Tobias Norris

Tobias Norris

Tobias Crawford Norris (born September 5, 1861 in Brampton , Upper Canada , † October 29, 1936 in Toronto ) was a Canadian politician . From 1896 to 1903 and from 1907 to 1928 he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba . Between May 12, 1915 and August 8, 1922, he ruled the province of Manitoba as Prime Minister. He was also chairman of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1910 to 1927 .

biography

Norris moved to Manitoba with his family and initially tried his hand at farming . Over time, he turned into a professional auctioneer and became known throughout much of western Canada for this activity . As a member of the Manitoba Liberal Party, he entered the legislative assembly elections in January 1896 and won the Lansdowne constituency. He did not receive a ministerial post in Thomas Greenway's cabinet . In July 1903 he was defeated by the conservative candidate Harvey Hicks by 16 votes. Almost four years later, in March 1907, he took revenge: he returned to parliament at Hicks's expense and was one of the leading figures in the liberal opposition. In 1910 he took over the party chairmanship.

On May 12, 1915, the Conservative Prime Minister Rodmond Roblin was forced to resign over a corruption scandal involving the construction of the new parliament building in Winnipeg , and Norris formed a transitional government. The Liberals achieved an overwhelming success in the early elections in August 1915 (40 out of 47 seats). Norris' government implemented numerous reform projects. This included the introduction of women's suffrage , compulsory schooling for all children up to 14 years of age, state accident insurance and a minimum wage .

The initially agricultural basis of the province changed and the proportion of industrial workers increased. But their wages fell behind those of other employees. From May 15, 1919, 52 unions organized the Winnipeg general strike , which lasted until June 26. The provincial government largely stayed out of the conflict and watched the violent intervention of the federal police, which resulted in thirty injured and one death, inactive. In the June 1920 elections, the Liberals lost an absolute majority and had to form a minority government under pressure from the United Farmers and the Socialists.

In the elections on July 18, 1922, the Liberals suffered a severe defeat. The victorious United Farmers had no actual chairman and had to appoint one of their MPs before they could take over the government. On August 8, 1922, Norris resigned from office to John Bracken . In 1927 he resigned as party chairman, a year later as a member of parliament. He then worked as chairman of the railway commission.

Web links

• Biography on the Manitoba Historical Society website
• Article by Tobias Crawford Norris in the Canadian Encyclopedia