Hugh Guthrie

Guthrie was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1900 from the riding of Wellington South. He sat in Wilfrid Laurier's caucus for 17 years but crossed the floor to join the Unionist government of Robert Borden as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917. The former Liberal backbencher became a leading light in his new party serving as Solicitor General under Borden. With the end of war most Liberal-Unionists either rejoined the Liberal Party or joined the new Progressive Party but Guthrie stayed with the Conservatives becoming Minister of Defence and running for relection as a Conservative in the 1921 election after which he joined the Tories on the Opposition benches.

As a result of the 1926 King-Byng Affair Meighen's Conservatives formed a government in which Guthrie served as Minister of Justice and Minister of National Defence but this second stint in Cabinet ended with the defeat of the Meighen government in that fall's election. Meighen lost his seat and Guthrie served as acting Leader of the Opposition and interim leader of the Conservative Party for a full year until the party held a leadership convention where R.B. Bennett defeated Guthrie for the leadership of the party.

Bennett led the Tories to victory in the 1930 election and Guthrie was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General. In 1933 he introduced legislation making it illegal to carry a concealed weapon without authorization. In 1935 he clashed with opposition MP Agnes Macphail who demanded an inquiry into inhumane conditions in Canada's prisons such as the whipping of prisoners.

As the Great Depression worsened and millions were unemployed, the government became increasingly concerned about political instability and the growth of radical movements. Guthrie's department was responsible for the persecution of the Communist Party of Canada and the arrest and incarceration of Communists, including leader Tim Buck for sedition.

In 1935, unemployed workers in British Columbia's deserted the remote relief camps established by the Bennett government and began the On to Ottawa Trek in which thousands of unemployed workers hopped on freight trains heading east intending to converge in Ottawa and press their demands on the government. Bennett's cabinet saw this as an insurrectionary movement and panicked. In the House of Commons Guthrie charged that the protesters "were a distinct menace to the peace, order and good government of Canada."

As the protesters entered Saskatchewan Guthrie had the Trek banned, over the objections of Saskatchewan Premier James G. Gardiner. He and Bennett ordered the RCMP to use tear gas and revolvers to break up the Trek when it entered Regina. The city was but under seige with hundreds of police officers moved in blocking all exits from the city. On July 1, 1935 the police attacked a meeting attended by 3,000 people resulting in one death, dozens of injuries and national outrage.

Guthrie, now 69, did not run in the 1935 election that routed Bennett's government preferring to retire from politics. He died four years later.

Referenced By