The Whitney ministry was the cabinet (formally the Executive Council of Ontario) that led the Government of Ontario from February 8, 1905, to October 2, 1914. Led by the Ontario's 6th Premier, James Whitney, the ministry consisted of members of the Conservative Party, which commanded a majority of the seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the entire duration of the ministry.
After thirty-four years opposition, the ministry replaced the Liberal Ross ministry upon the Conservative Party's resounding victory in the 1905 Ontario general election. Premier Whitney led the Conservative Party into three more election campaigns, renewing their governing mandates with majority victories in 1908, 1911, 1914. The Whitney ministry governed through the 11th, 12th, and 13th Parliament of Ontario as well as the first several weeks of the 14th Parliament of Ontario.
Whitney died on September 25, 1914, just three months after his last electoral victory. He was succeeded a week later as Premier of Ontario by William Howard Hearst, known as the "baby minister" of the Whitney ministry, who joined the ministry in 1911. Accordingly, on October 2, 1914, the Whitney ministry was dissolved and was succeeded by the Hearst ministry. Organization Soon after Premier Whitney took office in 1905, he renamed the two commissioner titles to ministers. He also created a new department, the Office of the President of the Executive Council, ending the practice of having the first minister being serviced by the attorney general's office. The departments, the eighth formally recognized ministerial portfolio in the provincial government, enable the premier to draw ministerial salary without simultaneously holding an operational portfolio.A separate expense line was added to the supply bill for 1907 to provide a budget for the "Premier and President of Executive Council Department". that year The new department providing support to the premier and was very modest at the time, one of the smallest agencies of the government, consisting of just two senior aides, one junior aide, and a stenographer. Ministers In addition to the ten inaugural members, five additional members joined the ministry over its tenure.
Some notable appointments by Whitney:
Sir Adam Beck, who laid the foundation for Ontario's electricity supply and its public ownership, held a seat as a minsiter without portfolio throughout Whitney's ministry and again in the Ferguson minister in the last two years of his life, and was routinely referred to as the hydro minister or electricity minister in the press. He launched an unsuccessful bid for leadership following Whitney's death, and was dropped from cabiet by Whitney's successor William Hearst and lost his seat in 1919. He was however retained as chair of the hydro commission by both Hearst and the United Farmers Premier Ernest Drury, and was the only member of the Whitney ministry to serve again in the Ferguson ministry upon the Conservative's return to power. Joseph Octave Reaume, the Minister of Public Works, was the second Francophone to join the Ontario ministry (first being Alfred Évanturel who served in the final three months of the predecessor Liberal ministry); he was left with the unenviable task of defending Regulation 17, when the ministry sought to cater to the powerful Orangeman force and imposed severe restrictions on all French instruction in the province's bilingual elementary schools By senority Continued service in the Hearst ministry Did not continue in the Hearst ministry † Died in office
Minister Ministerial Service Parliamentary Service Start End Timespan Electoral District Region † Dundas East 1888 † Northumberland East Midland 1886 † Lanark South East 1894 Toronto South Toronto 1898 Toronto East Toronto 1898 Perth South Southwest 1899 London Southwest 1902 Lambton West Southwest 1902 Hamilton West Central 1902 Essex North Southwest 1902 Nipissing East North 1905 Simcoe West Central 1898 Grey Centre Southwest 1898 Sault Ste. Marie North 1908 Lanark North East 1894 By portfolio Portfolio Minister Tenure Start End Premier and President of the Council(from 1907, Prime Minister and President of the Council) † Attorney General Treasurer † acting from no later than Jan. 31, 1913 Provincial Secretary and Registrar Minister of Agriculture Commissioner of Crown Lands Minister of Lands and Mines Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines Minister or Education Commissioner of Public Works Minister of Public Works Ministers without Portfolio † Notes
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