Robert Winters

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Winters

Robert Henry Winters PC (born August 18, 1910 in Lunenburg , Nova Scotia , † October 10, 1969 ) was a Canadian politician of the Liberal Party of Canada who was a minister several times.

Life

University degree, World War II and Member of the House of Commons

After attending school, Winters completed an undergraduate degree in engineering , which he completed with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He completed a subsequent postgraduate course with a Master of Science (M.Sc.). He completed another law degree with a doctorate in law (LL.D.) and later worked as an engineer.

During the Second World War , Winters did his military service as an engineer with the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps between 1939 and 1945 and was most recently promoted to lieutenant colonel.

In the election of June 11, 1945 , Winters was elected a member of the House of Commons for the first time and represented the constituency of Queens-Lunenburg in Nova Scotia until his defeat in the election of June 10, 1957 .

He took his first government office on June 30, 1947 as Parliamentary Assistant to James Joseph McCann , Minister for National Income in the 16th Canadian Cabinet of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King . Most recently he was Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transport in King's Cabinet, Lionel Chevrier, between June 11 and November 15, 1948 . During that time, in 1948, he also served as chairman of a commission to investigate complaints from Walter H. Kirchner, secretary of the British Columbia Canadian War Veterans Association , about the veterans' retirement and medical treatment.

Federal Minister and candidacy for the chairmanship of the Liberal Party

In Canada's 17th Cabinet , which Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent formed on November 15, 1948, Winters was initially Minister for Reconstruction and Supply. He held this office until January 18, 1950 and was then Minister for Resources and Development until September 16, 1953, and then Minister for Public Works until the end of Saint-Laurent's term on June 20, 1957.

In the election of November 8, 1965 , Winters ran successfully for a mandate in the House of Commons and represented the constituency of York West in Ontario until June 24, 1968 .

On January 4, 1966, he was Prime Minister Lester Pearson in the 19th Cabinet of Canada appointed in which he assumed the office of the Minister of Trade and Industry. He resigned from this office on February 28, 1968, but Pearson did not accept his resignation until March 29, 1968.

On April 6, 1968, after Pearson's resignation, Winters was one of the candidates for the position of chairman of the Liberal Party and won in the first ballot of 2,388 delegates after Pierre Trudeau (752 votes, 31.5 percent) and Paul Hellyer (330 votes, 13.8 percent) came third with 293 delegate votes (12.3 percent). In the second ballot, 964 (40.5 percent) of the 2,379 delegates voted for Trudeau, while Winters received 473 votes (19.9 percent). In the third ballot, Trudeau got 1051 delegate votes (44.2 percent) and Winters 621 votes (26.1 percent), before Trudeau finally in the fourth and last ballot with 1203 votes (50.9 percent) before Winters, who this time got 954 (40.3 percent) came to be elected leader of the Liberal Party. The third remaining candidate, John Turner , only had 195 of the 2,365 delegates (8.2 percent).

After this defeat, Winters withdrew from political life and died just 18 months later.

Publications

  • Canadian business and its managerial challenges , London, British Institute of Management, 1966

Web links and sources

personal data
SURNAME Winters, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winters, Robert Henry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian Liberal Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Lunenburg , Nova Scotia
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1969