Gordon Carton

Carton was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1921. His parents were Arthur Carton and Lucinda Bain. He was educated at Victoria College where he received a degree in 1946. He went to Osgoode Hall Law School and graduated in 1949. He worked as a lawyer before entering politics. He married Marjorie Davis. Together they raised two daughters Heather and Janice.{{cite book |title=Canadian Who's Who |date=1985 |editor=Keiran Simpson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UugUAAAAYAAJ&q=Carton%2C+gordon+1921 |page=200 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802046260 }}

Carton was active in politics his teen years. His first political effort was campaigning on behalf of the first Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MP elected in Ontario, Joe Noseworthy, in 1942.

He was elected in the 1963 provincial election in the new riding of Armourdale where he defeated Liberal candidate Allan Hollingworth.{{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|accessdate=2014-05-24}} He was re-elected in the general elections in 1967{{cite news |author=Canadian Press |title=Tories win, but... |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=October 18, 1967 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=B2 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TDM_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=VVEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3673%2C2835192 |accessdate=2014-03-30}} and 1971.{{cite news |title=Riding-by-riding returns in provincial election |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=October 23, 1971 |page=10}}

During his first term as an MPP, Carton criticized the policies of his own government when it came to treating property owners adjacent to new or expanded highways.{{cite news |title=PC Charges Province Robbing Homeowners In Widening of 401 |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=March 18, 1964 |page=23}} As a result of an extremely controversial speech he gave in the Ontario Legislature, the government reversed its policies and began to offer compensation to property owners adversely affected by highway construction.{{cite news |title=Queen's Park Will Buy Homes Within 50 Feet Of Widened No. 401 |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=May 26, 1964 |page=1}} Carton supported Bill Davis for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in January 1971.{{cite news |title=Survey of Tory MPPs finds 23 who favor Davis for leadership |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=December 11, 1970 |page=1}}

After Davis won the leadership, he appointed Carton as the Minister of Labour from March 1, 1971.{{cite news |title=Changes in policies promised: Davis priorities to include environment and jobless |last1=Manthorpe |first1=Jonathan |last2=Slinger |first2=John |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=March 2, 1971 |page=1}} He served briefly for two months as Minister of Financial and Commercial Affairs after Arthur Wishart.{{cite news |title=Labor Minister assumes second Cabinet post on temporary basis |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=December 9, 1971 |page=9}} On February 2, 1972 he was appointed as the Minister of Transportation and Communications.{{cite news |title=The Cabinet for Ontario |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=February 3, 1972 |page=4}} On February 27, 1974, Davis shuffled his Cabinet and Carton was removed from the Transportation portfolio and not given another post. Some argued that this was due to a difference of opinion between Davis and Carton regarding the construction of new expressways in Ontario.{{cite news |title=An encouraging alignment |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=February 27, 1974 |page=6}}

He decided to retire before the 1975 election.

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In 1975, Carton became the Vice-President of Silverwood Dairies Ltd., which later became Silcorp Ltd. In that role, he oversaw the introduction of Baskin-Robbins ice cream to Canada. He created an organization called the Ideal Advisory Board and in 2009 he was appointed to an advisory board for Connexall, a global communications company.{{cite news |title=Connexall Appoints Advisory Board |publisher=Canada NewsWire |location=Ottawa, Ontario |date=October 16, 2009}}

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Category:1921 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:Members of the Executive Council of Ontario

Category:Politicians from Toronto

Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs

Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario