Robert Elgie

Background

Robert Elgie was born in Toronto, Ontario. He received his B.A. from the University of Western Ontario in 1950, his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School and his medical degree from the University of Ottawa. He trained as both a lawyer and neurosurgeon, and worked in the medical field. Elgie taught at the medical schools of Queen’s University and the University of Toronto and was chief of medical staff at Scarborough General Hospital.

Politics

Elgie was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1977 provincial election, winning an easy victory in the Toronto-area seat of York East. After a brief period in the government backbenches, he was appointed to Bill Davis's cabinet on August 18, 1978 as Minister of Labour. A Red Tory by ideology, Elgie was easily the most left-wing figure in the Davis cabinet. He was supported by the province's unions, and passed amendments to Ontario's Human Rights Code and Occupational Health and Safety regulations which were favourable to labour interests. Some campus Progressive Conservative groups opposed his efforts to grant human rights officers the right to investigate and arbitrate reports of workplace discrimination.

Elgie was easily re-elected in the 1981 election, and was named Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations on February 13, 1982. He supported Roy McMurtry's bid to succeed Davis as party leader in 1985. When Frank Miller replaced Davis as Premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985, he named Elgie as his Minister of Community and Social Services. He was re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1985 election, as the Progressive Conservatives won a narrow minority government under Miller's leadership. Elgie was again appointed as Minister of Labour on May 17, 1985.

Following the election, Elgie favoured an alliance with the New Democratic Party to keep the Progressive Conservatives in power. These plans came to nothing, and the opposition Liberal Party was able to form a minority government with NDP support on June 26, 1985. Elgie had little interest in serving on the opposition benches, and soon accepted an appointment by new Liberal Premier David Peterson as chair of the Workers' Compensation Board of Ontario. He formally resigned from the legislature on September 26, 1985, and served as chair of the Ontario Worker's Compensation Board until 1991.

Later life

After leaving the WCB, he moved to Nova Scotia, and served as the founder first director of Dalhousie University's Health Law Institute from 1991 until 1996. He was appointed part-time chair of Nova Scotia's Workers' Compensation Board in the same period, and is credited with making significant improvements to this board's activities. Returning to Ontario, Elgie then served as chair of the Patent Medicine Prices Review Board from 1995 to 2005, and was appointed chair of the Ontario Greenbelt Council by the provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs in the summer of 2005 with a salary of $1 a year. On Jan. 1, 2006, he became the 6th Chair of the Ontario Press Council, of which he had been a member since 2001. He served as chair until his death in 2013. In his later life he lived in the town of Georgina, Ontario in York Region.

Despite serving and supporting the Tories for much of his life, Elgie's left leaning ideologies led him away from the conservative party later in his life. During the Mike Harris government of the 1990s, Elgie complained that the Ontario Progressive Conservatives had become too right-wing.

Elgie was named to the Order of Canada in 2003. He died on April 4, 2013 from congestive heart failure.

Family

Bob Elgie married his wife Nancy in 1956, and she became an integral part of his life and career. Nancy, a psychologist by trade, served as a school trustee (and vice chair 2011-13 and 2015) in the York Region District School Board. She stepped down in 2017 after becoming embroiled in a prolonged racial controversy. Together they raised 5 children, and despite his many careers, Bob always did his best to make time for his family. Elgie helped create a loving home and taught his children that those who are born into affluence are expected to give back to society. His eldest daughter, Allyson, is a psychologist who runs a provincial assessment and research centre, The Regional Assessment and Resource Centre, which provides supports to post-secondary students with disabilities. His eldest son, Stewart, is an environmental advocacy lawyer, founder of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, and a professor at the University of Ottawa. In 2007 Stewart founded Sustainable Prosperity, an environmental research and policy initiative. His second son, William ("Bill"), is the Director of the Upper Canada College Norval Outdoor School and a leader in the Outdoor Education community. His youngest son, Peter, Their son, Peter, is a teacher and has run for the Green Party of Canada and has been deputy leader of the Green Party of Ontario. His youngest daughter, Catherine, is a nurse. Between his 5 children, Robert Elgie was also grandfather to 13 grandchildren.