Thomas Langton Church (1873 – February 7, 1950) was a Canadian politician. After serving as

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

from 1915 to 1921, he was elected to 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 ...

in the 1921 election as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

from the riding of Toronto North. He was defeated in the 1930 election in

Toronto West Centre Toronto West Centre was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1935. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Toronto Centre and Toronto West rid ...

, but returned to Parliament as Member of Parliament (MP) for Toronto East in a 1934

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. He remained in the House of Commons until his death in 1950. As mayor, Church was strongly backed by the ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed wit ...

'' and opposed by the ''

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

''. He was occasionally mocked in the pages of the ''Star'' by

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

who was, at the time, a reporter for the paper. Late in his career as an MP, Church denounced the newly formed

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

as "modern tower of Babel", for "which Canada and Great Britain should not allow their interests to be the play thing." In the House of Commons in June 1936, he protested against the requirement of bilingual banknotes in the Bank of Canada Act for banknotes to be introduced as the 1937 Series, stating there was no authority for it in the

British North America Act The British North America Acts, 1867–1975, are a series of acts of Parliament that were at the core of the Constitution of Canada. Most were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and some by the Parliament of Canada. Some of the a ...

, and that it had not been an issue during the 1935 federal election. He favoured printing dual-language banknotes (distinct English and French banknotes) as had been done for the 1935 Series. 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 ...

Notes

References

External links

Thomas Langton Church fonds
Archives of Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Thomas Langton 1870 births 1950 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Mayors of Toronto Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada