James Wilfred Snow (July 12, 1929 – September 13, 2008) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of William Davis and Frank Miller. Snow was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.[1]
He was born in Esquesing Township, Ontario, and educated in Milton. He worked as a farmer before entering political life, and was the president of Snow Construction Ltd., Snow Properties Ltd. and Oakville Investments Ltd.
Snow was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1967 provincial election, defeating Liberal candidate Robin Skuce by 164 votes in Halton East. He served as a backbench supporter of John Robarts's government for the next four years, and was named a minister without portfolio when Davis replaced Robarts as premier on March 1, 1971. He was re-elected with a much increased majority in the 1971 election, and was promoted to Minister of Public Works and Minister of Government Services on February 2, 1972. He left the former portfolio on September 28 of the same year.
The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a minority government in the 1975 election. Snow was re-elected in the redistributed district of Oakville, and was named Minister of Transportation and Communications on October 7, 1975. He held this position for over nine years, until the end of the Davis administration. Snow supported Frank Miller to succeed Davis as party leader in January 1985, and was retained in Miller's portfolio as a minister without portfolio responsible for Urban Transit. He did not seek re-election in 1985.
Snow published an autobiography after leaving political life, and purchased a golf course in Hornby, Ontario. Snow donated his family wheelchair van to the Lions Foundation of Canada in August 2005.
Long time residents of Milton, Ontario, James & Barbara Snow recently (Tuesday December 12, 2006) donated half-a-million dollars to the Milton District Hospital Foundation's CT Scanner Campaign. The annex housing the scanner will commence construction in February 2007 and will be named the "James and Barbara Snow Family Trust Diagnostic Imaging Annex".
The town of Milton, Ontario renamed Fourth Line (in the former Trafalgar Township) James Snow Parkway (Halton Regional Road 4). It was upgraded in the early 1980s to become a major arterial road, and is in the process of being extended on both north and south ends. The overpass of the James Snow Parkway at Highway 401 was destroyed in 1986 when it was hit by a fuel tanker. It has subsequently been rebuilt.
Snow died on September 13, 2008 of complications from diabetes. He was 79.
| Cabinet Posts (1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Predecessor | Office | Successor |
| John Reginald Rhodes | Minister of Transportation 1975–1984 |
Ed Fulton |