Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen, PC , QC , BA , LL.D (June 16, 1874 – August 5, 1960) was the ninth Prime Minister of Canada from July 10, 1920, to December 29, 1921, and June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister from Western Canada and the only, so far, from the Province of Manitoba. Both of his terms were brief, and the second was unprecedented and arose partially out of conflicts between the Governor General of Canada and Meighen's rival, William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Background

Meighen was born in Anderson, Ontario, Canada to Joseph Meighen and Mary Jane Bell. He graduated from the University of Toronto, earning a B.A. in Mathematics in 1896. In 1904 he married Isabel J. Cox (1882 - 1985) with whom he had two sons and one daughter. In 1990, one of his grandsons, Michael Meighen was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Meighen experimented in several professions, including those of teacher, lawyer and businessman, before becoming involved in politics as a member of the Conservative Party. In public, Meighen was a top class debater, and was known for his sharp wit.

Cabinet

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1908, defeating incumbent John Crawford in the Manitoba riding of Portage la Prairie. He was re-elected in 1908 and 1911, and again in 1913 after being appointed Solicitor-General (at the time, newly appointed Ministers had to seek re-election).

Meighen served as Solicitor-General from June 26, 1913, until August 25, 1917, when he was appointed Minister of Mines and Secretary of State for Canada. In 1917, he was mainly responsible for implementing conscription. Noteworthy was the government's decision to give votes to conscription supporters (soldiers and their families), while denying that right to potential opponents of conscription such as immigrants. Meighen was again shifted on October 12, 1917, this time to the positions of Minister of the Interior and Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

He was re-elected in the December 1917 federal election that saw Borden's Unionist (wartime coalition) government defeating the Opposition Laurier Liberals over the conscription issue.

As Minister of the Interior, Meighen steered the largest piece of legislation ever enacted in the British Empire through Parliament - creating the Canadian National Railway Company, which continues today. Meighen was re-appointed Minister of Mines on the last day of 1920. In 1919, as acting Minister of Justice and senior Manitoban in the government of Sir Robert Laird Borden, Meighen helped put down the Winnipeg General Strike by force.

First Term

Meighen became leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and Prime Minister on July 7, 1920, when Borden resigned. He would quickly call an election.

Meighen fought the 1921 election under the banner of the National Liberal and Conservative Party in an attempt to keep the allegiance of Liberals who had supported the wartime Unionist government. However, his actions in implementing Conscription hurt his party's already-weak support in Quebec, while the Winnipeg General Strike and farm tariffs made him unpopular among labour and farmers alike. The party was defeated by the Liberals led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, and Meighen was personally defeated in Portage la Prairie, falling to third place behind the newly-formed Progressive Party. He continued to lead the Conservative Party (which had reverted to its traditional name), and returned to parliament in 1922 for the eastern Ontario riding of Grenville.

Opposition leader

Meighen's term as opposition leader was most marked by his response to the crisis at Chanak, in which Colonial secretary Winston Churchill leaked to the newspapers that the Dominions might be called upon to help British forces in the area. King refused to commit to sending troops, resenting the way Churchill went above the Dominion leader's heads. King used the rationale that Parliament should decide, and that the matter was not important enough to recall Parliament. Meighen strongly condemned his action, saying in a Toronto hotel, "When Britain's message came, then Canada should have said, 'Ready, aye ready, we stand by you.'" When the crisis died down within days, Meighen was left with a reputation as blindly in favour of Britain's interests.

Meighen and King, unlike Laurier and Borden, had a very personal distrust and hatred for each other. Meighen looked down on King, whom he called "Rex" (King's old University nickname), and considered him unprincipled.

The Liberal government of Mackenzie King was soon beset with scandals and corruption. Much of this was uncovered in a Royal Commission established to probe wrongdoing in Quebec, and in particular, in connection with building the Beauharnois Canal. The Tories won a plurality of seats in the inconclusive election of 1925, but King was able to hold onto power until 1926 through an alliance with the Progressives. Meighen denounced King staying in power, saying he was holding on to office like a "lobster with lockjaw."

A scandal in the Customs department was soon discovered, making the Progressives wary of supporting King. When King was on the verge of losing a vote in the Commons in 1926, he asked the Governor General, Lord Byng, to call an election. Despite every effort to cling to power, Mackenzie King's shaky government was defeated in the House of Commons. King resigned and Meighen was invited to form a government, having secured a measure of support from the opposition farm parties. This became known as the "King-Byng Affair", an attack by Mackenzie King on the Governor General's right to refuse an election request by a prime minister.

Second term

Because of the possibility of losing a vote in the Commons while Meighen and his ministers were re-elected (a relic of British law dating to 1701 that was repealed in Canada in 1938), Meighen made his ministers "acting" ones, and did not give them the oath of office. King made an uproar about the situation, attracting Progressive support to take down the government. The government lost the confidence of the House by one vote. With no other parliamentary grouping to call upon, Byng called an election. Meighen's party was swept from office, and Meighen himself was again defeated in Portage la Prairie. He resigned as Conservative Party leader shortly thereafter.

Afterward

Meighen was appointed to the Senate in 1932 by R.B. Bennett. He served as Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister without Portfolio from February 3, 1932, to October 22, 1935.

In 1941, Meighen was prevailed upon to become leader of the Conservative Party again. He resigned his Senate seat on January 16, 1942, and campaigned in a by-election for the Toronto riding of York South. According to custom, the Liberals would not run a candidate in the riding. But King, still harbouring a deep hatred for Meighen and thinking that the ardently conscriptionist Meighen coming back into the Commons would further imflame the conscription crisis, would send resources to the CCF's Joseph Noseworthy. Meighen would go down to defeat, and once again withdrew from public life.

Arthur Meighen died in Toronto, Ontario, aged 86, on August 5, 1960, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, St. Mary's, Ontario, near his birthplace.

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