Arthur Sturgis Hardy

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Arthur Sturgis Hardy
The Hon. Arthur Sturgis Hardy
4th Premier of Ontario
In office July 21, 1896 – October 21, 1899
Preceded by	Oliver Mowat
Succeeded by	George William Ross

Born	December 14, 1837 Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada
Died	June 13, 1901 Toronto, Ontario
Political party	Ontario Liberal Party
Spouse	Mary Morrison

For the U.S. diplomat and academic, see Arthur Sherburne Hardy.

Arthur Sturgis Hardy (December 14, 1837 – June 13, 1901) was a lawyer and Liberal politician who served as Ontario's fourth Premier from 1896 to 1899.

Hardy attended school at the Rockwood Academy in Rockwood, Ontario. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1873 and was promoted to the Cabinet of Sir Oliver Mowat in 1877 as Provincial Secretary. In 1889 as Commissioner of Crown Lands, Hardy established Algonquin Park. Entering his sixties and having been in government for over twenty years, Hardy lacked the energy and strength to take the government forward or excite the populace when he succeeded Mowat as both Premier and Attorney-General in 1896. In the 1898 election Hardy's government was returned with a narrow six seat majority due to the collapse of the agrarian Patrons of Industry party which had served as the Liberal's allies in the legislature. Exhausted and needing money, Hardy retired from politics in 1899 and died two years later.

[edit] External links

Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Preceded by: Edmund Burke Wood	MPP for Brant South 1871–1899	Succeeded by: Thomas Hiram Preston
Preceded by: Sir Oliver Mowat	Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party 1896–1899	Succeeded by: George William Ross
Preceded by: Sir Oliver Mowat	Premier of Ontario 1896–1899	Succeeded by: George William Ross

	Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party
Brown \| McKellar \| Blake \| Mowat \| Hardy \| Ross \| Graham \| MacKay \| Rowell \| Proudfoot \| Dewart \| Hay \| Sinclair \| Hepburn \| Conant \| H. Nixon \| Hepburn \| Oliver \| Thomson \| Oliver \| Wintermeyer \| Thompson \| R. Nixon \| Smith \| Peterson \| R. Nixon \| Elston \| Bradley \| McLeod \| McGuinty