Edward Arunah Dunlop, (June 27, 1919 – January 6, 1981) was a politician in

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, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of 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 ...

from 1963 to 1971 who represented the

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ridings of Forest Hill and then York-Forest Hill. He briefly served as a cabinet minister in the government of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

Background

He was born in

Pembroke, Ontario Pembroke ( ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario at the confluence of the Muskrat River (Ontario), Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley, northwest of Ottawa. Though containing the administrative headquarters of Renfre ...

, the son of

Edward Arunah Dunlop Edward Arunah Dunlop (October 26, 1876 – January 1, 1934) was a Canadian industrialist and politician. He served as a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the leg ...

, and educated at

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. His father served as an MPP for nearly 20 years and was provincial treasurer in the 1930s. His grandfather, Arunah Dunlop was an MPP in the 1890s and his great uncle was a member in the 1870s. He married Dorothy Joyce Tupper, the granddaughter of Sir

Charles Hibbert Tupper Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper (August 3, 1855 – March 30, 1927) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. Family, early career Tupper was the second son of Sir Charles Tupper, a physician, leading Conservative politician, and Canadian diplomat. The ...

, in 1944. They had two children, Edward (Ted) and Charlotte. Dunlop served with

The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada is a Primary Reserve regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces, based in Toronto. The regiment is part of 4th Canadian Division's 32 Canadian Brigade Group. It is the only reserve regiment in Canada to currently have ...

from 1937 to 1944, reaching the rank of major. He was blinded in 1943 after attempting to dispose of a grenade dropped by another soldier during a training exercise. Dunlop became an officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1946. He went on to serve as director of the Casualty Rehabilitation Division of the

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. He was the first president for the

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. Dunlop was also national director for the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society (CARS) and served on the national council for the

CNIB The CNIB Foundation () is a Canadian charitable organization and volunteer agency dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 as th ...

. He was named a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1980. He died from cancer in 1981, at the age of 61.

Politics

In the 1963 provincial election, Dunlop ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the

of Forest Hill Kent West. He defeated

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

candidate Stan Midacik by 2,273 votes. In

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, his riding was renamed as York-Forest Hill even though the boundaries remained the same. He defeated NDP candidate Leon Kumove by 3,649 votes. He served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

supporter of the government of

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Roba ...

. During his tenure, he served as chair of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections and as chair of the Select Committee on redrafting the provinces election laws. He was one of the few Conservative MPPs to vote against the party on what he called a matter of principle. He was against the "wishy-washy" practice of abstaining from controversial votes. In 1971, when

became Premier, he was appointed to cabinet as a

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

. Dunlop announced his retirement from politics in May 1970, well before his appointment to cabinet. He said that two terms was "a sufficient part of a man's career." He wanted to devoted more time to his job as director of CARS and spend more time with his family.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlop, Edward A 1919 births 1981 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Members of the Order of Canada People from Pembroke, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Queen's Own Rifles of Canada soldiers Canadian blind people Blind politicians Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the George Medal Upper Canada College alumni Canadian military personnel from Ontario Queen's Own Rifles of Canada officers Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian politicians with disabilities 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario