Richard Squires

Sir Richard Squires, Prime Minister of Dominion Newfoundland 1921

Sir Richard Anderson Squires KCMG (born January 18, 1880 in Harbor Grace , Newfoundland , † March 26, 1940 in St. John's , Newfoundland) was a Canadian politician of the Liberal Reform Party and two-time Prime Minister of the Dominion Newfoundland .

Life

Squires founded the People's Party in 1907 , which was already the strongest opposition party in parliament in the House of Representatives elections in 1908 . However, he himself missed a parliamentary seat by only five votes in these elections. However, since the elections ended with a stalemate of 18 seats each for his People's Party and the Liberal Party of the previous Prime Minister Sir Robert Bond , the latter resigned, so that Edward Morris of the People's Party became the new Prime Minister.

In the early elections called by this, the People's Party won a large majority of 26 of the 36 seats in the House of Representatives and Squires also got a seat in parliament, which he lost again in the general elections in 1913.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Morris appointed him in 1914 as Attorney General and a member of the Legislative Council. The need to encourage more volunteers to go to war in World War I led to a united legislative front and ultimately to the formation of an all-party government in 1917 , the so-called National Government , in which Morris remained Prime Minister. As part of this government reshuffle, Squires handed the office of Attorney General to William Frederick Lloyd of the Liberal Party, while he himself became Colonial Secretary.

After Morris resigned on December 31, 1917, a new National Government was formed in which Lloyd became Prime Minister on January 5, 1918. Squires turned down the offer of a ministerial office and in 1919 became chairman of the Liberal Reform Party.

On November 17, 1919, as Prime Minister, he formed a coalition government of Liberals and Fishermen's Protective Union . In 1921 he was raised to the personal nobility as Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and has held the title Sir ever since . When, due to disagreements within the government and allegations of corruption against Squires, four ministers resigned, he finally resigned on July 24, 1923 from the post of prime minister.

Demonstration in front of the parliament building in April 1932

In the elections to the House of Representatives in 1928, the Squires-led Liberal Party achieved an election victory, so that on November 17, 1928 he became Prime Minister of the Dominion Newfoundland for the second time . During the Great Depression to the Great Depression more than 10,000 protesters gathered on April 5, 1932 before the House of Representatives. After a delegation of demonstrators was denied access to the Parliament building, the crowd forcibly entered the Parliament building. Squires, who barely escaped the angry crowd, then dissolved parliament and set new elections for June 11, 1932.

Not only did the Liberal Party suffer a defeat in this, but he also lost his seat in the House of Representatives and remained politically active in opposition to the British Commission that administered the country.

Individual evidence

1. ^ SJR Noel: Early corruption in Newfoundland. In: Kenneth Gibbons (Ed.): Political Corruption in Canada. Cases, causes and cures. McClelland and Stewart in association with the Institute of Canadian Studies, Carleton University, Toronto 1976, ISBN 0773582010 , pp. 33-41.