Hugh Guthrie’s name should be familiar to longtime readers of this column.
Over the years he has appeared in a score of columns, in his career as a defence lawyer, as Wellington County’s solicitor, and as the Member of Parliament for Wellington South.
The Guthrie name has been associated with the legal profession in Wellington County longer than any other. Hugh Guthrie (1866-1939) was the best known of them all, particularly as a politician. He served as a Member of Parliament for almost half his life, and held cabinet posts in the governments of three prime ministers. For a short term he was also the leader of the federal Conservative Party, and leader of the opposition in parliament.
Donald Guthrie, Hugh’s father, was the first of the family to practice law in Guelph. He studied with A.J. Fergusson in the Royal City, and was called to the bar in 1866.
In 1876 Donald Guthrie defeated miller James Goldie for the Wellington South seat in parliament, and was re-elected in 1878. His interests later shifted to provincial matters, perhaps prompted by his old friend, Premier Oliver Mowat. Guthrie served as a provincial Liberal MLA from 1886 until 1894.
Donald’s son Hugh acquired a strong interest in politics from his father. He gained the Liberal nomination for Wellington South prior to the 1900 federal election, and defeated Christian Kloepfer by the narrow margin of 106 votes.
In Parliament he served as a backbencher for 17 years. During those years he paid particular attention to constituency work, and that helped secure his re-election for the next 30 years. He gained some national attention in 1917. That year, to help parliament deal with war conditions, he crossed the floor and joined the Unionist government of Sir Robert Borden.
Guthrie was more determined than most of his former Liberal colleagues in pursuing the war with as much vigor as possible. In particular, he took a strong stand as a proponent of conscription.
Sir Robert Borden considered Guthrie to be a prize catch. He gave Guthrie a cabinet seat as solicitor general. With the retirement of Borden as leader, Guthrie continued to serve in the cabinet of Arthur Meighen as Minister of Defence. By then, many of the Liberal MPs had drifted back to the Liberal Party, with some joining the new Progressive Party. Guthrie was one of the few to remain loyal to the Conservatives.
The new Liberal leader, Mackenzie King, won the election of 1921, but Guthrie retained Wellington South by a narrow margin, to the surprise of many, who considered Guelph to be a solidly Liberal town, and who disapproved of his change in political affiliation. Guthrie served as one of the opposition front-benchers in the House of Commons.
The Liberals won the election of 1925, but with a minority that soon lost a confidence vote. Rather than call an election, as Mackenzie King wanted, Governor General Byng asked Arthur Meighen to form a government. That precipitated the “King-Byng Affair” known to every student of Canadian history.
Hugh Guthrie served as both Minister of Defence and Minister of Justice. It was a heavy work load, but did not last long. Meighen’s government soon fell, and he lost the resulting election in 1926.
Arthur Meighen also lost his own seat.
The federal caucus named Hugh Guthrie the official Leader of the Opposition, and the party made him the interim Conservative leader. He would serve in those roles until a party convention in 1927.
In that role he was very effective. He had more than a quarter century of experience as an MP, and had honed his skills as an orator over that time. As well, he was a large man, physically dominating the podium when he spoke.
Hugh Guthrie decided to contest the leadership. For the first time in its history, the Conservative Party held a leadership convention, rather than having the caucus choose the leader.
At the convention there were a half-dozen candidates. Initially, Guthrie was considered the front runner.
As interim leader, he was selected to speak first. The first sentence of his speech torpedoed his chances. He told the crowd that he “welcomed this, the greatest Liberal convention in all history.”
What he was thinking when he made that enormous faux-pas is not known, but those few words destroyed his chances of becoming leader. Wealthy corporate lawyer R.B. Bennett emerged the winner.
Interestingly, future prime minister John Diefenbaker was a delegate to that convention, and was initially a Guthrie supporter.
Bennett and the Conservatives won the next federal election, in 1930. Hugh Guthrie, as one of the leading men in the caucus, was an obvious choice for the cabinet. Bennett appointed him Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
Guthrie led the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations in 1921. Two years later, faced with growing violent crime in Canada, he pushed through a bill to make it illegal to carry a concealed weapon in Canada.
In other respects, though, Guthrie had become a hide-bound reactionary. Or rather, he had failed to change and progress with the times. As the depression worsened he became increasingly nervous about the potential for civil disobedience and radicalism. He directed his department to take a harsh approach to the Communist Party of Canada. He arranged the arrest of many Communists, radicals and activists, and had Communist Party leader Tim Buck jailed for sedition.
In 1933 there was a riot outside Buck’s jail cell. While soldiers were attempting to put down the demonstration, several shots entered Buck’s cell.
After denials, Guthrie admitted that the firing of the shots was deliberate, but were intended only to frighten Buck, not wound or kill him. Public outcry put Guthrie on the defensive, and in the end the government released Buck from custody.
A worse incident came two years later. Bennett’s government had set up work camps for the unemployed. Critics charged that they were run as cheaply as possible, with poor food and appalling conditions. Disgruntled unemployed men in British Columbia deserted the camps and began a march on Ottawa, known to historians as the “On To Ottawa Trek,” to demand changes in government policies.
Guthrie and his cabinet colleagues panicked, and viewed the march as an insurrection. Guthrie told the House that it was a “menace to the peace, order and good government of Canada,” and made the trek an illegal assembly.
The confrontation came at Regina, when some 3,000 demonstrators were met by the RCMP, acting under orders from Bennett and Guthrie. In the police attack one man was killed and dozens were injured when the police opened fire with bullets and tear gas.
Guthrie was roundly denounced for his part in the riot, not only across Canada but back home in Guelph. Local Conservatives advised Guthrie that his chances for re-election in 1935 were slim to nil. As well, he was now in his late 60s, and was losing his taste for elected office. Hugh Guthrie decided to retire at the end of his term.
Robert W. Gladstone secured the 1935 nomination for the Liberals, and was handily elected. Whether he would have defeated Guthrie had he run is a topic for local political buffs to ponder.
In any case, having won nine consecutive elections, Guthrie went back to the quiet routine of his law office. He died four years later, in 1939, leaving other members of his family to carry on the family tradition of practicing law and dabbling in politics.