Lewis Duncan

Who was Lewis Duncan?

James Lewis Duncan was a Canadian politician and lawyer.

Duncan was the son of a physician and grandson of a Presbyterian minister. He studied at the University of Toronto and in Paris and won a silver medal as a student at Osgoode Hall Law School.

He fought in World War I at the Somme, Vimy Ridge and Paschendale. Was appointed military administrator of occupied Bonn, Germany and ended the war with the rank of Major.

Returning to Canada he was appointed chair of a Fair Price Commission on milk, wrote a book on bankruptcy law and sat on a royal commission investigating farm fraud in British Columbia and helped write Canada's Combines Investigations Act.

In the 1930s, Ontario Hydro retained Duncan for a two-year investigation leading him to be criticized by the Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn for charging $17,000 in legal fees. Duncan was expelled from the ruling Ontario Liberal Party and responded by comparing Hepburn to Adolf Hitler and Hepburn called Duncan "a rat."

He was elected to Toronto City Council in the 1930s and ran for Mayor of Toronto in 1939 but was defeated by Ralph C. Day by a margin of 39,000 votes and again in 1940 by only 4,000 votes.