The Rowell–Sirois Commission , officially known as the Royal Commission on Dominion–Provincial Relations , was a Canadian Royal Commission that looked into the Canadian economy and federal–provincial relations. It was called in 1937 and reported in 1940.
21-639: The Commission was chaired first by Newton Rowell and then by Joseph Sirois . James McGregor Stewart acted as chief counsel. It was called as a result of the Great Depression . The attempts to manage the Depression by the government illustrated grave flaws with the Canadian constitution . While the federal government had most of the revenue gathering powers, the provinces had unexpectedly greater expenditure responsibilities. The founders had given
42-559: A bill in 1918 for extending the franchise to women; it passed without division. This tactic split the Liberal Party: those who did not join the Unionist Party ran as Laurier Liberals . The election resulted in a landslide election victory for Borden. Borden attempted to continue the Unionist Party after the war and when Arthur Meighen succeeded him in 1920, he renamed it the " National Liberal and Conservative Party " in
63-562: A result, Rowell was the maternal grandfather of former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Hal Jackman and former Senator Nancy Ruth . There is a Newton Wesley Rowell fonds at Library and Archives Canada . Unionist Party (Canada) The Unionist Party was a centre to centre-right political party in Canada , composed primarily of former members of the Conservative party with some individual Liberal members of Parliament . It
84-462: The 1911 federal election . Rowell spoke across Ontario to promote both Laurier's plan for a Canadian Navy and the trade reciprocity agreement that had been negotiated between the federal government and the United States against the opposition of prominent Liberal business leaders, who feared that free trade would be extended to manufacturing. Later that year, Rowell was chosen to lead
105-523: The House of Commons of Canada in the 1900 federal election but was defeated in York East . Returning to his law practice, Rowell was made King's Counsel in 1902. He became senior partner in his law firm (Rowell, Reid, and Wood) and had a prominent legal career. He returned to politics in 1911. Though not a candidate, he was a prominent campaigner supporting the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier during
126-711: The Methodist Church . Rowell led the Ontario Liberal Party from 1911 to 1917 and put forward a platform advocating temperance . Rowell's Liberals failed to oppose the Whitney government's passage of Regulation 17 which restricted the teaching of the French language in schools and alienated the province's French-Canadian minority. Rowell was born in London Township, Ontario . He ran for
147-736: The Ontario Bar Association from 1927 to 1930 and as national president of the Canadian Bar Association from 1932 to 1934. In 1936, he was appointed Chief Justice of Ontario . He is also noted for being the first chair of the 1937 Rowell–Sirois Commission into Dominion-Provincial economic relations and for being a founding leader of the United Church of Canada . Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it had ow as in now – row-ELL. His daughter Mary wed Harry Jackman in 1930. As
168-735: The Ontario legislature and broke with Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party of Canada to join the national Unionist government of Sir Robert Borden as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917 . He was appointed to Borden's government as President of the Privy Council of Canada in October 1917 and was also made vice-chairman of the government's War Committee, which gave him primary responsibility for organizing
189-553: The "Unionist Party" composed of Borden's Conservatives, independent MPs, and members of the Liberals who left Laurier's caucus to support conscription. Supporters of the Borden government ran for parliament as "Unionists", while some of the Liberals running as government supporters preferred to call themselves " Liberal-Unionist ". Prime Minister Borden pledged himself during the 1917 campaign to equal suffrage for women. He introduced
210-493: The Conservative party. In May 1917, Conservative Prime Minister Borden proposed the formation of a national unity government or coalition government to Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier in order to enact conscription and to govern for the remainder of the war. Laurier rejected this proposal because of the opposition of his Quebec MPs and fears that Quebec nationalist leader Henri Bourassa would be able to exploit
231-546: The Conservatives include Hugh Guthrie and Robert Manion . Following the defeat of Meighen's government, the "National Liberal and Conservative Party" changed its name to the "Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada", although it was commonly known as the "Conservative Party". During World War II , the Conservatives opposed the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King in the 1940 election by campaigning for
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#1732776560278252-555: The Ontario Liberal Party, despite not having a seat in the legislature, after the incumbent leader, Alexander Grant MacKay , was forced to resign shortly before the beginning of that year's election campaign. He was elected to the legislature in the 1911 provincial election (representing Oxford North ) and became Leader of the Opposition . In 1917, Rowell, a supporter of conscription during World War I , left
273-719: The Persons Case. In 1903, he had founded the firm that is now known as McMillan LLP . In 1929, he argued and won the Persons Case, concerning whether women were eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate . The Supreme Court of Canada said that they were not, but Rowell successfully appealed the case to the Privy Council in London in a landmark decision for female equality in Canada. Rowell served as president of
294-569: The hope of making the coalition permanent. The Unionists had never been officially a single party, and therefore lacked the structure of an official party and Meighen hoped to change this. In the 1921 general election , most of the Liberal-Unionist MPs did not join this party and ran as Liberals under the leadership of its new leader, William Lyon Mackenzie King . Only a handful ran again as Liberal-Unionists or joined Meighen's renamed party. Prominent Liberal-Unionists who stayed with
315-407: The provinces each year. Other recommendations were not adopted because of resistance from the provinces or the federal government. This Canadian history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Newton Rowell Newton Wesley Rowell , PC KC (November 1, 1867 – November 22, 1941) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, judge, and lay leader in
336-420: The provinces responsibility for health care , education , and welfare when they were only minor concerns, but by 1937, however, they had all become massive expenditure areas. The Commission recommended for the federal government to take over control of unemployment insurance and pensions . It also recommended the creation of equalization payments and large transfers of money from the federal government to
357-529: The situation. Public opinion in Quebec was heavily against conscription, influencing the Liberal opposition to it due to the large number of Liberal MPs from Quebec. As an alternative to a coalition with Laurier, on October 12, 1917, Borden formed the Union government with a Cabinet of twelve Conservatives, nine Liberals and Independents, and one "Labour" member. To represent "labor" and the working class , Borden
378-764: The war effort and enforcing conscription. He went on to win a seat in the House of Commons as the Unionist MP for Durham in the December 1917 federal election . Rowell attended meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet in London, England, along with other senior Canadian ministers. In 1919, he was given added responsibilities as Canada's first Minister of Health. Rowell declined to join the government of Borden's successor, Arthur Meighen , in 1920, and he did not run for re-election to parliament in 1921 . After
399-779: The war, Rowell served as a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations and became involved in international affairs. He also helped lead the Methodists into a merger with Presbyterians to form the United Church of Canada . As a lawyer, Rowell had one of the strongest litigation practices in Toronto, arguing many cases before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , including Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) , better known as
420-681: Was appointed to the Cabinet Conservative Senator Gideon Decker Robertson who had been appointed to the Senate in January and had links with the conservative wing of the labor movement through his profession as a telegrapher. Robertson, however, was a Tory and not a member of any Labour or socialist party. Borden then called an election for December 1917 on the issue of conscription (see also Conscription Crisis of 1917 ), running as head of
441-472: Was formed in 1917 by MPs who supported the " Union government " formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War , who formed the government through the final years of the war, and was a proponent of conscription . It was opposed by the remaining Liberal MPs, who sat as the official opposition. The Unionist Party continued to exist until 1922, at which time the Conservative elements re-formed
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