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Born on December 17, 1874, Kitchener (formerly
Berlin), Ontario
Died on July 22, 1950, Kingsmere, Quebec
Buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario
© Heritage Recording Services
Canada's longest-serving prime
minister and perhaps its shrewdest political tactician, William
Lyon Mackenzie King held the prime ministership for more than
twenty-one years.
© NAC C-90385 |
King was born in Kitchener (then
called Berlin), Ontario, and studied at Toronto, Chicago, and
Harvard universities. He was chosen Liberal Party leader at Canada's
first ever party leadership convention in 1919 and took power
in the election of 1921. The gen- eral election of 1925 gave no
party a clear majority, and King's Liberals were briefly replaced
by Arthur Mei- ghen's Conservatives in 1926. Three months later,
the Conservatives were defeated in the Commons, and King swept
back to power in the general election that followed. Defeated
by R.B. Bennett in the general election of 1930, King returned
to office in 1935 and remained prime minister until his retirement
in 1948.
Though he cherished the memory
of his rebel grandfather, King was a cautious politician who tailored
his policies to prevailing opinions. "Parliament will decide,"
he liked to say when pressed to act. King guided Canada through
the Second World War, and he introduced social programs such as
unemployment insurance and family allowances. King's government
also passed the Canadian Citizenship Act, and in January 1947
William Lyon Mackenzie King received the first-ever certificate
of Canadian citizenship.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, who
had never married, died in 1950 at his beloved home, Kingsmere,
near Ottawa. He was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.
Address of cemetery: 375 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON
Location map
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