citizen. In 1904 he married Isabel Cox, a schoolteacher recently arrived from Quebec.

Meighen was elected to Parliament as Conservative member for Portage la Prairie in 1908 and reelected in 1911, when the new Conservative ministry of Robert Borden was formed. In 1913 Meighen became solicitor general of Canada and in 1917 was appointed secretary of state. Among Canadian political leaders of the day, he was without superior as a parliamentary debater and public speaker; his oratorical skills were frequently employed in defense of the protective tariff and the maintenance of close ties with Britain.

During World War I Meighen assumed an increasing role in the government and was a key figure in formulating and defending several controversial measures, including the act imposing conscription for overseas military service and the Wartime Election Act, which took the franchise away from citizens of enemy-alien origin naturalized since 1902 while giving it to the female relatives of members of the armed forces. When the Conservatives joined with a sector of the Liberal party in October 1917 to form a union government organized under Borden's leadership and committed to the enforcement of conscription, Meighen became minister of the interior. He was primarily responsible for the legislation which nationalized several railways to form the Canadian National Railways system.

On Borden's retirement on July 10, 1920, Meighen became prime minister and held office until the government was defeated in the general election of December 1921. At the conference of Dominion prime ministers in 1921 his pro-British sentiments did not inhibit him in opposing British policy and preventing the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.

At the end of five years as leader of the opposition, Meighen faced the electors again in the election of 1925 but failed to win a clear majority, largely because of the hostility of French-Canadian voters, who continued to resent conscription. When Mackenzie King resigned in 1926, Meighen formed a minority government which was shortly defeated in Parliament and subsequently lost a general election. Thereupon Meighen retired from public life to pursue business interests and the study of Shakespeare in Toronto.

Meighen returned in 1932 as government leader in the Senate and held that position until the defeat of Richard Bedford Bennett's Conservative ministry in 1935. During World War II Meighen again accepted the leadership of the Conservative party, espousing conscription and national government once more, but he resigned after his defeat in a by-election in 1942. He died in Toronto on Aug. 5, 1960.

Further Reading

Some of Meighen's public addresses are in Unrevised and Unrepented (1949). An excellent three-volume biography is Roger Graham, Arthur Meighen (1960-1966). The last phase of Meighen's political career is discussed in J. L. Granatstein, The Politics of Survival: The Conservative Party of Canada, 1939-1945 (1967). □

Meighen, Arthur (b. 16 June 1874, d. 5 Aug. 1960). Prime Minister of Canada 1920–1, 1926 Born at Anderson (Ontario), he graduated from the University of Toronto and opened a law practice in Manitoba. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative (Progressive Conservative Party) in 1908, and became Solicitor-General under Borden, 1913–17. As Minister of the Interior (1917–20) he was responsible for some of the most important legislation of World War I, such as the creation and nationalization of Canadian National Railways and the introduction of compulsory military service overseas. His suppression of the general strike in Winnipeg (1919) earned him the lasting hostility of the labour movement. Nevertheless, he became leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister in 1920. He lost the 1921 general elections owing to the rise of the Progressive Party, though the Conservatives recovered sufficiently to become the largest party in 1925. Mackenzie King's government with the support of the Progressive Party collapsed in 1926, whereupon Meighen formed a minority government which lasted three months. Defeated in the ensuing elections, he retired as party leader. In 1932 he entered the Senate, and in 1941 was recalled to lead the Conservatives. He failed to enter the House of Commons in a by-election in 1942, however, and withdrew from politics.

Arthur Meighen , 1874–1960, Canadian political leader, b. Ontario. A lawyer, he began his career in Manitoba. Entering (1908) the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal-Conservative, he became solicitor general (1913), secretary of state and minister of mines (1917), and minister of the interior (1917). He was chosen prime minister in 1920 but resigned in 1921 after his defeat in the general election. As leader of the Conservative party, Meighen was again prime minister in 1926 but resigned within the year. In 1932, Richard B. Bennett appointed him to the Senate, from which he resigned in 1941 to contest a seat for the House of Commons. Defeated, he retired to private life.

Meighen, Arthur (1874–1960) Canadian Conservative politician, Prime Minister (1920–21; 1926). Meighen advocated a protective system of trade tariffs. His second term was curtailed by his party's defeat in the House of Commons and at the subsequent general election.