Robert Winters Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Robert Winters
Smallimage:Robert Winters.jpg
Caption:Winters, c. 1942-48
Office:Minister of Trade and Commerce
Primeminister:Lester B. Pearson
Term Start:January 4, 1966
Term End:March 29, 1968
Predecessor:Mitchell Sharp
Successor:Jean-Luc Pepin (acting)
Office1:Minister of Public Works
Primeminister1:Louis St. Laurent
Term Start1:September 7, 1953
Term End1:June 20, 1957
Predecessor1:Walter Harris (acting)
Successor1:Howard Charles Green
Office2:Minister of Resources and Development
Primeminister2:Louis St. Laurent
Term Start2:January 18, 1950
Term End2:September 16, 1953
Predecessor2:Office established
Successor2:Jean Lesage
Office3:Minister of Reconstruction and Supply
Primeminister3:Louis St. Laurent
Term Start3:November 15, 1948
Term End3:January 17, 1950
Predecessor3:C. D. Howe
Successor3:Office abolished
Riding4:York West
Parliament4:Canadian
Term Start4:November 8, 1965
Term End4:June 24, 1968
Predecessor4:Red Kelly
Successor4:Philip Givens
Riding5:Queens--Lunenburg

Parliament5:Canadian
Term Start5:June 11, 1945
Term End5:June 10, 1957
Predecessor5:John James Kinley
Successor5:Lloyd Crouse
Birth Name:Robert Henry Winters
Birth Date:18 August 1910
Birth Place:Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada
Death Place:Monterey, California, U.S.
Party:Liberal
Children:2
Education:
Allegiance:Canada
Branch:Canadian Army
Serviceyears:1939–1945
Rank:Lieutenant-colonel
Unit:Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Battles:World War II

Robert Henry Winters (August 18, 1910 – October 10, 1969) was a Canadian politician and businessman.

Life and career

Born in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the son of a fishing captain, Winters went to Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, and then to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to complete his degree in electrical engineering. He worked for Northern Electric before joining the army in World War II, eventually becoming a lieutenant-colonel. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1945 general election as a Liberal for the riding of Queens—Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. Winters was appointed to Cabinet in 1948, and served as minister of public works, among other portfolios, under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent.

Defeated along with the St. Laurent government in the 1957 election, Winters entered the corporate world, becoming a chief executive officer at a series of companies. He was hired as a special advisor to the Newfoundland government to help negotiate the Churchill Falls deal, for which he became highly popular in that province.

He was persuaded to return to politics by Lester Pearson, and won the Toronto seat of York West in the 1965 election, becoming minister of trade and commerce in Pearson's government. He was seen as close to the business community and far more fiscally conservative than Walter L. Gordon. He originally announced that he would not seek to replace the retiring Pearson, but changed his mind and ran to succeed Pearson at the 1968 Liberal leadership convention, coming in second to Pierre Trudeau.

Winters then left politics, to become president and director of Brazilian Light and Power and a vice president of CIBC. Also, he was very involved in the new York University and served as the first chair of its board of governors.

Death

In 1969, while in California, he suffered a heart attack during a game of tennis. He died at age 59 in an ambulance on his way to hospital.

Winters College at York University is named in his honour.

References