Eugene Forsey
Eugene Forsey | |
|---|---|
 Forsey while a professor at McGill University | |
| Senator for Nepean, Ontario | |
| In office October 7, 1970 – May 29, 1979 | |
| Nominated by | Pierre Trudeau |
| Appointed by | Edward Schreyer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Eugene Alfred Forsey May 29, 1904 Grand Bank, Newfoundland |
| Died | February 20, 1991 (aged 86) |
| Political party |
|
| Spouse |
Harriet Roberts (m. 1935) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | McGill University Balliol College, Oxford |
| Thesis | The Royal Power of Dissolution of Parliament in the British Commonwealth (1941) |
| Influences | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Political science |
Eugene Alfred Forsey PC CC FRSC (May 29, 1904 – February 20, 1991) served in the Senate of Canada 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
.Forsey was a supporter of the
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.[1] 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, the British Prime Minister.[2] Massey at this time was about to enter public life, although his more immediate concern was the health of the family business.[3]
From 1929 to 1941, Forsey served as a lecturer in economics and political science at McGill University. He later taught Canadian government at
While he had become a social progressive, he remained a "Constitutional conservative", and wrote his
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 and its successor, the Canadian Labour Congress (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. He remained in that position until he resigned in 1962 because of policy differences.
Shortly after the formation of the
In 1968, he was made an Officer of the
In his many commentaries on constitutional issues, especially the
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
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.[6]
Honours and awards
- Forsey was appointed as an Officer of the post-nominal letters "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.[7]
- 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.[8]
- Honorary degrees
- Forsey received many honorary degrees for his political career and his work as a constitutional scholar. These include
| Province | Date | School | Degree |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | May 1962 | University of New Brunswick | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [9]
|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | May 1966 | Memorial University of Newfoundland | Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) [10] |
| Quebec | 30 May 1966 | McGill University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [11]
|
| Saskatchewan | 4 November 1967 | University of Saskatchewan | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [12]
|
| Nova Scotia | 1967 | Acadia University | [13] |
| Ontario | 1968 | University of Toronto | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [14]
|
| Ontario | 1968 | University of Waterloo | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [15]
|
| Nova Scotia | 1971 | Dalhousie University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [16]
|
| Ontario | Fall 1972 | York University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [17]
|
| New Brunswick | 1973 | Mount Allison University | Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) [18] |
| Ontario | 1976 | Carleton University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [19]
|
| Ontario | Fall 1978 | Trent University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [20]
|
| Ontario | May 1984 | McMaster University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [21]
|
 |
Selected bibliography
Works by Forsey
- A Life on the Fringe: The Memoirs of Eugene Forsey. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990.
- How Canadians Govern Themselves Archived 2022-07-07 at the ISBN 978-1-100-20078-1) 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.
- ISBN 9781925501155. Appendix 3: Two Constitutional Scholars: Sir Kenneth Wheareand Dr Eugene Forsey.
- Milligan, Frank (2004). Eugene A. Forsey: An Intellectual Biography. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 978-1-55238-118-2. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
Archives
There is a Eugene Forsey fonds at Library and Archives Canada.[22][23]
Electoral record
| 1953 Canadian federal election: Carleton | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | George Drew | 20,137 | 55.25 | +2.26 | ||||
| Liberal | John H. McDonald | 14,676 | 40.26 | –0.45 | ||||
| Co-operative Commonwealth | Stewart I. Crawford | 1,075 | 2.95 | –3.35 | ||||
| Social Credit | Eric Kingsley Fallis | 562 | 1.54 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 36,450 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | +1.36 | ||||||
| 1949 Canadian federal election: Carleton | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | George Drew | 18,141 | 52.99 | –23.28 | ||||
| Liberal | John H. McDonald | 13,937 | 40.71 | |||||
| Co-operative Commonwealth | Eugene Forsey | 2,155 | 6.30 | –14.63 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 34,233 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | –32.00 | ||||||
| Canadian federal by-election, 20 December 1948 On the resignation of G. Russell Boucher, 1 November 1948 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | George Drew | 12,284 | 76.27 | +14.01 | ||||
| Co-operative Commonwealth | Eugene Forsey | 3,371 | 20.93 | +13.46 | ||||
| Social Credit | J. Nelson McCracken | 451 | 2.80 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 16,106 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | +0.28 | ||||||
See also
References
- ^ Milligan 2004, p. 19.
- ^ Milligan 2004, p. 20.
- ^ Milligan 2004, p. 21.
- ^ Alan Rayburn, Naming Canada: Stories about Canadian Place Names (2001) pp 17–22.
- Sir John Kerr, Matters for Judgment, Macmillan, 1978.
- ^ "Canada's New Democrats". Archived from the original on 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
- ^ Services, Government of Canada, Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Information and Media. "Order of Canada". archive.gg.ca.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Office, Privy Council; privé, Bureau du Conseil. "Privy Council Office". www.pco-bcp.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
- ^ "INTRODUCTION - POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE". www.lib.unb.ca.
- ^ Honorary degrees [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Honorary Degrees - University of Saskatchewan". library.usask.ca.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees - Acadia University". www2.acadiau.ca.
- ^ Degree recipients utoronto.ca
- ^ "1960 - 1969 - Secretariat". 22 May 2012.
- ^ "1892 - 1999 Honorary Degree Recipients - Convocation - Dalhousie University". Archived from the original on 2013-05-06. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients - University Secretariat". secretariat.info.yorku.ca.
- ^ "Mount Allison University". Mount Allison University. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees Awarded Since 1954 - Senate". carleton.ca.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Home". University Secretariat. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Library and Archives Canada, Finding Aid to Eugene Forsey fonds, part 1" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-06-18.
- ^ "Library and Archives Canada, Finding aid to Eugene Forsey fonds, part 2" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-06-18.
External links
- Eugene Forsey – Parliament of Canada biography
- How Canadians Govern Themselves Archived 2009-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, current edition from Library of Parliament
- Obituary, New York Times
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