Eldon Mattison Woolliams, (12 April 1916 – 24 September 2001) 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 ...

politician and lawyer. Wooliams served as a Progressive Conservative Party member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Rosetown, Saskatchewan Rosetown is a town in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan, at the junction of provincial Saskatchewan Highway 7, Highway 7 and Saskatchewan Highway 4, Highway 4, approximately 115 kilometres southwest of S ...

, and his career included law and education. He was shadow Justice Minister and Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. As a 'Perry Mason' style trial lawyer, he had over two dozen murder trials where he won the cases as barrister for the accused. He was a descendant of

Sir Matthew Hale Sir Matthew Hale (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise ''Historia Placitorum Coronæ'', or ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. Born to a barrister and ...

Lord Chief Justice of England The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English an ...

. Woolliams first represented Alberta's Bow River electoral district. His first attempt to win the riding in the 1957 federal election was unsuccessful, but he would defeat incumbent

Charles Edward Johnston Charles Edward Johnston (February 12, 1899 – December 1, 1971) was a teacher and a long serving Canadian politician. He served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada for the opposition federal Social Credit party from 1935 to 1958. He m ...

in the 1958 election. Woolliams was re-elected there in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

Career

In the 1960s, Woolliams was one of the main friends of

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...

's top friends, and they had fought defense trials together in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He was responsible with colleague

Erik Nielsen Erik Hersholt Nielsen (February 24, 1924 – September 4, 2008) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the longtime Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Yukon, and was Leader of the Opposition and the third deputy pr ...

in bringing pressure on the Pearson and Trudeau governments, and a few cabinet ministers, particularity the Justice Minister, had to resign their portfolios. When the ridings were redrawn in 1966, Woolliams was elected in the

Calgary North Calgary North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1997. This riding was created in 1952 from parts of the Bow River, Calgary West, and East Calgary ridings. T ...

riding in the 1968 election and was re-elected there in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. In his last years in the House of Commons, he sat on the front bench of the Conservatives and remained a formidable opponent of Liberal policies of the governments of Pierre Trudeau. Chiefly, as Shadow Justice Minister, Woolliams in many speeches warned of the Napoleonic legal philosophy of the Liberals and that the socio-political engineering, such as Trudeau's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, would erode ancient British guarantees of individual rights in favour of a politically-correct philosophy of group rights and legislation from the Supreme Court of Canada, which, he believed, would erode democracy and true justice and freedom. It was a singular blow for him that he was not given the Justice Ministry under new Conservative leader

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

in 1979. He warned against Clark's exclusion of the Quebec Creditists, which caused the minority government to be defeated over the 1980 budget after only nine months. Woolliams left national politics in 1980 and did not campaign in that year's national elections after he had served eight successive terms from the 24th to the

31st Canadian Parliament The 31st Canadian Parliament was a briefly lived parliament in session from October 9 until December 14, 1979. The membership was set by the 1979 federal election on May 22, 1979, and it was dissolved after the minority government of Joe Clark ...

s. The Clark government was defeated in the 1980 elections by a rejuvenated Liberal regime still under Trudeau. After the return of the Conservatives to power under

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

, Woolliams served in the capacity of emeritus adviser and Chairman of the Justices Commission, which was given more financial resources for its time on the bench.

Later life and legacy

He studied at Saskatchewan Teacher's College and the University of Saskatchewan and was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

. Diefenbaker called Woolliams the best defense trial lawyer in Canada during his day. He also was made special Lecturer on Peace through Law in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, during his service in the Canadian Parliament. A scholarship fund in his name exists at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

College of Law.

References

Sources

Eldon M Woolliams QC, barrister, Supreme Court of Canada reported cases (online) and decisions

CBC Archives: Eldon Woolliams QC MP, as Justice Critic, role in Tory Opposition to the Trudeau Omnibus Bill (1968)liberalizing abortion, homosexuality, no-fault divorce etc., & TV interview by the CBC's Barbara Frum

External links

* Televised Participation in House of Commons Questions & Debates, https://web.archive.org/web/20160611132541/http://www.cpac.ca/en/digital-archives/?search=Woolliams Eldon M Woolliams Archives at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary: http://www.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/woolliams.cfm {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolliams, Eldon M 1916 births 2001 deaths Canadian King's Counsel Lawyers in Saskatchewan Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs People from Rosetown University of Saskatchewan alumni University of Saskatchewan College of Law alumni 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada