- William McLean Hamilton
William McLean Hamilton, PC , OC , B.Sc (
February 23 ,1919 –June 7 ,1989 ) was a Canadian politician.He was born in
Montreal ,Quebec , Canada. He was a student at the Montreal High School and he took a B.Sc fromSir George Williams University in business administration.He sat on
Montreal City Council and the Executive Council of Montreal.He was elected to parliament in the 1953 election as a Progressive Conservative for the riding of
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce . In his maiden speech to Parliament in November he accused the very conservative Liberal government led byLouis St. Laurent of being socialists. His criticisms were based on the government being corporatistic and taking an interest in private business activities.Following the 1957 election, he was appointed
Postmaster General of Canada byJohn Diefenbaker . In that office he annoyed many of his colleagues by not permitting the post office to be used a reward for party supporters. He also drew ire by attempting to close many small and inefficient post offices.Despite his staunch fiscal conservatism and
anti-communism , he was a supporter of theQuebec Liberal Party over the Union Nationale. Hamilton disliked the corruption of the Union Nationale and their infusion of strict Catholicism into Quebec politics. Hamilton was anAnglican .He resigned as Postmaster General on
July 12 ,1962 after he was defeated in the 1962 election byEdmund Tobin Asselin . Hamilton could not speak French, and it was a more important issue in 1962 than it had been previously.After his defeat Hamilton left Montreal for
Vancouver where he ran a business.In 1978 he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada .External links
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* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=716 Order of Canada Citation]s-ttl|title=
Member of Parliament from Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
years=1953–1962
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