Gideon Robertson
The Hon. Gideon Decker Robertson | |
---|---|
Senator for Welland, Ontario | |
In office January 20, 1917 – August 25, 1933 | |
Appointed by | Robert Borden |
Personal details | |
Born | Conservative | August 26, 1874
Cabinet | Minister Without Portfolio (1917–1918) Minister of Labour (1918–1921 & 1930–1932) |
Gideon Decker Robertson,
Robertson was a
Winnipeg General Strike
On November 8, 1918, Robertson became Minister of Labour.
He held this portfolio in 1919 during the
Robertson ordered federal government employees to return to work or lose their jobs.
On June 17, he ordered the arrest of the twelve principal strike leaders, including
Robertson earned the longstanding enmity of the left and labour movement for his role in the strike. Despite his background, most of the working class did not consider him a legitimate representative of workers.
Minister of Labour under two prime ministers
Robertson retained his position as labour minister when Arthur Meighen became Prime Minister of Canada until the government's defeat in the 1921 federal election.
Robertson returned to government when R. B. Bennett's Conservatives won the 1930 election, and again became Minister of Labour, but remained unpopular with his constituents.
When visiting Winnipeg in 1932, six thousand workers met him at the railway station with the slogan: "A Faker Comes to Town." He stepped down as Labour minister in February and died in Ottawa the next year, two weeks after being paralyzed by a stroke.[1]
References
- ^ "Former Labor Minister, 59, Dies at Ottawa". The Winnipeg Tribune. August 26, 1933.