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{{short description|Canadian politician (1889-1966)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
'''Morris Abraham Gray''' (May 16, 1889<ref name="members"/>-January 22, 1966<ref name="mhs"/>) was a politician in [[Manitoba]], [[Canada]]. He served as a member of the [[Manitoba legislature|provincial legislature]] from 1941 to 1966, and was a prominent figure in the province's [[social-democratic]] [[Manitoba Cooperative Commonwealth Federation|Cooperative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) during this period.<ref name="members">{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_deceased.html#G0 |title=MLA Biographies - Deceased |work=Legislative Assembly of Manitoba |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330155427/http://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_deceased.html#G0 |archivedate=2014-03-30 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Gray was born to Abraham and Sara Gur-Arie, a [[Jewish]] family in [[Gomel]] (now in [[Belarus]]), and received a high school education in that region. He arrived in Canada in 1908, a committed leftist following the attempted revolution of 1905. In 1911, he married Sonia Bruser.<ref name="mhs">{{cite web |url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/gray_ma.shtml |title=Morris A. Gray (1887-1966) |publisher=Manitoba Historical Society |accessdate=2013-04-24}}</ref>

Gray was a founder of the [[Canadian Jewish Congress]], and at one stage served as its national Vice-President. He also became a member of the Mount Sinai Masonic Lodge and the Jewish Children's Aid Society,<ref name="mhs"/> and was an Executive Member of the [[Canada Club]].

Gray served as a member of the Winnipeg School Board from 1926 to 1930, and was an [[Alderman]] in the city of Winnipeg from 1930 to 1942.<ref name="mhs"/> He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the [[1941 Manitoba general election|provincial election of 1941]], in the riding of [[Winnipeg (provincial electoral district)|Winnipeg]].<ref name="members"/> At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members by preferential balloting. Gray topped the CCF list on the first count, with 3,086 votes (ahead of party leader [[Seymour Farmer]]), finishing in eighth place overall. Gray and Farmer were subsequently elected on transfers, although longtime [[Independent Labour Party (in Manitoba) (II)|Independent Labour Party]]/CCF Member of the Legislative Assembly [[John Queen]] was defeated.

The 1941 election took place in a period of reduced support for the provincial CCF. The party had joined an all-party coalition government the previous year, with Farmer serving as [[Manitoba Minister of Labour|Minister of Labour]] under [[Manitoba Liberal Party|Liberal-Progressive]] [[Premier]] [[John Bracken]]. The alliance proved disastrous for the CCF, who regularly saw their initiatives thwarted by the other parties. The demoralized party won only three seats in the entire province. After the alliance ended in 1943, Gray played a prominent role in rebuilding the CCF's organization.

The CCF performed much more strongly in the [[1945 Manitoba general election|1945 general election]], winning four seats in Winnipeg: Farmer (who topped the poll), Gray (who finished sixth), [[Lloyd Stinson]] and [[Donovan Swailes]]. The party was unable to match this success in the rest of the province, however, and remained in opposition.

In the [[1949 Manitoba general election|provincial election of 1949]], the City of Winnipeg was divided into three electoral zones, each of which elected four members. Gray ran in [[Winnipeg North (Manitoba riding)|Winnipeg North]], where he topped the poll and was the only candidate to be elected on the first count. He repeated this performance in the [[1953 Manitoba general election|1953 election]];<ref name="members"/> on both occasions, his leading opponent was [[Bill Kardash]] of the [[communist]] [[Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba|Labour Progressive Party]].

Manitoba adopted a system of single-member constituencies for Winnipeg in the mid-1950s, and Gray (despite his strong objection to the new system) was easily elected for the riding of [[Inkster (Manitoba riding)|Inkster]] in the [[1958 Manitoba general election|provincial election of 1958]].<ref name="members"/> He faced a slightly more serious challenge from the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba|Progressive Conservatives]] in the [[1959 Manitoba general election|1959 election]] (in which PC leader [[Dufferin Roblin]] won an historic majority), but still defeated his leading opponent by over 1,500 votes. The CCF merged itself into the [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba|New Democratic Party]] (NDP) in 1961, and Gray joined the new party along with other members of his caucus.

Gray's final election, in [[1962 Manitoba general election|1962]], was the closest of his career, as he defeated Liberal candidate John Shanski by fewer than 600 votes. He died shortly before the election of 1966, and his riding was subsequently won by [[Sidney Green (politician)|Sidney Green]] of the NDP.<ref name="members"/>

Gray was respected by members of all parties for his advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged. He frequently used the phrase, "I know mine is a voice in the wilderness" in his parliamentary orations. Among the causes he championed were a provincial labour code, health insurance, child welfare legislation, mother's allowances and old age pensions. His appeals for supplementary aid for old-age pensioners were turned down fourteen years in a row by the governments of [[Stuart Garson]] and [[Douglas L. Campbell]]. Gray was voted "Citizen of the Year" by the ''[[Winnipeg Tribune]]'' in 1958.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=T_BOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W0wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4622,4761616 |title=M.A. Gray Named Manitoba's Citizen Of Year |publisher=The Canadian Jewish Chronicle |date=January 16, 1959 |page=2 |accessdate=2013-04-24}}</ref>

He died in Winnipeg at the age of 76.<ref name="mhs"/>

Morris Gray was the uncle of [[Gerald B. Gray]], a Manitoba businessman, philanthropist and community leader.<ref>[http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/gray_ma.shtml Memorable Manitobans: Morris A. Gray (1887-1966)]</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.cjhn.ca/permalink/185 |title=Gray, Morris Abraham |publisher=Canadian Jewish Heritage Network |accessdate=2013-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726015555/http://www.cjhn.ca/permalink/185 |archivedate=2014-07-26 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Morris}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLAs]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]]
[[Category:Winnipeg city councillors]]
[[Category:People from Gomel]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian Jewish Congress members]]

Morris Gray - Revision history

imported>Atremari: Updated short description