Sydney John Smith, (September 23, 1892 - July 15, 1976), 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, farmer, rancher and businessman who served as

Speaker of the Senate of Canada The speaker of the Senate of Canada () is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada. The speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary privilege, and presides over debat ...

from 1966 to 1968.

Life and work

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

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 ...

, Smith was educated at Lisgar Collegiate Institute before moving to

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

with his family. He studied at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

through

correspondence courses Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and played football with the

Regina Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

as well as working as an automobile salesman."Hon. Sydney John Smith." (sp-31Smith-e.htm). Parliament of Canada, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. . He eventually settled in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan where he became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

and then

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

from 1921 to 1925. Smith attempted to win a

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

in the

Saskatchewan legislature The Saskatchewan Legislature is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor as representative of the King of Canada, and the unicameral assembly called the Legislative Assembly. The legislature has existed since Saskatchewan was formed out of ...

as a Liberal in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

but was defeated. He then moved to

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

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 ...

where he raised cattle and grew hops as well as involving himself in selling automobile sales and heavy equipment. He organized several businesses, Sydney Smith Ltd., Sydney Smith U Drive Ltd., Sydmar Estates Ltd., and the Highway Equipment Co. Ltd., among others, and held a number of directorships in other firms. In 1951 and 1952 he was chairman of the British Columbia Hospital Insurance Inquiry Board. Smith entered British Columbia politics in the 1949 provincial election and was elected as MLA for the Kamloops riding for the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

(then in a coalition with the Conservative Party) but was defeated after one term with much of the rest of the

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

caucus (his successor in the Kamloops seat was

Phil Gaglardi Philip Arthur Gaglardi (January 13, 1913 – September 23, 1995), often known as Flying Phil, was a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He served in the provincial Cabinet from 1952 to 1972. Private and family life Gaglardi ...

, who would become a member of the new

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

cabinet). He served as president of the British Columbia Liberal Association from 1953 to 1959 and was summoned to the Senate on January 3, 1957, on the advice of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Louis St. Laurent Louis Stephen St. Laurent (; February 1, 1882 – July 25, 1973) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 12th prime minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957. Born and raised in southeastern Quebec, St. Laurent was a leading la ...

. He was appointed Speaker of the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

in early 1966 on the advice of

Lester Pearson Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...

and served for two years. He stepped down as Speaker in September 1968 and then resigned from the Senate on December 31 due to ill health. He died in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

in 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sydney John 1892 births 1976 deaths Businesspeople from Ottawa BC United MLAs Politicians from Ottawa Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the United Church of Canada Speakers of the Senate of Canada Canadian senators from British Columbia 20th-century Canadian businesspeople 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 20th-century members of the Senate of Canada