Home > James P. Whitney

Whitney became leader of the party in 1896 taking it from a narrow, bigoted rump into a forward-looking party determined to build the province. In the 1905 election, he led the Tories to victory for the first time in 33 years by defeating the Liberal government of George William Ross.

Whitney's government laid the basis for Ontario's industrial development by creating the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, with Sir Adam Beck as its chairman and driving force. His government also passed the Workmen's Compensation Act and enacted temperanceSee: temperance (virtue) Temperance movement, a socio-political movement Temperance album by Astrud Gilberto. legislation. He also appeased the anti- CatholicGeneral meaning Catholic means universal or whole''. With respect to the Christian Church, the early Christians used the term to refer to the whole undivided church. It is in that sense that all Christians today claim ownership of the term, including Prot, anti- French-Canadian sentiments of supporters of the Orange OrderThe Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation largely based in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which also has a worldwide membership. In Northern Ireland it is formally associated with the Ulster Unionist Party, but many of its me in his caucus (such as George Howard Ferguson) by passing Regulation 17Regulation 17 was a regulation of the Ontario ministry of education, issued in 1912, which forbade the use of French as a language of instruction after the first year of school, unless the pupil was unable to speak English because of "defective training",. This regulation banned the teaching of French in schools beyond the first three years of school. The measure inflamed French-Canadian opinion across Canada, particularly in Quebec, and split the country as it entered World War I.

Whitney died in office shortly after winning the 1914 election.