# George William Ross By [FLIGMATA](https://paragraph.com/@fligmata) · 2023-05-30 --- **Sir George William Ross** (September 18, 1841 – March 7, 1914) was an educator and politician in the [Canadian province](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada) of [Ontario](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario). He was the fifth [premier of Ontario](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_of_Ontario) from 1899 to 1905. Early life ---------- Born near Nairn, in [Middlesex County](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_County,_Ontario), [Upper Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Canada), Ross worked as a school teacher, a school inspector and a newspaper publisher before he got into politics. Ross's parents had emigrated from [Tain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tain) in the Highlands of Scotland in 1831 and the language of his youth was [Scottish Gaelic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic). He, along with his fellow Canadian Gaels, held a lifelong love for the language. As a tribute, a short biographical account of Ross was printed in Gaelic in Ontario in the year following his death.[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-1) Early political career ---------------------- He was first elected to the [House of Commons of Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_Canada) as a [Liberal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Canada) in the [1872 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Canadian_federal_election), and was re-elected in the [1874](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1874_Canadian_federal_election) and [1878 elections](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1878_Canadian_federal_election). During his time as an MP, he actively defended the [_Canada Temperance Act_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Temperance_Act), which favoured the "local option" approach for implementing [prohibition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition). He was initially declared re-elected again in the [1882 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1882_Canadian_federal_election), but his victory was challenged, and the next year the vote was declared void. Rather than run again, Ross moved to provincial politics when he was offered the position of Minister of Education for Ontario in the [Liberal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Liberal_Party) government of Sir [Oliver Mowat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Mowat) in 1883. He oversaw the transformation of former mechanics' institutes into more than 300 public libraries, the expansion of the [kindergarten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindergarten) system, and the creation of a provincial School of Pedagogy for the training of school inspectors and masters. Ross increased grants to the education system, expanded the authority of the provincial Department of Education, and oversaw the expansion of the [university](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University) system and the federation of a number of smaller colleges with the [University of Toronto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Toronto). He also, controversially, established an oligopoly for the supply of textbooks to Ontario schools that was in effect from 1885 to 1907.[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-2) It was Ross who implemented a system of gradated education from kindergarten (a new innovation that Ross was the first to recognise as part of the provincial school system) to university, unifying what had been separately organised systems. During his time as Minister of Education (1883–99), Ross established both Arbor Day and Empire Day, in order to inculcate in students both the desire to keep the school grounds attractive as well as a sense of patriotism. With regard to this latter, under his ministry, both Canadian history and military training became part of the curriculum in high schools in Ontario.[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-3) This mandatory cadet training became controversial with the general public after the two World Wars, and was finally phased out entirely in 1944. The [Conservative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Conservative_Party_of_Ontario) opposition protested against the possibility of increased support for the [Catholic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic) [Separate school](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separate_school) system, while the Catholic minority agitated for the same high schools and other facilities that the public (Protestant) school system enjoyed. The [Protestant Protective Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Protective_Association) was formed by [Orangemen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Order) in the 1890s to oppose the expansion of Catholic rights, and to attempt to exclude Catholics from public life in the province. Premier of Ontario ------------------ After Mowat's retirement as [Premier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier), and a short interregnum triggered by [Arthur S. Hardy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Sturgis_Hardy), Ross became [Premier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiers_of_Ontario) (and Provincial Treasurer) on October 21, 1899.[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-Ross-4) Nicknamed as the "Father of New Ontario",[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-5) he was present in the development of [Northern Ontario](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ontario): * promoting the development of its natural resources through extending manufacturing conditions already in effect for [pine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine) [timber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber) to [spruce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce) and other [softwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwood),[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-6) * introducing a [bounty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_\(reward\)) on the refining of [nickel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel) ore within the province,[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-7) * initiating a survey of Northern Ontario, which promoted the potential of the [Great Clay Belt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Clay_Belt) for settlement,[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-8) and * establishing the [Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temiskaming_and_Northern_Ontario_Railway).[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Ross#cite_note-9) --- *Originally published on [FLIGMATA](https://paragraph.com/@fligmata/george-william-ross)*