Arthur Ellis (February 28, 1890 – October 19, 1964) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

lawyer and politician. He was

mayor of Ottawa The mayor of Ottawa () is head of the executive branch of the Ottawa City Council. The mayor is elected alongside the city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in office, mayors are styled ' ...

from 1928 until 1929.Dave Mullington "Chain of Office: Biographic Sketches of Ottawa's Mayors (1847-1948)" (Renfrew, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 2005) He was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, the son of Ottawa mayor James A. Dent Ellis. Arthur Ellis studied at

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart (architect), John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is n ...

, was called to the Ontario bar in 1913 and set up practice in Ottawa. He served on the Ottawa school board in 1916 and 1917 before being elected to Ottawa city council where he served as an alderman in 1920 and then on the Board of Control for six years beginning in 1921. After two terms as mayor of Ottawa, he was elected in the 1929 provincial election to the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

, representing

Ottawa South Ottawa South () is a federal Electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is represented in the House of Commons of Canada by David McGuinty, brother of former Premier of Ontario and Ottawa South Member of Pro ...

for the Conservative Party. He was rumoured to be in line to become

Provincial Treasurer In Canadian politics the Provincial Treasurer is a senior portfolio in the Executive Council (or cabinet) of provincial governments. The position is the provincial equivalent of the Minister of Finance and is responsible for setting the provincia ...

but was consigned to the backbench when

Joseph Monteith Joseph Dunsmore Monteith (June 2, 1865 – January 8, 1934) was an Ontario MLA for Perth North from 1923 to 1934. He was treasurer from 1926 to 1930 and Minister of Labour, Public Works and Highways from 1930 to 1934. Monteith, a physicia ...

defied pundits by retaining his seat in the legislature in the 1929 election. After the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...

under

Mitchell Hepburn Mitchell Frederick Hepburn (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th premier of Ontario, from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, becoming premier at age 37. He was the only Ontario Liberal Party leader in the ...

took power in the 1934 provincial election Ellis moved to the Opposition bench where he achieved prominence as finance critic.Biographical Sketches of the Early Mayors of Ottawa
by James Mullington, page 137-140. On November 25, 1935, he struck and killed a pedestrian on Highway 15 north of

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

and was charged with

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

. He was acquitted in 1936, but the notoriety of the incident hurt his chances as a candidate in the Ontario Conservative leadership convention, held several weeks after the trial, in which he placed seventh with ten votes. He remained in the legislature until 1937 when he retired from politics. In 1940, as the result of a separate incident, Ellis was convicted of driving while drunk and sentenced to 30 days in jail."Ex-Mayor Jailed for Drunk Driving", ''Toronto Daily Star'', February 10, 1940 He had been charged after he hit a traffic cop's motorcycle, failed to stop, and hit a parked car following a chase. An open bottle of wine was found in the front seat of Ellis' car.

References

* ''Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1931'', AL Normandin

External links

Member's parliamentary history for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Arthur 1890 births 1964 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Mayors of Ottawa Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Lawyers in Ontario Canadian people of English descent 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario