Ernest Lapointe

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Rt. Hon. Ernest Lapointe

Ernest Lapointe, PC (October 6, 1876 – November 26, 1941) was a Canadian politician. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in an 1898 by-election as a Liberal MP.

In 1921, William Lyon Mackenzie King appointed Lapointe to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of Marine and Fisheries. In 1924 he became Minister of Justice and served in that position in successive Liberal cabinets until his death in 1941. Lapointe served as King's Quebec lieutenant and was one of the most important ministers in Cabinet. He chaired the Canadian delegation to the Imperial Conference of 1926 that led to the drafting of the subsequent Balfour Declaration that raised the status of dominions to one of equality with Britain and eventually led to the Statute of Westminster 1931. In the late 1930s, Lapointe disallowed several Acts passed by the Alberta Social Credit government of William Aberhart. However, he failed to disallow the Padlock Act passed by Maurice Duplessis fearing that doing so would only aid the Union Nationale government.

Lapointe helped draft Mackenzie King's policy against conscription for overseas service in 1939 and his campaigning helped defeat the Duplessis government in 1939.

His son, Hugues Lapointe, was also a Parliamentarian and Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

See also Conscription Crisis of 1944

Preceded by Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne	Minister of Marine and Fisheries 1921–1924	Succeeded by Pierre Joseph Arthur Cardin
Preceded by Lomer Gouin	Minister of Justice 1924–1926	Succeeded by Hugh Guthrie
Preceded by Hugh Guthrie	Minister of Justice 1926–1930	Succeeded by Hugh Guthrie
Preceded by George Reginald Geary	Minister of Justice 1935–1941	Succeeded by Joseph E. Michaud