Eddie Sargent
{{short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Eddie Sargent
| image =
| office1 = Ontario MPP
| term_start1 = 1967
| term_end1 = 1987
| predecessor1 = New riding
| successor1 = Riding abolished
| constituency1 = Grey-Bruce
| term_start2 = 1963
| term_end2 = 1967
| predecessor2 = Mac Phillips
| successor2 = Riding abolished
| constituency2 = Grey North
| office3 = Mayor of Owen Sound, Ontario
| term_start3 = 1948
| term_end3 = 1963
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| party = Liberal
| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|4|11}}
| birth_place = Port Dover, Ontario
| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|1|28|1915|4|11}}
| death_place = Owen Sound, Ontario
| profession = Businessman
| spouse = Roma McLean (1940-1981)
| children = 3
}}
Edward Carson Sargent (April 11, 1915 – January 28, 1998) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1987 who represented the central Ontario riding of Grey North and Grey-Bruce.
Background
Sargent was born in Port Dover, and educated in Owen Sound. He was a publisher and sales executive, serving as president of Owen Sound Herald Press Ltd., Sargent Reality Co. Ltd. and Eddie Sargent Promotions Ltd. He married Roma McLean in 1940 and together they raised three daughters. His wife died of cancer in 1981.{{cite news |title='Decent, good-humored' MPP gets last laughs in Legislature |first=Jim |last=Coyle |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=May 12, 1987 |page=F7}}
Politics
He campaigned for the Ontario legislature in the 1948 provincial election, and lost to Progressive Conservative Mac Phillips by 383 votes in Grey North.{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=How Ontario Electors Voted in all 90 Ridings |newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star |date=June 8, 1948 |location=Toronto |page=24}} He became mayor of Owen Sound in the same year, and held this position until 1963. In 1951, he served as president of the Ontario Mayors and Reeves Association.
Sargent campaigned for the legislature a second time in the 1955 provincial election, and again lost to Phillips.{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=Complete Results of Ontario Voting by Constituencies |newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen |date=June 10, 1955 |location=Ottawa |page=4 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vCAvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TN0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4268%2C2256424}} He also campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal candidate in the 1957 federal election, and lost in Grey North to Progressive Conservative candidate Percy Verner Noble.{{cite news |title=Latest coast-to-coast results in Monday's Federal election |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=June 11, 1957 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=miQ_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ElAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3974%2C5525847 |pages=10–11 |accessdate=June 29, 2014}}
Mac Phillips did not contest the 1963 provincial election, and Sargent was elected over new Progressive Conservative candidate William Forsyth by 31 votes.{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=78 in Tory Blue Wave -- 23 Is All Grits Saved |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=September 26, 1963 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=25 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QDM_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=T1EMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6134%2C3886120}} He campaigned for the party's leadership in 1964, and finished sixth out of seven candidates. The winner was Andrew Thompson, later a Canadian Senator.{{cite book |title=Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs for 1964 |editor=John Saywell |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=1965 |author=Fred Schindler |pages=115–116}} Sargent was re-elected in the elections of 1967, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1985 in the riding of Grey-Bruce.
Following the 1985 election, the Liberal Party ended forty-two years of Progressive Conservative rule in Ontario by forming a minority government with outside support from the New Democratic Party.{{cite news |title=Results of vote in Ontario election |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 3, 1985 |page=13}} After serving on the opposition benches for twenty-two years, Sargent was able to end his career on the government side. He served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Tourism and Recreation, and did not seek re-election in 1987.{{cite news |title=Retirements rejuvenate Ontario Tories Grossman says |first=Matt |last=Maychak |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=May 12, 1987 |page=A10}}
Later life
In recognition of his public service, a 29 km. road in Owen Sound was renamed the Eddie Sargent Parkway. Sargent was married to Roma McLean (1918–1981) and he is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound, Ontario.[https://www.owensoundtourism.ca/en/explore/Cemetery-Tour.aspx Owen Sound Tourism] His daughter, Patti Belle Sargent wrote a book detailing the life and exploits of Eddie Sargent entitled "Roses in December: A Biography of Eddie Sargent".
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Ontario MPP biography|id=edward-carson-sargent}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, Eddie}}
Category:Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
Category:People from Norfolk County, Ontario
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Ontario
Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario