Hugh Edwin Munroe

Who was Hugh Edwin Munroe?

Hugh Edwin Munroe, M.D., was the fifth Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan during the Great Depression.

He was born in Glengarry County, Ontario and educated at McGill University where he earned his medical degree before undertaking post-graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Munroe subsequently settled in Saskatchewan where he established his medical practice. He was involved in local and provincial politics - he was defeated as a candidate for the Provincial Rights Party in the 1905 provincial election when he was a candidate in Saskatoon County. In the 1912 provincial election he ran as the Conservative canadidate in Saskatoon City but was again defeated.

He served in World War I as a lieutenant colonel and was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his military service.

He returned to Saskatchewan after the war and resumed his medical practice and political activity. He was appointed lieutenant governor of the province by Conservative federal Prime Minister R.B. Bennett in 1931.

In the midsts of the economic crisis, Muroe used his office to raise money for relief projects and charity. Nevertheless, many Canadians viewed the ceremonial office as a frivolity and excess during times of hardship and there was a movement to abolish the position. However, the provincial Legislature overwhelmingly defeated a motion to suspend the Office of the Lieutenant-Governor in 1934.