George Ashe (Canadian politician)

George Lyle Ashe (October 5, 1932 – August 3, 2014) was a Canadian politician based in Ontario. He was a Progressive Conservative Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1977 to 1987 who represented the Durham region riding of Durham West. He served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.

George Ashe
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Durham West
In office
June 9, 1977 – September 10, 1987
Preceded byCharles Godfrey
Succeeded byNorah Stoner
Personal details
Born(1932-10-05)October 5, 1932
Ottawa, Ontario
DiedAugust 3, 2014(2014-08-03) (aged 81)
Whitby, Ontario
Political partyProgressive Conservative
Spouse(s)Margo Ashe
Children4
ProfessionLife insurance executive

Background

Ashe was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and educated in that city. He worked in agency management for Northern Life of Canada. He was a Separate School trustee for the Roman Catholic board in Gloucester Township in the late 1950s. He and his wife Margo raised four children.[1]

Politics

He was an alderman for Nepean Township in the early 1960s. He was elected deputy reeve of Pickering in 1969, and became the city's first mayor four years later. Ashe served as mayor of Pickering until 1977, and was also a member of the Durham Regional Council.[2]

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1977 election, in the riding of Durham West defeating New Democratic Party incumbent Charles Godfrey by 593 votes.[3] He served as parliamentary assistant to three ministers, and was re-elected with an increased plurality in the 1981 election.[4] Ashe was appointed to Bill Davis's cabinet on April 10, 1981 as Minister of Revenue.[5]

Following a cabinet shuffle on July 6, 1983, Ashe was named as Minister of Government Services.[6] Ashe supported Frank Miller to succeed Davis in the Progressive Conservative Party's 1985 leadership convention, and was named Minister of Energy when Miller became in as Premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985.[7]

Ashe was re-elected in the 1985 election, which reduced Miller's Conservatives to minority government status.[8] He was appointed as Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet on May 17, 1985, but accomplished little before Miller's government was defeated in the house in June.[9] In opposition, he served as his party's critic for Revenue, the Management Board, and Financial Institutions. He lost the Durham West constituency to Liberal Norah Stoner by 5,843 votes in the 1987 election, amid a Liberal sweep of the province.[10]

Ashe's son, Kevin is also a Regional Councillor and Deputy Mayor with the City of Pickering. During the 40th Ontario general election, Ashe was the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in Ajax—Pickering but ultimately lost.[11][12]

Cabinet positions
Ontario Provincial Government of Frank Miller
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor Office Successor
Bette Stephenson Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet
1985 (May–June)		 Elinor Caplan
Philip Andrewes Minister of Energy
1985 (February–May)		 Mike Harris
Ontario Provincial Government of Bill Davis
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor Office Successor
Douglas Wiseman Minister of Government Services
1983–1985		 Bob Runciman
Lorne Maeck Minister of Revenue
1981–1983		 Bud Gregory

Later life

In 2003, Ashe was elected as a Trustee for the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington District School Board and he served one three-year term. He died in 2014 of Parkinson's disease.[1]

gollark: I suppose you could probably say something about how the economy was better when stuff was differentiated and stuff was made by individual craftsmen but that's stupid and would make no sense for silicon stuff.
gollark: You're also ferra.
gollark: I'm not sure about real estate, it's not like you can trivially swap 1km² of land somewhere for 1km² elsewhere.
gollark: I'm *guessing* your complaint is along the lines of "people need water → no trading of it allowed → commoditisation involves that" but I can only really guess.
gollark: Yes, but that means multiple things ish.

References
  1. Gilligan, Keith (August 5, 2014). "First mayor of Pickering George Ashe dies". Durham Region News. Metroland Media.
  2. "Obituary". Toronto Star. Legacy.com. August 6, 2014.
  3. "Ontario provincial election results riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 10, 1977. p. D9.
  4. Canadian Press (1981-03-20). "Winds of change, sea of security". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. 22. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  5. Speirs, Rosemary (April 10, 1981). "Norton gets Environment as Davis shuffles Cabinet". The Globe and Mail. p. 1.
  6. Speirs, Rosemary; Stead, Sylvia; Cruikshank, John (July 6, 1983). "Shuffle gives Treasury job to Grossman". The Globe and Mail. pp. 1, 2.
  7. "The Ontario Cabinet". The Globe and Mail. February 9, 1985. p. 4.
  8. "Results of vote in Ontario election". The Globe and Mail. May 3, 1985. p. 13.
  9. "The new Cabinet". The Globe and Mail. May 18, 1985. p. 11.
  10. "Results from individual ridings". The Windsor Star. September 11, 1987. p. F2.
  11. https://www.pickering.ca/en/city-hall/kevinasheprofile.aspx
  12. https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/3488830-ashe-wins-pc-nomination-for-ajax-pickering/
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