Hugh Plaxton

Who was Hugh Plaxton?

Hugh John Plaxton was a Canadian ice hockey player who competed in the 1928 Winter Olympics and later served in the Canadian House of Commons.

In 1928 he was a member of the University of Toronto Grads, the Canadian team which won the gold medal. He also played NHL hockey for the Montreal Maroons in the 1932-33 season.

After retiring from hockey, Plaxton qualified as a lawyer and entered politics. He was elected to parliament in the 1935 federal election as a Liberal MP from the Toronto riding of Trinity defeating Minister of Justice and former Toronto mayor George Reginald Geary. He lost the Liberal Party nomination in 1940 federal election to former Ontario Attorney-General Arthur Roebuck but attempted to return to Parliament in the 1945 federal election running in the riding of Kingston City where he was defeated by Conservative Thomas Kidd.

Plaxton was one of two former hockey players to have been elected a Member of Parliament for Trinity, the other being Lionel Conacher who was elected as a Liberal MP for the riding in 1949 and 1953.