View source for Mitchell Hepburn

{{Short description|11th Premier of Ontario}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Mitchell Hepburn1.jpg
| caption             = The Hon. Mitchell Frederick Hepburn
| office1             = 11th [[Premier of Ontario]]
| term_start1         = July 10, 1934
| term_end1           = October 21, 1942
| monarch1            = [[George V]]<br />[[Edward VIII]]<br />[[George VI]]
| lieutenant_governor1 = [[Herbert Alexander Bruce|Herbert A. Bruce]]<br />[[Albert Edward Matthews|Albert E. Matthews]]
| predecessor1        = [[George Stewart Henry]]
| successor1          = [[Gordon Daniel Conant]]
| riding2             = [[Elgin West]]
| parliament2         = Canadian
| term_start2         = September 14, 1926
| term_end2           = June 8, 1934
| predecessor2        = [[Hugh Cummings McKillop]]
| successor2          = [[Wilson Henry Mills]]
| office3             = [[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|MPP]] for [[Elgin (provincial electoral district)|Elgin]]
| term_start3         = June 19, 1934
| term_end3           = March 24, 1945
| predecessor3        = ''New riding''
| successor3          = [[Fletcher Stewart Thomas]]
| birth_name          = {{nowrap|Mitchell Frederick Hepburn}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1896|8|12|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = [[St. Thomas, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date          = {{death date and age |1953|01|05|1896|08|12}}
| death_place         = St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
| restingplace        = St. Thomas Cemetery
| party               = [[Ontario Liberal Party|Ontario Liberal]]
| otherparty          = [[United Farmers of Ontario]] (until 1923)
| spouse              = Eva Burton
| relations           = Peter Hepburn (1932-2015) - son
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
}}

'''Mitchell Frederick Hepburn''' (August 12, 1896 – January 5, 1953) was the 11th [[premier of Ontario]], from 1934 to 1942. He was the youngest premier in Ontario history, becoming premier at age 37. He was the only [[Ontario Liberal Party]] leader in the 20th century to lead his party to two [[majority government|majorities]].

==Early life==

Born in [[St. Thomas, Ontario]], Hepburn attended school in Elgin County and hoped to become a lawyer. His formal education ended abruptly, however, when someone threw an apple at a visiting dignitary, Sir [[Adam Beck]], and knocked his silk top hat off his head. Hepburn was accused of the deed and denied it but refused to identify the culprit. Refusing to apologize, he walked out of his high school and obtained a job as a bank clerk at the [[Canadian Bank of Commerce]] where he worked from 1913 to 1917. He eventually became an accountant at the bank's Winnipeg branch.

At the outbreak of [[World War I]], Hepburn had already enlisted in the [[The Fort Garry Horse|34th Fort Garry Horse]] but was unable to obtain his parents' consent to sign up for the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]]. He then became a lieutenant in the [[31 Combat Engineer Regiment (The Elgins)|25th Elgin Regiment]] of the [[Canadian Militia]],<ref name = "WWI">{{cite web|title = Particulars of Recruit|url = http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B4283-S990|publisher = [[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date = October 9, 2013}}</ref> and was [[Military Service Act (Canada)|conscripted]] to the [[1st (Western Ontario) Battalion]] in 1918.<ref name = "WWI"/> He transferred to the [[Royal Air Force]] and was sent to [[Deseronto]] for training but suffered injuries in an automobile accident that summer, followed by being bedridden by the [[1918 flu pandemic|influenza]] in the fall, both of which kept him from active service. He returned to St. Thomas to run his family's onion farm.<ref name=starobit>{{cite news |title= Mitchell F. Hepburn, Ontario ex-premier dies|pages = 1, 3|newspaper= [[Toronto Daily Star]]|date= January 5, 1953}}</ref>

==Early political career==
[[Image:Mitch Hepburn.jpg|thumb|left|Hepburn]]
After the war, Hepburn joined the [[United Farmers of Ontario]] (UFO) helping to start its branch in Elgin County, but by the mid-1920s he switched to the [[Liberal Party of Ontario|Liberal Party]]. In the [[1926 Canadian federal election|1926 election]], he was elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as a representative of [[Elgin West]] and was overwhelmingly re-elected in the [[1930 Canadian federal election|1930 election]].

Later that year he became leader of the [[Liberal Party of Ontario]]. His support of farmers and free trade, and his former membership in the UFO helped him to attract [[Harry Nixon]]'s [[Rump organization|rump]] of UFO [[Member of the Legislative Assembly|Members of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLAs) into the Liberal Party (as [[Liberal-Progressive]]s). This and the [[Great Depression]] led to the defeat of the unpopular [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party|Conservative]] premier [[George Stewart Henry]] in the [[1934 Ontario general election|1934 provincial election]]. His stance against the [[prohibition]] of alcohol allowed him to break the Liberal Party from the militant prohibitionist stance that had helped reduce it to a rural, Protestant southwestern Ontario rump in the 1920s.

Hepburn represented a type of agrarian democracy that detested Toryism and valued oratory. He once saw a pile of [[manure]] situated in a village square, and proceeded to jump on top of it to give a speech, apologizing to the crowd for speaking from a Tory platform.<ref>{{cite book |author= Randall White|title= Ontario, 1610–1985: A Political and Economic History|url= https://archive.org/details/ontario16101985p0000whit |url-access= registration|year= 1985|publisher= [[Dundurn Press]]|location= Toronto|isbn= 0-919670-98-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/ontario16101985p0000whit/page/231 231]}}</ref> He also used the same line when standing on a [[manure spreader]], only to have a [[heckler]] shout, "Well, wind 'er up Mitch, because she's never carried a bigger load!"<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction= Ontario|title= Orders of the Day: Animal Health Act, 2009|url= http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2009-11-04&Parl=39&Sess=1&locale=en|house= [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]|date= November 4, 2009|page= |speaker= [[John Yakabuski]]|position=MPP}} at 10:00am</ref>

On his death, the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' observed:

{{cquote|
It was in the 1934 election campaign that Mr. Hepburn's gift of oratory first impinged on the province at large. He had a free and easy platform manner, his customary attitude being hands plunged in side coat pockets while he wandered about the platform releasing an unfaltering flow of barbed-wire eloquence that no other political speaker could match in rapidity and certainly not in deadliness. He never consulted a note, never appeared to prepare a speech in advance, and delivered an array of astounding facts and figures with such an air of assurance that his audience seldom thought to question them.<ref name=starobit/>
}}

==Premier of Ontario==
[[Image:Dionnequints1.jpg|thumb|Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the [[Dionne quintuplets]] ca. 1934]]
Hepburn's premiership achieved international attention, which merited his appearance on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's cover in 1937.<ref>{{cite news|title = Mitchell F. Hepburn|url = https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19370920,00.html|date = September 20, 1937|work = [[Time Magazine|Time]]|access-date = October 7, 2013}}</ref>

As premier, Hepburn undertook a number of measures that enhanced his reputation as the practitioner of a highly vigorous style. In a public show of austerity, he closed [[Chorley Park]], the residence of the [[Lieutenant Governor of Ontario]], auctioned off the chauffeur driven limousines that had been used by the previous Conservative cabinet,<ref name=starobit/> and fired many civil servants. To improve the province's welfare, he gave money to [[mining]] industries in [[Northern Ontario]] and introduced compulsory milk [[pasteurization]] (in so doing, he has been credited with virtually wiping out [[bovine tuberculosis]] in the province).<ref name=globeobit/> Breaking with the temperance stance of previous Liberal governments, Hepburn expanded the availability of liquor by allowing hotels to sell beer and wine.<ref name=starobit/>

===Industrial labour reform===
The ''Industrial Standards Act'',<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  =The Industrial Standards Act, 1935|abbr =S.O.|year =1935|chapter = 28|link= https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1935onta#page/116/mode/2up}}</ref> which emulated the US ''[[National Industrial Recovery Act]]'' and the Quebec Arcand Act, was introduced in 1935 to set minimum wages and working conditions by industry and geographic area.{{sfn|Klee|2000|p= 14}} It was described by Labour Minister [[David Croll]] as "the most controversial piece of legislation now on the Statute Books of the Province,"{{sfn|Klee|2000|p= 15}} and it came about after federal efforts that had been instituted under [[RB Bennett]]'s "New Deal" were declared unconstitutional.{{sfn|Klee|2000|p= 14}}

===Guardianship of Dionne quintuplets===
The government also made international news by making the [[Dionne quintuplets]] wards of the [[Monarchy in Ontario|provincial Crown]] in response to public outrage of plans by promoters to exploit the infants by putting them on display at the [[Century of Progress|Chicago World's Fair]].<ref name=starobit/> The Legislative Assembly passed legislation in that regard<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Dionne Quintuplet Guardianship Act, 1935|abbr = S.O.|year = 1935|chapter = 19|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1935onta#page/72/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref> and subsequently replaced it in 1944;<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Dionne Quintuplet Guardianship Act, 1944|abbr = S.O.|year = 1944|chapter = 17|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1944onta#page/52/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref> it was not repealed until 2006.<ref>''Legislation Act, 2006'', s. 98(3), as enacted by the {{Cite canlaw|short title = Access to Justice Act, 2006|abbr = S.O.|year = 2006|chapter = 21|schedule = F|link = http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/statutes/english/2006/elaws_src_s06021_e.htm|linkloc = e-laws.gov.on.ca}}</ref>

===Tax collection===
[[File:Royal Visit Premier Mitchell Hepburn and wife presented to the King and Queen in the Ontario Legislature 1939.jpg|thumb|alt=Mitchell Hepburn and his wife presented to the King [[George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] during the 1939 Royal Tour.|Mitchell Hepburn and wife presented to the King [[George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]] during the 1939 Royal Tour.]]
As [[Treasurer of Ontario]], Hepburn adopted a more aggressive approach in the collection of [[succession duty]] on large estates, which resulted in millions of dollars in extra government revenues.<ref name=starobit/><ref>{{cite news |title=Ontario's Death Duty Inquisition|author = R.A. McEachern|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PWg_AAAAIBAJ&pg=4168,578348&dq=hepburn+succession+duty+g:loccanada&hl=en|newspaper= [[Financial Post]]|date= January 22, 1938|pages = 11{{endash}}12|access-date=September 24, 2013}}</ref> He made no apologies for doing so, as he noted in a speech in 1938:

{{cquote|
That right of succession duties was conferred upon the provinces, and the drive today, emanating from the other provinces, is to get control of succession duties and place all collections under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. If that were to happen, I can tell you, Gentlemen, I would have to impose some new taxes upon you, because I inherited a debt. You know my friend, [[Howard Ferguson]]? Bless his heart, he is a great fellow! He is a very astute man. You know he was the luckiest Premier this Province ever had. He blamed the debts which he inherited on his predecessors, he added to them and then handed them on to me. I have to meet the obligations which were handed down to me, and after I sat in his chair in [[Queen's Park (Toronto)|Queen's Park]], pinched myself a couple of times and took stock and inventory, I thought of the old adage, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," and some of you now who look upon me as the Tax Collector of the Province, probably use language in speaking of my methods of collection which I couldn't repeat before this august and important assembly. That is my responsibility, to meet the obligations of the Province of Ontario, to protect the interests of the Province of Ontario: That is what I am trying to do.<ref>{{cite speech |title=Present Day Problems |author=Mitchell Hepburn |date=December 15, 1938 |location=[[Empire Club of Canada]] |url=http://speeches.empireclub.org/60541/data?n=1 |access-date=October 6, 2013 }}</ref>
}}

One estate that was of particular focus in this campaign was that of the late [[John Rudolphus Booth]], who had died in 1925. Although succession duties of $4.28 million (${{Inflation|CA|4280000|1927|r=-5|fmt=c}} in current terms) were paid in 1927,<ref>{{cite news |title= Claims Booth Duties Paid|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KplTAAAAIBAJ&pg=1208,1689121&dq=booth+succession+duty+g:loccanada&hl=en|newspaper= [[Regina Leader-Post]]|date= September 18, 1937|access-date=September 24, 2013}}</ref> Hepburn subsequently claimed more in 1937 and had the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] pass the necessary legislation to overcome the legal obstacles.<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Succession Duty Amendment Act, 1937|abbr = S.O.|year = 1937|chapter = 3|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1937onta#page/8/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Ontario Assembly Prorogues Today|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UXctAAAAIBAJ&pg=6552,331650&dq=hepburn+succession+duty+act+amendment+g:loccanada&hl=en|newspaper= [[Montreal Gazette]]|date= December 3, 1937|access-date=September 24, 2013}}</ref> Booth's heirs eventually paid another $3 million (${{Inflation|CA|3000000|1939|r=-5|fmt=c}} in current terms) in 1939.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ottawa Estates Pay Additional Duties to Govt.|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZvIuAAAAIBAJ&pg=7028,1797999&dq=booth+succession+duty+g:loccanada&hl=en|newspaper= [[Ottawa Citizen]]|date= September 23, 1939|access-date=September 24, 2013}}</ref>

===Cancellation of Hydro contracts===
As part of his drive to cut government spending, the ''Power Commission Act, 1935'', was passed to cancel contracts that the [[Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario]] had signed between 1926 and 1930 for delivery of electricity from power plants in Quebec by declaring them to be "void and unenforceable."<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Power Commission Act, 1935|abbr = S.O.|year = 1935|chapter = 53|section = 2|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1935onta#page/236/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref> The move temporarily shut Ontario out of world bond markets.<ref name = "Hampton">{{cite book |author= Howard Hampton|author-link= Howard Hampton|title= Public power: The fight for publicly owned electricity|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln_KiVbe_9QC&pg=PA104|year= 2003|publisher= [[Insomniac Press]]|location= Toronto|isbn= 1-894663-44-6|pages=104{{endash}}106}}</ref> The Act was declared to be ''[[ultra vires]]'' by the [[Ontario Court of Appeal]] in 1937 as being legislation in derogation of extraprovincial rights<ref>{{cite CanLII|litigants=Ottawa Valley Power Company et al. v. The Hydro-electric Power Commission et al.|link=|year=1937|court=onca|num=99|format=canlii|parallelcite=[1937] OR 265|date=November 19, 1937}}, {{cite CanLII|litigants=Beauharnois Light, Heat and Power Co. Ltd. et al. v. The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario et al.|link=|year=1937|court=onca|num=89|format=canlii|parallelcite=[1937] OR 796|date=June 22, 1937}}</ref> (although later jurisprudence has suggested that the Court may have overreached in its rulings).<ref>{{cite CanLII|litigants=Re Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act|link=Re Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act|year=1984|source=scc|num=17|format=canlii|pinpoint=p. 331|parallelcite=[1984] 1 SCR 297|date=May 3, 1984|courtname=auto|juris=}}</ref> Many such contracts were later renegotiated at lower volumes and prices.<ref name = "Hampton"/><ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Power Contracts Validation Act, 1937|abbr = S.O.|year = 1937|chapter = 61|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1937onta#page/196/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Power Contracts Validation Act, 1938|abbr = S.O.|year = 1938|chapter = 27|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprov193738onta#page/84/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref>

===Taking back forests===
{{see also|Abitibi Power and Paper Company|Great Lakes Paper}}
Hepburn took an aggressive position with respect to timber licences in [[Northern Ontario]] that were being held by companies that would (or could) not cut wood on them. In that regard, in 1936 the ''Forest Resources Regulation Act'' was passed to grant the government broad powers for mandating minimum production quotas, maximum limits in line with good forestry practice, reduce licensed acreages that were in excess of requirements, and increase [[stumpage]] fees on companies "operating or carrying on business in a manner detrimental to the public interest."<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Forest Resources Regulation Act, 1936|abbr = S.O.|year = 1936|chapter = 22|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1936onta#page/96/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref> [[Great Lakes Paper]] saw its holdings reduced from {{convert|23085|km2|acre}} to {{convert|3668|km2|acre}}, and was assessed a $500,000 penalty (${{Inflation|CA|500000|1936|r=-5|fmt=c}} in current terms) for refusing to participate in a minimum price agreement set up by the Ontario and Quebec governments.<ref>{{cite book |author = A. Ernest Epp|editor= Ajith H. Perera|editor2= David L. Euler|editor3= Ian D. Thompson|title= Ecology of a Managed Terrestrial Landscape: Patterns and Processes of Forest Landscapes in Ontario|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=quGlpfIZfvMC&pg=PA253|chapter= 12: Ontario Forests and Forest Policy Before the Era of Sustainable Forestry|year= 2000|publisher= [[UBC Press]]|location= Vancouver|isbn= 0-7748-0749-0|pages=253–254}}</ref>

In 1937, the ''Settlers' Pulpwood Protection Act'' was passed to govern the supply of pulpwood from private lands, together with fixing quotas and prices to be followed.<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Settlers' Pulpwood Protection Act, 1937|abbr = S.O.|year = 1937|chapter = 70|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1937onta#page/230/mode/2up|linkloc = archive.org}}</ref>

The ''Crown Timber Act'''s provisions, which had been in effect since the time of [[Arthur Sturgis Hardy]] and required logs to be manufactured as timber before they could exported from the province, were relaxed by [[order in council]] in 1936 to create employment opportunities in the logging industry.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Report of the Minister of Lands and Forests for the Province of Ontario, For the Year ending 31st October, 1936|url = https://archive.org/stream/reportofminister193137ontauoft#page/n623/mode/2up|year = 1937|pages=14{{endash}}17|publisher = [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]|access-date = October 7, 2013}}</ref>

When the [[Abitibi Power and Paper Company]], in receivership since 1932, was ordered into liquidation in 1940,<ref>{{cite news|title = Judicial Sale of the Undertaking, Property and Assets of Abitibi Power & Paper Company, Limited|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19400815&id=xGUyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3118,2217110|page=19|work = [[Montreal Gazette]]|date = August 15, 1940}}</ref> Hepburn appointed a Royal Commission to investigate the matter to determine the best course of resolution.<ref>{{cite book |title= Report of the Royal Commission inquiring into the Affairs of Abitibi Power & Paper Company, Limited|url= https://archive.org/stream/reportofroyaabitibi00onta#page/n1/mode/2up|year= 1941}}</ref> The Legislative Assembly imposed a [[moratorium (law)|moratorium]] on liquidation proceedings in 1941,<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title = The Abitibi Power and Paper Company Limited Moratorium Act, 1941|abbr = S.O.|year = 1941|chapter = 1|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1941onta#page/n13/mode/2up}}, extended by {{Cite canlaw|short title = The Abitibi Power and Paper Company Limited Moratorium Act, 1942|abbr = S.O.|year = 1942|chapter = 3|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1942onta#page/18/mode/2up}} and {{Cite canlaw|short title = The Abitibi Power and Paper Company Limited Moratorium Act, 1944|abbr = S.O.|year = 1944|chapter = 1|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1944onta#page/n11/mode/2up}}</ref> which was ultimately upheld by the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] in 1943.<ref>{{cite BAILII|litigants=Abitibi Power and Paper Company Limited v Montreal Trust Company and others|link=|court=UKPC|year=1943|num=37|format=1|parallelcite= [1943] AC 536 |date=July 8, 1943|juris=Ontario}}, setting aside {{cite CanLII|litigants=Montreal Trust Company v. Abitibi Power & Paper Company Limited|link=|year=1941|court=onca|num=61|format=canlii|parallelcite=[1942] OR 183|date=December 4, 1941}}. The appeal was facilitated by {{Cite canlaw|short title = The Abitibi Moratorium Constitutional Question Act, 1942|abbr = S.O.|year = 1942|chapter = 2|link = https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovin1942onta#page/16/mode/2up}}</ref> The Commission's recommended plan was accepted by all creditors.<ref>{{cite web|title = Abitibi-Price Inc.|url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2840800086.html|date = January 1991|publisher = encyclopedia.com}}</ref> It would emerge from receivership in 1946, after one of the longest such receiverships in Canadian history.

===Fight with CIO===
In later years, Hepburn would form a [[liberalism|Liberal]]–[[labour movement|Labour]] alliance with the [[Communist Party of Canada]],{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}} but as premier, he opposed [[labour union|unions]] and refused to let the [[AFL–CIO|CIO]] form unions in Ontario. On April 8, 1937, the CIO-backed [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]] plant in [[Oshawa, Ontario|Oshawa]] went on strike and demanded an eight-hour workday, a seniority system, and the recognition of its CIO-affiliated [[United Auto Workers]] union. The strikers were also supported by the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]], which was Canada's main left-wing party. Hepburn, then professing a deep concern about radicals among auto workers, was supported by the owners of the plant and General Motors when he organized a volunteer police force to help him put down the strike after Canadian Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] had refused to send the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]]. The force was somewhat derisively known as "Hepburn's Hussars" or the "Sons of Mitches." Cabinet ministers who disagreed with Hepburn over the issue were forced to resign. However, the strike held out, and Hepburn capitulated on April 23, 1937.

===Conflict with Mackenzie King===
[[Image:KingHepburn.jpg|thumb|left|Mackenzie King and Hepburn in Hepburn's office (1934)]]

Hepburn remained a bitter opponent of Mackenzie King after the strike and harshly criticized King's war effort in 1940 after the outbreak of [[World War II]] had caused a resolution in the legislature to be passed 44-10 to accuse the federal government of mishandling the war effort. The Conservative opposition voted unanimously for the resolution, but the motion split the governing Liberals, with nine members of Hepburn's caucus voting against and others leaving the chamber before the vote.<ref name=starobit/> Hepburn, thinking that Canada should be doing more to support the war, helped to organize the military districts in Ontario and encouraged men to volunteer when Mackenzie King chose not to introduce [[conscription]].

Hepburn supported King's opponent, [[Arthur Meighen]], in a by-election in [[Toronto]] in 1942. Meighen's unusual source of support did not bring him to success, and he lost the by-election since the Liberals did not run a candidate, and King ordered party resources to be sent to the CCF candidate. However, King was politically much stronger than Hepburn; federal Liberal supporters, as well as those who thought an erratically driven rift between the provincial and federal parties to be suicidal, called for him to step down. Hepburn ultimately resigned as premier in October 1942 but continued to serve as Treasurer of Ontario and party leader until the following year.

==Aftermath==
Although [[Gordon Daniel Conant]] had become premier, many people continued to think that was in name only. Senior cabinet ministers such as [[Provincial Secretary]] [[Harry Nixon]] resigned and demanded a [[leadership convention]]. Pressure from both provincial and federal Liberals caused one to be held in May 1943. Hepburn finally tendered his resignation as leader (by telegram), and Nixon was elected the new party leader and was appointed as premier.

The Liberals under Nixon were soon routed in the [[1943 Ontario general election|1943 Ontario election]] and fell to [[third political party|third-party]] status, behind the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservatives]], led by [[George A. Drew|George Drew]], and the [[Ontario CCF|Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]], led by [[Ted Jolliffe]]. Hepburn himself was re-elected in his riding as an Independent Liberal while he was calling for a Liberal-Conservative [[coalition]] against the burgeoning CCF.<ref name=starobit/> The Liberal caucus unanimously asked Hepburn to resume the party's leadership in 1944.

Now branding Drew's Conservatives as the greatest menace to Canada, he reversed his earlier criticism of Mackenzie King's war effort and campaigned for Liberal candidate General [[Andrew McNaughton]] in a 1945 federal [[by-election]].<ref name=starobit/> Provincially, his earlier vehement doubts about radicals among auto workers now muted, Hepburn formed a [[Liberal-Labour (Canada)|Liberal-Labour]] alliance with the [[Communist Party of Canada]] (then known as the [[Labor-Progressive Party]]) for the [[1945 Ontario general election|1945 Ontario election]] but lost his own seat in the legislature.

Hepburn retired to his farm in St. Thomas, where he died of a heart attack in 1953.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/64013551/|title=The Lethbridge Herald from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada on January 5, 1953 · Page 1}}</ref> His funeral was attended by five former premiers, and Rev. Harry Scott Rodney observed in his eulogy:

{{cquote|
You met him, you shook hands with him, you were warmed by his famous smile, and you heard him say, 'I'm Mitch Hepburn'; and in a few minutes you were calling him Mitch, and you liked it, and you felt you had always known him.
}}

==Legacy==

Hepburn's personality was complex, as ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' noted in its obituary for him:

{{cquote|
Warm-hearted, loyal to his friends, Mitch Hepburn was often described as a political paradox. Mistakes which would have ended the public career of other men were taken in stride. He commanded affection where others obtained only respect. He loved good times, the company of convivial friends, the telling of a good, if off-colour, story.<ref name=globeobit>{{cite news |title= Ontario's Youngest Premier, Mitchell F. Hepburn Dies|author = Ralph Hyman|page= 3|newspaper= [[The Globe and Mail]]|date= January 6, 1953}}</ref>
}}

Hepburn was the first Liberal to become Premier since [[George William Ross]], and was the last Liberal Premier to win two successive majority terms until [[Dalton McGuinty]].

In 2008, he had a school named after him. Only miles away from his family's farm, [[Bannockburn Farms]], it was officially opened in January 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title= A promising journey begins |author= Patrick Brennan|url= http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/2009/01/08/a-promising-journey-begins|newspaper= [[St. Thomas Times-Journal]]|date= January 8, 2009|access-date=October 7, 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1= Klee|first1= Marcus|date= 2000|title= Fighting the Sweatshop in Depression Ontario: Capital, Labour and the Industrial Standards Act|url= http://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/5184/6053|journal= Labour/Le Travail|volume= 45|issue= 1|pages=13–51|doi= 10.2307/25149042|jstor= 25149042|url-access= subscription}}
* {{cite book |author= Neil McKenty|author-link= Neil McKenty|title= Mitch Hepburn|year= 1967|publisher= [[McClelland and Stewart]]|location= Toronto|lccn=68076547}}
* {{cite book |author= John T. Saywell|author-link= John Saywell|title= "Just Call Me Mitch": The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn|url=https://archive.org/details/justcallmemitchl0000sayw|url-access= registration|year= 1991|publisher= [[University of Toronto Press]]|location= Toronto|isbn= 0-80203467-5|issn=0380-9188|series=The Ontario historical studies series}}

==External links==
* {{Cite DCB |last=Glassford |first=Larry A. |title=Hepburn, Mitchell Frederick|volume=18 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hepburn_mitchell_frederick_18E.html}}
* {{Find a Grave|7287330}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|5661|Mitchell Frederick Hepburn}}
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=mitchell-frederick-hepburn|name=Mitchell Frederick Hepburn|old_id=456}}
* [https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20138 Mitchell F. Hepburn fonds], Archives of Ontario

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{{s-par|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Hugh Cummings McKillop]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Member of Parliament (Canada)|MP]] for [[Elgin West]]| years=1926–1934}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Wilson Henry Mills]]}}
{{s-par|ca-on}}
{{s-new|constituency}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario)|MPP]] for [[Elgin (provincial electoral district)|Elgin]]| years=1934–1945}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Fletcher Stewart Thomas]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef| before=[[W. E. N. Sinclair]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Ontario Liberal Party|Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party]]| years=1930–1942}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Gordon Daniel Conant]]}}
{{s-bef| before=[[Harry Nixon]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Ontario Liberal Party|Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party]]| years=1944–1945}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Farquhar Oliver]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George Stewart Henry]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Ontario premiers|Premier of Ontario]]|years=1934–1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Gordon Daniel Conant]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George Stewart Henry]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Finance (Ontario)|Treasurer of Ontario]]|years=1934–1943}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Arthur Gordon (politician)|Arthur Gordon]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Hepburn Ministry}}
{{Ontario Liberal Leaders}}
{{ONPremiers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Mitchell}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:Premiers of Ontario]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party]]
[[Category:Ministers of finance of Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Members of the United Church of Canada]]
[[Category:People from St. Thomas, Ontario]]
[[Category:Farmers from Ontario]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]