Arthur Hardy was born in Mount Pleasant, Brant County on Dec. 14, 1937. The son of United Empire Loyalists, he studied at Rockwood Academy. His family, both sides, were some of the earliest white settlers of Brant Country. His father, Russell, was a farmer and briefly ran the general store. Wanting to ensure his son got a good education, he worked hard so that Hardy could attend a private academy.
After attending Brantford Grammar School and Rockwood Academy, he began to train as a lawyer in the Brantford office where his uncle work. While he was working early in his law career, Hardy did some work for George Brown on election committees, giving him his first taste at politics.
In 1861, Hardy became a lawyer and four years later was called to the bar. He briefly worked for his uncle before he set up his own practice in 1867 and became the town solicitor for Rockwood.
In 1870, he married Mary Morrison, daughter of Justice Morrison. Together, they had four children.
He continued to move up the ranks of the law profession and became a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada and then sat on the Court of the Queen’s Bench.
Hardy was committed to his work. Between 1865 and 1877, he defended 16 people accused of murder. On one occasion, he held 43 briefs in criminal and civil cases.
In 1873, Hardy was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, taking a seat that was left vacated by Edmund Wood.
As soon as he entered into politics, Hardy became known for his energy and skill in debating. The Toronto Mail said that he was the quote “party virago” that seemed to delight in doing the most difficult work in the party.
In 1877, Hardy was appointed the Provincial Secretary of the province, a post he would hold for the next 12 years.
As provincial secretary, it was up to Hardy to handle many of the measures that were being put in place by Premier Sir Oliver Mowat concerning the decentralization efforts to bring more power to the provinces.
One of his most significant contributions concerned the Liquor Licence Act of 1876. While it was Adam Crooks who introduced the Act to the provincial government, Hardy was the one who handled putting it together. To do that, he talked to both those who supported prohibition and those who did not. His work ensured that neither side was too angry or too satisfied.
In 1877, he sent whisky detectives to his own riding to find the hotel and saloon keepers who were taking voters and giving them drinks on the promise they would vote for the Conservatives. In one day, over 100 charges were laid before a mob drove the detectives out of town.
As provincial secretary, he also improved the government’s ability to use patronage, which involved reorganizing the employment within provincial departments.
In 1882, he introduced a bill to establish a board of health.
In 1889, Hardy was appointed the Commissioner of Crown Lands. In that role, he established Algonquin Provincial Park, the first provincial park in Ontario. Despite establishing the park, he was also opposed to any sort of reforestation policy because he felt it was too expensive and his belief that the forest reserves of Ontario would last at least 100 years.
Between 1874 and 1896, Hardy introduced more than 150 public and private bills and nearly every one of them passed. These included a bill respecting railway traffic which improved the relationship between shippers and railways. He also introduced the bill that saw the enlarging of district jurisdictions and also reduced the number of grand jurors to 13.
On July 21, 1896, Hardy succeeded Sir Oliver Mowat, becoming the third premier of Ontario. He was the first new premier in almost a quarter century for the province. At this point, Hardy was over 60 and had spent 23 years in the Legislature. He said,
“You know how very difficult it is in this wicked world to let high honours pass.”
Dealing with diabetes, he was hesitant to take the post but chose to as he felt it was the right thing for the province.
Not having the energy to serve as premier, he relied heavily on George William Ross, his Minister of Education.
As the new premier of Ontario in 1896, Hardy’s government would bring in a controversial policy in December 1897, which was an amendment to the Crown Timber Act, which required all pine cut under licence on Crown Land after April 30, 1898, to be sawn into lumber in Canada. While this amendment was popular among many residents who did not like American companies taking Canadian timber, the Americans and even the federal government would put heavy pressure on the Ontario government to change course. The American Secretary of State would even speak with the British Ambassador in Washington over it. Sir Wilfrid Laurier would deflect all pressure to Hardy, stating that the province could do as it pleased.
Hardy, despite pressure to reassure French-speaking Catholics in the province over the Manitoba Schools Question, did very little. All he did was appoint Francois-Eugene-Alfred Evanturel as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Heading into the election, he campaigned on the fact that the Liberals had led Ontario for 26 years of what he called quote:
“progressive legislation and honest administration.”
He hoped to bring back rural farmers who had started to migrate away from the party, and the Catholics that were starting to weaken in their favour of the Liberals.
James Whitney was now the leader of the Conservatives, having come into office in 1888. A former soldier in the Canadian militia, he would see success in the election campaign leading up to the election.
Whitney would move to strengthen his base by reaching out to the Catholics. One way he did this was by appointing James Joseph Foy as the party’s flag bearer. Foy was a prominent Catholic lawyer. With Foy on his side, Whitney was able to convince Catholics that the days of anti-Catholicism were over, even if there never was much anti-Catholicism in the province during the days of Mowat.
Hardy would travel throughout Ontario to drum up votes for his party. At one point, he spoke at Windsor Opera House, which was well attended. The Windsor Star wrote quote:
“Long before the hour for opening the public meeting in the Opera House arrived, every seat was occupied and before the meeting had progressed very far, a large number could not find seats. Among the audience were many ladies who were given seats near the platform.”
At the Russell Theatre in Ottawa on Feb. 18, Hardy was met with another strong reception. The Ottawa Journal reported quote:
“The Hardy reception in the Russell Theatre last night was one of the most orderly and yet enthusiastic ever held here. Those who had misgivings that the crowd would do as many political audiences do, disfigure the floors, were agreeably surprised at the thoroughly representative orderly and intelligent audience present.”
Throughout the campaign, Whitney was confident in success in the election. He would say on Feb. 14, quote:
“We are confident and certain of winning. The meetings are well attended and are very enthusiastic. I will not specialize and give reports on the different ridings but everything augurs well for success.”
Whitney would also attack Hardy, charging him with falsehood and cowardice. He would state quote:
“He is coward enough and I want these words of mine to go through the length and breadth of this land.”
Lies would appear in several papers. The Toronto World would push the belief that American lumbermen supported Hardy. It would be stated in the Kingston Whig Standard quote:
“The Toronto World has started the fiction, on the authority of a Michigan agent, expressed through a Hamilton man, that the American lumbermen have subscribed $200,000 with which to help Hardy carry the election. That is a lie, barefaced, wicked, malicious and the people who put it in circulation know that it is a lie.”
On the March 1, 1898 election, the Liberals did gain six seats to finish with 51, but the Conservatives surged ahead with 19 more seats to finish with 42. Despite this, the Liberals still had a clear majority in the Legislature. The Patrons of Industry and Protestant Protective Association lost nearly all their support and finished with no seats after having success in the previous election.
The Montreal Gazette wrote quote:
“The Ontario government had a narrow escape from defeat today. Mr. Whitney has proved that he put up one of the best fights the province ever witness in a provincial campaign.”
After the election, Hardy wanted to call another election almost immediately, but his ministers would talk him out of this. As for the Conservatives, since they had come so close to winning, decided that with more money, they would win the next election. Whitney would begin launching election protests in the hope of pushing the Liberals to call an election.
After the election, Hardy was exhausted and running low on money. He did not believe he could continue as premier due to his declining health. After speaking with his doctor, he decided that the time was right to leave politics.
On Oct. 21, 1899, he retired as premier and was succeeded by George William Ross.
The Toronto Star wrote,
“Hardy’s record in the Legislature was a splendid one. He was not afraid of work and he possessed many of those peculiar gifts which mark the constructive statesman.”
He did not know that his sons and brother Alexander had been pressing for Hardy to receive a knighthood. Hardy had been up for a knighthood in 1897 but due to the approaching election and the rural sensibilities of his riding, he chose to decline it. When he found out that there was a new effort to get him a knighthood, Hardy chose instead to tell Laurier he would refuse it if it was offered. No knighthood offer was subsequently made.
In 1900, he was awarded a silver service and a cheque for $17,000 to thank him for his work with the province.
Unfortunately for Hardy, his retirement did not last very long. While his health seemed to improve without the pressure of being premier on his shoulders, he only enjoyed being a retired man for a couple years.
In early June 1901, he had an operation to deal with appendicitis. For several days he seemed to be doing fine but then an abscess developed and burst and his healthy quickly fell. A second operation occurred but it did not help.
The Montreal Star wrote,
“Hardy was perfectly conscious during the greater part of the time and bore his suffering with the greatest fortitude and cheerfulness.”
On June 13, 1901, Hardy died.
The Toronto Star wrote,
“The death of Hardy robs Canada of a distinguished son an able, clear-sighted conscientious public servant and an intelligent and patriotic Canadian.”
Hardy was succeeded by Sir George William Ross who won a slim majority in 1902 but was the last Liberal premier of Ontario until 1934 and one of only three to serve during the entire 20th century.
