Monarch George V Political party Conservative Role Canadian Politician Succeeded by Lucien Cannon | Preceded by Thomas Simpson Sproule Name Albert Sevigny Died May 14, 1961 Resigned 1917 | |
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Governor General Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
The Duke of Devonshire Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden Preceded by Joseph Alfred Ernest Roy Born December 31, 1881
Tingwick, Quebec ( 1881-12-31 ) Party Conservative Party of Canada | ||
Albert Sevigny, PC (December 31, 1881 – May 14, 1961) was a Canadian politician.
Life and career
Sevigny was born in Tingwick, Quebec. He opened a law practice in Quebec City in 1905. Two years later, he was a candidate for the Quebec Conservative Party in a provincial by-election, but was defeated. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1911 federal election. His election was facilitated by an informal alliance between the Conservatives and the Nationalists led by Henri Bourassa because of Sevigny's sympathy with Bourassa's views.
In Parliament, Sevigny became a supporter of Canadian participation in World War I despite the strong opposition of most Quebecers, and became a staunch Conservative. He was appointed Deputy Speaker in 1915, and in 1916, he became Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons.
Prime Minister Robert Borden was facing an increasing divisive crisis over conscription with the country divided between English Canadians who supported the measure and French-Canadians who fervently opposed it. In early 1917, Borden asked Sevigny to leave the Speaker's chair and join the Cabinet to help the government persuade Quebecers of the government's case.
Sevigny was appointed Minister of Inland Revenue, and was required by the laws of the time to resign his seat and run in a by-election. He was re-elected by a margin of only 257 votes.
In June, Borden introduced conscription and, of the French Canadian Members of Parliament, only three voted for the conscription bill, including Sevigny.
Borden formed a Union government with dissident Liberals and called a general election in 1917 on the conscription issue. The country divided largely along linguistic lines: the Conservative candidates were wiped out in Quebec in a rout that cost Sevigny his seat. Borden's coalition dominated the election in English Canada, however, and he was returned with a strong majority.
In 1921, the Conservative government appointed Sevigny to the Quebec Superior Court on which he served for 39 years, becoming Associate Chief Justice in 1933 and Chief Justice in 1942.