William Proudfoot
Encyclopedia
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....
politician and barrister.
He was born in Colborne Township, Huron County
Huron County, Ontario
Huron County is a census division and county of the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of its namesake, Lake Huron, in the southwest part of the province...
, Canada West, the son of Robert Proudfoot, an immigrant from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He was educated in Goderich
Goderich, Ontario
Goderich is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by William "Tiger" Dunlop in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, who was British prime minister at the time. The town...
, studied law at Osgoode Hall
Osgoode Hall
Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto constructed between 1829 and 1832 in the late Georgian Palladian and Neoclassical styles. It houses the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice, and the Law Society of Upper Canada...
and was called to the bar in 1880. Proudfoot set up practice in Goderich. He married Marion F. Dickson in 1886. In 1902, he was named King's Counsel.
In 1908 he was 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...
as a Liberal
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...
. He was re-elected in 1911 and 1914. In 1917, he was chosen leader of the Liberal Party
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...
and, as such, became Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)
The Leader of the Opposition in Ontario is usually leader of the largest party in the Ontario legislature which is not the government. The current official opposition is formed by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and Tim Hudak is the current Leader of the Opposition.Ontario's first...
in the legislature. The 1919 election saw the Liberals and their allies drop from 30 seats to 27 with Proudfoot himself defeated in his riding of Huron Centre by the Labour candidate. No longer having a seat in the legislature, Proudfoot was challenged as Liberal leader at the party's first leadership convention
Ontario Liberal leadership conventions
Ballot-by-ballot results of leadership elections in the Ontario Liberal Party, a political party in the Province of Ontario, Canada.Note: Before 1919, the leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party were chosen by the party's elected Members of the Legislative Assembly...
and was replaced by Hartley Dewart
Hartley Dewart
Herbert Hartley Dewart was an Ontario lawyer and politician.He was born in St. Johns, Canada East. The son of Edward Hartley Dewart, a Methodist minister who was a staunch advocate of prohibition, the younger Dewart inherited his Liberal politics but broke with his father on the temperance issue...
. He then became a member of the Senate of Canada where he sat until his death in 1922.