Arthur Gordon

Who is Arthur Gordon?

Arthur St. Clair Gordon was a manufacturer and Ontario provincial politician. Gordon, a Liberal, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1934 provincial election that brought Liberal Mitchell Hepburn to power. He represented the riding of Kent West from 1934 until 1945.

He was born in Wallaceburg, the son of D. A. Gordon, and was educated there and at Ridley College. He was a member of the town council, serving two years as mayor. Gordon was president of the National Pressure Cooker Co., the Schultz Die Casting Co., the Sydenham Trading Co. and the Gordon Manufacturing Co.

Gordon served as Minister Without Portfolio from 1937 until 1943, at which point he became Treasurer in the government of Hepburn's successor, Gordon Conant. Hepburn himself had retained the portfolio for several months after resigning as Premier but was finally forced to relinquish this position in March 1943. Conant was soon replaced as Premier by the new Liberal leader, Harry Nixon, who retained Gordon as Treasurer in his short lived government which was defeated in the 1943 provincial election. Gordon then served on the opposition bench until he left politics at the 1945 election.