Eugene Alfred Forsey (May 29, 1904 – February 20, 1991) served in the
Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Senate is modelled after the B ...
from 1970 to 1979. He was considered to be one of Canada's foremost constitutional experts.
Biography
Forsey was born on May 29, 1904, in
Grand Bank
Grand Bank or 'Grand Banc' as the first French settlers pronounced it, is a small rural town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of 2,580. It is located on the southern tip or "toe" of the Burin Peninsula (als ...
in the
Newfoundland Colony. He attended
McGill University in
Montreal,
Quebec.
Forsey was a supporter of the
Conservative Party led by
Arthur Meighen until he went to
Balliol College,
Oxford, on a
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
during which he was converted to
democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self- ...
. Upon returning to Canada, he joined the
League for Social Reconstruction, and was a delegate at the founding convention of the
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1933 in
Regina.
In 1924 Forsey was employed by
Vincent Massey as a tutor for the two Massey boys at their Batterwood home near
Canton, Ontario. This was an old farmhouse and property that the Masseys had bought in 1918 on rising land backed by rolling hills and facing Lake Ontario a few miles to the south.
Forsey was free to enjoy Massey's extensive library, and also socialized with the many visitors. These included academics from the
University of Toronto and politicians such as the son of
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
, the British Prime Minister.
Massey at this time was about to enter public life, although his more immediate concern was the health of the family business.
From 1929 to 1941, Forsey served as a lecturer in economics and political science at McGill University. He later taught Canadian government at
Carleton University in Ottawa and Canadian government and Canadian
labour history at the
University of Waterloo. From 1973 to 1977, he served as chancellor of
Trent University.
While he had become a social progressive, he remained a "Constitutional conservative", and wrote his
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* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
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* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
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** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
thesis on the
King–Byng Affair, defending the positions of Arthur Meighen and Governor-General
Lord Byng of Vimy
Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, (11 September 1862 – 6 June 1935) was a British Army officer who served as Governor General of Canada, the 12th since the Canadian Confederation.
Known to friends as "Bung ...
. The thesis was published in 1943 as ''The Royal Power of Dissolution of Parliament''. This was one of very few major works on the
reserve powers of the Crown in
Commonwealth of Nations countries.
Forsey was president of the CCF in
Quebec in the 1930s. He spent a number of years working for the CCF, and then as research director for the
Canadian Congress of Labour
The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) was founded in 1940 and merged with Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) to form the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in 1956.
Founding
In 1939, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) supporters we ...
and its successor, the
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
History Formation
The CLC was ...
(CLC). He was a candidate for the party in the Ottawa area
riding of
Carleton in a 1948
by-election, but lost to the new
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader
George Drew. When asked why he lost he famously quipped that it was because the other candidate received more votes. He ran and lost again in the
1949 election.
In 1958, Forsey, though still a CCF member, was appointed by the Progressive Conservative government of
John Diefenbaker to the
Board of Broadcast Governors, the predecessor of the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
. He remained in that position until he resigned in 1962 because of policy differences.
Shortly after the formation of the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
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*
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from the alliance of the CLC with the CCF, Forsey resigned from the party because of its constitutional policy which viewed Quebec as a nation within Canada. Later in the 1960s, he was attracted to the views of
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada
The prime mini ...
on the
Canadian constitution, and joined the
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
upon being appointed to the Senate in 1970. He retired from the upper house on reaching the age of 75 in 1979, and turned down an offer from the Liberals to run for a seat in the
House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Common ...
. He opposed the emergence of Quebec nationalism. Québecor leaders objected that the word "dominion" indicated that Ottawa would have control over Quebec. Under Prime Minister
Louis St-Laurent, compromises were reached that quietly, and without legislation, "dominion" was retired in official government names, titles and statements, usually replaced by "federal". Dominion Day remained until in May 1980 when a private member's bill to replace the name with
Canada Day
Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...
was unexpectedly passed in the House. In the Senate, Forsey and the Monarchist League of Canada strongly defended the traditional usage. When a Gallup poll showed 70 percent of all Canadians favoured the change, the Senate approved the bill without a recorded vote. He subsequently resigned from the Liberal Party in 1982 due to disagreements with the proposed changes to the
Constitution of Canada.
In 1968, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1988. He was appointed to the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada on June 10, 1985.
In his many commentaries on constitutional issues, especially the
reserve powers of the Crown, Forsey was a conspicuous supporter of the action of the Governor-General of Australia,
Sir John Kerr, in dismissing the Prime Minister,
Gough Whitlam, in the
1975 constitutional crisis because his government was unable to obtain supply (approval to spend money) from the parliament and refused to call a general election.
In retirement Forsey published a study of the labour movement in 1982, ''Trade Unions in Canada, 1812–1902''. His publication ''How Canadians Govern Themselves'' is perhaps his most enduring legacy, being a simple yet comprehensive guide to Canadian government that is continuously edited and published with
posthumous credit.
Forsey's daughter, Helen Forsey, was a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the
2006 federal election in the riding of
Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington
Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada which was represented in the House of Commons of Canada between 2004 and 2015. It was abolished for the 2015 general election; the Lanark County and F ...
.
Honours and awards
* Forsey was appointed as an Officer of the
Order of Canada on 20 December 1968 giving him the
post-nominal letters
Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"OC" for life. This was changed when he was upgraded to Companion of the
Order of Canada on 17 November 1988, giving him the post-nominal letters "CC" for life.
* He was sworn in as a Member of the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 10 June 1985 giving him the honorific prefix "
The Honourable" and the post-nominal letters "PC" for life.
;Honorary degrees
* Forsey received many
honorary degrees for his political career and his work as a constitutional scholar. These include
Selected bibliography
Works by Forsey
* ''A Life on the Fringe: The Memoirs of Eugene Forsey''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990.
How Canadians Govern Themselves 10th ed. () 2020
How Canadians Govern Themselves 8th ed. () Ottawa: Canada, 2012 (1st ed. 1980, 2nd ed. 1988, 3rd ed. 1990).
* ''Freedom and Order''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974.
* ''The Royal Power of Dissolution in the British Commonwealth''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1938; reprinted 1968; reprinted with a new introduction by Eugene Forsey in 1990 in ''Evatt and Forsey on the Reserve Powers'', (ed. by
George Winterton).
* ''Our Present Discontents'' (The George C. Nowlan Lectures). Wolfville: Acadia University, 1968.
Works about Forsey
*Forsey, Helen. ''Eugene Forsey, Canada's Maverick Sage''. Toronto: Dundurn, 2012.
*Hodgetts, J.E. ''The Sound of One Voice: Eugene Forsey and His Letters to the Editor''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
*''Evatt and Forsey on the Reserve Powers'': Legal Books, 1990.
*
Donald Markwell, "Canada's Best", ''The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs'', 1990/1991.
* Appendix 3: Two Constitutional Scholars: Sir
Kenneth Wheare
Sir Kenneth Clinton Wheare, CMG (26 March 1907 – 7 September 1979) was an Australian academic, who spent most of his career at Oxford University in England. He was an expert on the constitutions of the British Commonwealth. He advised constitut ...
and Dr Eugene Forsey.
*
Archives
There is a Eugene Forsey
fonds at
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
.
Electoral record
See also
*
List of University of Waterloo people
References
External links
*
''How Canadians Govern Themselves'', current edition from Library of Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsey, Eugene
1904 births
1991 deaths
Canadian non-fiction writers
Canadian political scientists
Canadian Rhodes Scholars
Canadian senators from Ontario
Canadian university and college chancellors
Canadian Christian socialists
Chancellors of Trent University
Companions of the Order of Canada
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Canadian people of English descent
Liberal Party of Canada senators
McGill University alumni
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Members of the United Church of Canada
Canadian monarchists
People from Grand Bank
University of Waterloo faculty
Labor historians
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Historians of Canada
20th-century Canadian historians
Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association
20th-century political scientists