Dana Porter
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Dana Harris Porter (January 14, 1901 - May 13, 1967) was a Canadian politician and jurist.
After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1921, Porter went to England to continue his studies at Balliol College, Oxford from which he graduated with a Master's degree in 1923. He returned to Toronto where he was called to the bar, and joined the firm of Fennel, Porter & Davis.
Porter entered politics winning a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the downtown Toronto riding of St. George in the 1943 provincial election that brought the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario to power.
He joined the cabinet of Ontario Premer George Drew as Minister of Planning and Development in 1944. In 1947, he instituted an airlift of 10,000 British immigrants to the province over the objections of the federal government. In 1948, he was appointed Minister of Education and Provincial Secretary. When Drew left provincial politics to take the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Porter ran to succeed him as provincial leader, but won only 65 votes in the 1949 provincial Tory leadership convention. He lost to Leslie Frost.
Porter remained in the education portfolio until 1951, but also served as Attorney-General beginning in 1949. In 1950, he introduced a bill to legalize the playing of professional sports on Sundays in Ontario. He remained Attorney-General until 1955, when he became Treasurer (Minister of Finance).
In 1958, Porter left politics to accept an appointment as Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal. He made a notable ruling in 1964, lifting a ban on the book Fanny Hill. He is also known for a ruling in which the court refused to review the murder conviction of Steven Truscott.
From 1961 until 1964, he was head of the Royal Commission on Banking and Finance. He also served as the first Chancellor of the University of Waterloo beginning in 1960. The university's Dana Porter Library is named after him.
Dana Porter's son, Julian Porter, is a prominent Canadian copyright and libel lawyer who ran unsuccessfully in the 1985 provincial election as a Progressive Conservative in the same riding formerly represented by his father. The younger Porter was defeated by Ian Scott, who held Dana Porter's former position of Attorney-General of Ontario.
