Oliver Aiken Howland, (April 18, 1847 – March 9, 1905) was a

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

lawyer and a political figure in both Toronto city politics and at the provincial level. He represented Toronto South in 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 1894 to 1898 and was mayor of

from 1901 to 1902. He was born in Lambton Mills,

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

(later

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...

) in 1847, the son of Sir

William Pearce Howland Sir William Pearce Howland, (29 May 1811 – 1 January 1907) was a Canadian politician who served as the second Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, from 1868 to 1873. As a member of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada from November 1 ...

, and was 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 ...

. He studied law with

Matthew Crooks Cameron Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron, (2 October 1822 – 25 June 1887) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1878. He represented the riding of Toronto East. He served ...

, was called to the bar in 1875 and set up practice in Toronto. Howland was later named

King'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 ...

. He was a vice-president of the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was ...

and served on the council of the Canadian Institute from 1894 to 1895. He authored several books: ''The Irish problem as viewed by a citizen of the Empire'' (1887); ''The New Empire - reflections upon its origin and constitution and its relation to the great republic'' (1891), in which he reprinted views he had previously presented in columns in the Toronto ''Week''. He also was an advocate of electoral reform calling for

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. Shortly after his mayoralty, Toronto began to use

cumulative voting Cumulative voting (sometimes called the single divisible vote) is an election system where a voter casts multiple votes but can lump votes on a specific candidate or can split their votes across multiple candidates. The candidates elected are tho ...

to elect the board of control. He was first elected as an MPP in 1894 and to the mayor's chair in Toronto in 1901. Howland was president of the Internal Deep Waterways Association and chairman of the Canadian branch of the International Commission on Deep Water Ways. He was also a director of Bishop Ridley College. He was also a member of the

Orange Order in Canada The Loyal Orange Association in Canada, historically the Loyal Orange Association in British America and also known as the Loyal Orange Association of Canada, Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch ...

. Howland was appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) during the visit to Toronto of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

and Queen Mary) in October 1901. His older brother William Holmes Howland also served as 25th Mayor of Toronto a decade and a half earlier.

References

* * * * 1847 births 1905 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Mayors of Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Toronto alumni Upper Canada College alumni Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Canadian King's Counsel Canadian people of American descent 19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario {{Ontario-mayor-stub