Mitchell Hepburn
Source: Wikipedia: Mitchell Hepburn
Politics • Historical Archive • 🇨🇦 Canada • 0 views

Mitchell Hepburn 🇨🇦

Mitch Hepburn (Known as "Mitchell Frederick Hepburn")
Youngest Premier in Ontario History, Flamboyant Depression-Era Populist
Born 12 August 1896 🇨🇦 St. Thomas, Canada
Passed Away 5 January 1953 St. Thomas, Canada
Lifespan 56 years old
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"I'd rather be right than prime minister, and I'd rather fight for the farmer than be polite to the bureaucrats."

Archival Overview

Fiery, charismatic Elgin County farmer who became Ontario's youngest premier in 1934, clashing with the CIO in the Oshawa strike and with Mackenzie King.

Biographical Record

Mitchell Frederick "Mitch" Hepburn was a theatrical onion farmer and magnetic orator from St. Thomas who was elected Premier of Ontario in 1934 at the age of thirty-seven, the youngest in provincial history. Entering office during the depths of the Great Depression, Hepburn auctioned off government limousines and closed the Lieutenant Governor's residence at Chorley Park to signal austerity.

Hepburn enacted mandatory milk pasteurization across Ontario, saving thousands of children from bovine tuberculosis. During the bitter 1937 General Motors strike in Oshawa, he formed a private police force dubbed "Hepburn's Hussars" to block American union organizers, and famously feuded with federal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King over WWII military preparation.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
St. Thomas Cemetery
St. Thomas, Canada
GPS: 42.7750, -81.1833
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