Andy Thompson

Andrew Ernest Joseph Thompson (born December 14, 1924 in Belfast , Northern Ireland , † February 3, 2016 in Canada ) was a Canadian politician . Thompson was chairman of the Ontario Liberal Party and later a senator . He was elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1959 for the Dovercourt constituency, west of Old Toronto . In 1964 he was elected chairman of the Ontario Liberal Party. Due to health problems, he withdrew from the party leadership at the end of 1966. In 1967 he was appointed to the Canadian Senate, which is why he gave up his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In 1997 and 1998 he received media attention because he was very rarely present in the Senate in the previous ten years. This was due to his ongoing health problems. In 1998 he was the first senator to have his office staff, salary and expenses cut. He resigned and retired a month later.

Early years

Andy Thompson was born in Belfast and attended Monkton Combe School in England and Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto . He then studied from 1942 to 1943 at the University of Toronto before joining the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II , where he served on minesweepers. In 1946 he left the Navy with the rank of lieutenant. He finished his studies in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts at Queen's University . In 1949 he received a Master of Social Work from the University of British Columbia . Thompson worked in the civil service and was special assistant to Liberal Party leader Lester Pearson . In 1959 he married Amy Riisna, whom he had met at a conference of the Liberals in Couchiching. They lived with their daughter on St. George Street in Toronto.

Provincial politician

Thompson was first elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in 1959 for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Dovercourt constituency of Toronto. Thompson was friends with Minister Walter L. Gordon , who was running in the same constituency at the federal level.

Thompson made a name for himself in the Legislative Assembly in March 1964 when he attacked Attorney General Fred Cass for Bill 99 , which changed police law to allow Ontario police to interrogate people in secret. This led to the designation as the Police State Bill . The scandal forced Cass to resign and significantly improved Thompson's reputation. In the fall of 1964 he was elected party chairman and prevailed against Charles Templeton in the sixth ballot .

Thompson suffered a physical breakdown. He had other health problems, including heart murmurs , high blood pressure, and influenza. On the advice of his doctor, Thompson gave up the party leadership in November 1966 without ever having led the party in an election. The office was taken over by Robert Nixon .

senator

Thompson was appointed to the Senate on April 6, 1967. His career in the Senate was relatively uneventful, but in 1997 he was criticized for having the worst attendance rate of all senators at the time. Thompson claimed he was unable to attend Senate sessions because of his illness, but continued to receive his salary by attending the sessions for a few days at the beginning of each session. However, the Senate's rules did not impose any restrictions as long as two consecutive sessions were not completely missed, and Thompson could provide medical certificates.

Due to growing media attention for Thompson's absence, the Reform Party made her a cause celebre and pointed out that he lived in Mexico . To raise awareness of the issue, Reform Party MPs hired a mariachi band and distributed burritos in the Senate lobby. Thompson was cited as an example of why Senate reform was needed.

The attention led to Thompson being expelled from the Liberal caucus on November 19, 1997 . On December 12, 1997, Senator Colin Kenny called on him to appear before the Senate to declare his absence. On December 16, the Senate voted in favor of this call. On February 19, a subcommittee recommended Thompson's expulsion from the remainder of the session. The Senate voted to deprive him of all privileges. His salary and allowances were later suspended because he did not show up to explain his absence. In December 1997, Thompson lost his senatorial office. Some senators considered the suspension too lenient and favored expulsion from the Senate. Thompson resigned on March 23, 1998 (20 months before his planned retirement) but was still able to receive a pension.

The affair resulted in the Senate adopting stricter rules for its members and increasing penalties for absenteeism from too many meetings. Thompson died on February 3, 2016 at the age of 91.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Van Praach: A New Contender for the Liberals . In: The Globe and Mail , March 23, 1964, p. 7. 
2. ^ New look in schools Andy Thompson goal . In: Toronto Daily Star , June 6, 1959, p. 2. 
3. ^ Betty Cameron, Mrs. Thompson Brings Glamor to Politics . In: The Globe and Mail , September 21, 1964, p. 11. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} THOMPSON, The Hon. Andrew, BA, MSW . In: Parliamentary File, Parliament of Canada . The Queen's Printer for Canada. 2012. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013.
5. ^ ^{A b} Donald C. MacDonald: The Happy Warrior: Political Memoirs , 2nd edition, Dundurn Press, Toronto 1998, ISBN 978-1-55002-307-7 , p. 139.
6. ^ David Van Praagh: The quiet Ulsterman . In: The Globe and Mail , January 16, 1965, p. A6. 
7. ↑ Fred Schindler: John Saywell (Ed.): Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs for 1964 . University of Toronto Press, 1965, pp. 115-116.
8. ^ ^{A b} Arthur Brydon: Thompson: a figure on the sideline . In: The Globe and Mail , September 16, 1967, p. 7. 
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Estanislao Oziewicz: Absentee senator ousted from Liberal caucus: worst attendance record prompts move by Prime Minister . In: The Globe and Mail , November 20, 1997, pp. A1, A15. 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Senate votes to suspend truant without pay , CBC News. February 18, 1998. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. 
11. ↑ ^{a b} Missing senator ordered to show up for work , CBC News. February 10, 1998. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. 
12. ^ Senate debates . Government of Canada. December 12, 1997.
13. ^ Senate debates . Government of Canada. December 16, 1997.
14. ^ Senate debates . Government of Canada. February 19, 1998.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Senate votes to suspend Andrew Thompson , CBC News. February 19, 1998. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. 
16. ↑ Obituary: Senator Andrew Thompson . Toronto Star. February 27, 2016.

Web links

• Andy Thompson - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history