Roy McMurtry
Encyclopedia
Roland "Roy" McMurtry, OC
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

, OOnt
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to...

 (born May 31, 1932) is a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 and former politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and the current Chancellor of York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

.

Early life

McMurtry was born in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 and educated at St. Andrew's College
St. Andrew's College (Aurora, Ontario)
St. Andrew's College, also known as SAC, is an independent school founded in 1899 located in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. It is a university-preparatory school for boys in grades 6 to 12, with a focus on academic achievement, athletics, and leadership development...

, graduating in 1950. He received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, Trinity College
University of Trinity College
The University of Trinity College, informally referred to as Trin, is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Trinity was intended by Strachan as a college of strong Anglican alignment, after the University of Toronto severed its ties with the Church of...

 in 1954, and a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree from Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School is a Canadian law school, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and affiliated with York University. Named after the first Chief Justice of Ontario, William Osgoode, the law school was established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889 and was the only accredited law...

 in 1958. While attending university, he was admitted to the Zeta Psi
Zeta Psi
The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college fraternity. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the North-American...

 fraternity and became a close friend of future Premier of Ontario
Premier of Ontario
The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...

 William Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...

, his Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

 teammate. While studying he was hired to teach football at Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...

. He was a trial lawyer for seventeen years before entering politics.

Political career

In the 1960s, he worked with Dalton Camp
Dalton Camp
Dalton Kingsley Camp, PC, OC was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Despite having never been elected to a seat in the House of Commons, he was a prominent and influential politician and a popular...

 and Norman Atkins to remove John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...

 as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

.

McMurtry suffered a back injury during the 1971 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership convention
Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership conventions
This page lists the results of leadership elections within the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario .Before 1920, leaders of the Conservative Party were usually chosen by caucus...

, and was able to exempt himself from choosing between Davis and rival candidate Allan Lawrence, whose campaign was managed by Atkins. Davis defeated Lawrence by 44 votes on the final ballot. A few weeks later, McMurtry organized a meeting which brought together the Davis and Lawrence leadership teams. The resulting alliance, known as the Big Blue Machine
Big Blue Machine
The Big Blue Machine was a nickname for the group of strategists and advisors to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in Ontario, Canada, in the 1970s and 1980s. The moniker was coined by journalist Claire Hoy of the Toronto Star in April 1971...

, dominated the Progressive Conservative Party into the 1980s.

Entering the legislature

Allan Lawrence resigned his St. George constituency in late 1972 to move to federal politics, and McMurtry was recruited by Davis as the Progressive Conservative candidate for a March 1973 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

. He was unexpectedly defeated by Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...

 candidate Margaret Campbell
Margaret Campbell
Margaret Campbell was an American character actress in silent films.-Career:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Campbell had been the leading lady of the Bramhall Players and appeared on Broadway in revivals of Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice during the early 1910s...

, a well-known municipal politician. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

 two years later, in the 1975 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1975
The Ontario general election of 1975 was held on September 18, 1975, to elect the 125 members of the 30th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....

, defeating Liberal candidate Frank Judge in the Eglinton
Eglinton (provincial electoral district)
Eglinton was a provincial electoral district located in Toronto, Ontario. From 1926 until 1999 it elected members to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. At its abolishment in 1999 it consisted of the neighbourhoods of Davisville and Lawrence Park in the north end of the old city of Toronto. It was...

 electoral district.

Attorney-General

Davis won a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

 in the 1975 election, and McMurtry was immediately appointed to cabinet as Attorney-General. He held this position until 1985 and also served as Solicitor-General from 1978 to 1982. He introduced a large number of law reform bills,l and was largely responsible for family law reform in Ontario. In 1978, he took the first steps to make Ontario's legal system bilingual and to start the process of translating Ontario's statutes into French.

McMurtry was also the provincial minister responsible for emergency planning. During the 1979 Mississauga train derailment, he largely deferred to Mayor Hazel McCallion
Hazel McCallion
Hazel McCallion, née Joueneaux, CM is the mayor of Mississauga, Ontario. McCallion has been Mississauga's mayor for years, holding office since 1978...

 who was the public face of the crisis handling.

Patriating the Constitution

McMurtry was a Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...

, and was one of Davis's closest advisers in government. As Attorney-General, he played a major role in brokering the deal that achieved patriation
Patriation
Patriation is a non-legal term used in Canada to describe a process of constitutional change also known as "homecoming" of the constitution. Up until 1982, Canada was governed by a constitution that was a British law and could be changed only by an Act of the British Parliament...

 of the Canadian Constitution and the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A late night "kitchen accord" between McMurtry, Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

 and Roy Romanow
Roy Romanow
Roy John Romanow, PC, OC, QC, SOM is a Canadian politician and the 12th Premier of Saskatchewan ....

 in November 1981 broke a deadlock in negotiations, and resulted in all provinces except Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 signing on to the Constitution, which came into law the following year.

Susan Nelles prosecution

One of McMurtry's lowest points was his role in the prosecution of nurse Susan Nelles
Susan Nelles
The Toronto Hospital Murders were the poisoning deaths of babies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children between June 1980 and March 1981. Susan Marguerite Nelles , who worked there as a nurse, was charged in March 1981 with murdering four babies...

, who was charged with the murder of a number of infants at the Hospital for Sick Children
Hospital for Sick Children
The Hospital for Sick Children – is a major paediatric centre for the Greater Toronto Area, serving patients up to age 18. Located on University Avenue in Downtown Toronto, SickKids is part of the city’s Discovery District, a critical mass of scientists and entrepreneurs who are focused on...

 in Toronto. The charges were dropped following a preliminary hearing and Nelles was exonerated by the Grange Commission, a royal commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

 called upon to examine the deaths. McMurtry was criticized for his ministry's role in her wrongful prosecution. In a 2007 interview, McMurtry, looking back at the incident, said "I can remember that I had been away with my family on a school break, when I came back and saw the headlines, I brought in my deputy attorney-general, and said: 'What the hell is going on here? You've had a nurse arrested at one of the world's most famous hospitals?' " McMurtry said that local prosecutors failed to consult the ministry before consenting to the charges and that examining the case McMurtry had doubts that Nelles had exclusive access to all of the children.

Bathhouse raids

He was also Attorney-General at the time of the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids
1981 Toronto bathhouse raids
Operation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police against four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which took place on February 5, 1981...

 which were widely denounced as one of the most socially regressive acts in the province's history. At the time it was widely believed that the raids were approved by McMurtry. In a 2007 interview, however, McMurtry said that this was not the case. "The irony of the whole thing was that I had expressed my concern to the chief of police; that it really looked like we were dissolving into a police state. The whole thing looked terrible. Without a doubt, that was one of my most frustrating experiences," said McMurtry.

Leadership race

When Davis resigned as Progressive Conservative leader and premier in 1985, McMurtry sought the party's leadership at the party's January 1985 leadership convention
Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership conventions, 1985
In 1985, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party held two leadership elections: one in January, and one in November.-The January Convention:The January convention was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to choose a replacement for William Davis, who had served as Ontario PC leader and Premier...

. He started as the underdog in the campaign, but impressed many delegated through his performance in candidates' debates and polling data showing him as the preferred choice of Ontario voters. During the contest, McMurtry was sometimes criticized for remaining too long in one portfolio. While his opponents all had diverse ministerial experience, McMurtry's expertise was focused more narrowly on matters of legal jurisprudence. His supporters included Robert Elgie
Robert Elgie
Robert Goldwin Elgie is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller. His father, Goldwin Elgie, was also a Conservative Ontario...

, Frank Drea
Frank Drea
James Francis Drea was a Canadian journalist, broadcaster, politician and racehorse enthusiast.-Background:...

, Reuben Baetz
Reuben Baetz
Reuben Conrad Baetz was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller. Baetz was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.Baetz was born in Chesley, Ontario...

 and Bob MacQuarrie
Bob MacQuarrie
Robert Waldron MacQuarrie was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1985, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party....

.

McMurtry won a total of 300 votes on the first ballot, considerably more than he had been expected to win. It was not sufficient, however, to place better than fourth in a field of four, after Frank Miller
Frank Miller (politician)
Frank Stuart Miller, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 19th Premier of Ontario for four months in 1985.-Early life and political career:...

, Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Roy Timbrell is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of William Davis and Frank Miller.-Early life and career:...

 and Larry Grossman
Larry Grossman
Lawrence "Larry" Sheldon Grossman was a politician in Ontario, Canada.-Early years:Born in Toronto, Grossman was the son of Allan Grossman, who had represented a downtown Toronto riding in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for twenty years after defeating Ontario's last Communist Member of...

. He was eliminated from the contest and gave his support to Grossman, a fellow Red Tory.

McMurtry's support was enough to move Grossman into second place on the second ballot, ahead of the more centrist Timbrell. Timbrell's delegates were divided on the last ballot, which allowed the conservative Miller to win the convention. Miller gave McMurtry the option of remaining as Attorney-General in the new government, but he declined and announced his retirement from politics.

Diplomatic career

On February 4, 1985, Canadian External Affairs Minister
Secretary of State for External Affairs (Canada)
Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs was, from 1909 to 1993, the member of the Cabinet of Canada responsible for overseeing the federal government's international relations and the former Department of External Affairs...

 Joe Clark announced that McMurtry had been appointed to succeed Donald Jamieson as Canada's High Commissioner
High Commission of Canada in London
The High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom in London is the diplomatic mission from Canada to the United Kingdom. It is housed in two buildings in London.-History:...

 to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. He served in this capacity until 1988. Upon his return to Canada, he resumed his law practice and became chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

.

Judicial career

He was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Superior Court (Trial Division) in Ontario in 1991, and became Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 of that court in 1994. He became Chief Justice of Ontario in 1996, heading the entire court system in the province, and leading the Court of Appeal for Ontario. That court gained a degree of public attention in 2003 when it ruled in Halpern v. Canada (Attorney General)
Halpern v. Canada (Attorney General)
Halpern v. Canada, [2003] O.J. No. 2268 is a notable June 10, 2003 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario where the Court found that the common law definition of marriage, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, violated section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and...

that provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...

 guaranteeing equality under the law require the Province of Ontario to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...

. For this, the Globe and Mail named McMurtry and his fellow judges the "Nation Builders of 2003."

In the weeks prior to his retirement, McMurtry was widely praised as being a unifying force and consensus-builder during his tenure as Chief Justice.

"Under Chief Justice McMurtry's leadership, we pulled together and we worked hard, and the chief justice reached out to the bar and he sought their support, and he got it," said Court of Appeal Judge Michael Moldaver in a speech. "Thanks to his courage, leadership and vision, we now have an appeal process that is capable of delivering quality justice in a timely and efficient manner."

"I don't want to paint him as the Next Coming, but he has been a great uniter," said Clifford Lax, a veteran Toronto civil litigator. "He is a really very nice person who is able to find common ground. In a quiet, unassuming way, he has won a lot of converts to what he has done."

During his term McMurtry also acted as the Mayor of Toronto's race relations commissioner, and helped create Pro Bono Access Ontario which helps provide free legal services to the poor and encourages lawyers to provide pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...

 services. He has also been involved with the Ontario Justice Education Network, a program which educates youth at risk about the justice system.

McMurtry is credited with helping transform a backlogged and sometimes fractious court into a highly efficient, harmonious body.

Personal life

Roy McMurtry is married to Ria Jean Macrae with whom he has six children. His eldest son, Jim McMurtry ran as a Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

, placing second to Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 Russ Hiebert.

McMurtry is a landscape painter, originally taught by A.J. Casson and has donated pieces to charity auctions.

Honours

In 2007, he was awarded the Order of Ontario
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to...

. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

 "for his distinguished career of public service, notably as chief justice of Ontario, and for his extensive volunteer involvement in many social and multicultural initiatives".

External links

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