Morrison Mann MacBride (August 20, 1877 June 5, 1938) was a politician in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He was a 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 ...

who represented the riding of Brant South from 1919 to 1926 and the riding of

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

from 1934 to 1938. He served in the cabinet of

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 ...

. He entered politics as a member of the Labour party. From 1934 to 1937 he served as an Independent and from 1937 to 1938 he was a member of the Liberal party.

Background

Born in White Lake, Ontario in 1877 to Archibald MacBride and Janet Strang. MacBride was educated nearby in

Arnprior Arnprior is a town in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Arnprior has experienced significant growth in populations with the widening of the Ontario Highway 417 to four lanes. The town experienced an increase in population by 8.4% from 2011 to 2 ...

. He was the nephew of John Ferguson, who represented Renfrew South from 1887 to 1900, and was also related to

Richard McBride Sir Richard McBride, (December 15, 1870 – August 6, 1917) was a British Columbia politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 ...

, a former Premier of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He was married to Louisa Elizabeth Hoff in 1899. He learned the printing trade and reported for the ''Ottawa Free Press''. In 1900, MacBride went to

to play with its

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

team until 1903. From 1904 to 1905, he worked in the composing room of the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...

'', and in 1908 he returned to Brantford to set up a printing company there. MacBride was also a poet (in a style similar to that of Edgar Guest), having published many poems over the years through various media, and his works were collated and published in several volumes after his death.

Politics

MacBride was elected as an alderman in Brantford in 1917 and went on to become mayor four separate times, from 1918 to 1920, in 1925, from 1933 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1937. Always active in pursuing economic opportunities for his city, he once met Herbert Fisk Johnson, Sr. on a train, and convinced him to set up the Canadian head office of S. C. Johnson & Son in Brantford. He represented Brant South in the

from 1919 to 1926 as a Labour member. MacBride broke with the

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

-Independent Labour Party coalition that took power following the election after the Labour contingent voted to nominate Walter Rollo rather than MacBride for the position of Minister of Labour. MacBride, however, argued that his departure from the caucus was due to its acquiescence to the United Farmers in the selection of cabinet members. MacBride remained a Labour MLA but sat in the Opposition benches and ran for re-election as a Conservative-Labour candidate in 1923. After his second term in the legislature ended in 1926, he did not run for re-election and was appointed Supervisor of Highways by the Conservative provincial government of

Howard Ferguson George Howard Ferguson (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to ...

. He returned to the legislature in the 1934 provincial election, representing

from 1934 to 1938 as an Independent Liberal member. He served as Minister of Labour in the provincial cabinet from 1937 to 1938. He died in Brantford in 1938, while still in office.

Cabinet positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macbride, Morrison Mann 1877 births 1938 deaths Labour MPPs in Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Mayors of Brantford People from Renfrew County 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario