Edgar Nelson Rhodes

The Hon. Edgar Nelson Rhodes P.C.
10th Premier of Nova Scotia
In office July 16, 1925 – August 11, 1930
Monarch	George V
Lieutenant Governor	James Robson Douglas James Cranswick Tory
Preceded by	Ernest Howard Armstrong
Succeeded by	Gordon Sidney Harrington
15th Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada
In office January 18, 1917 – March 5, 1922
Monarch	George V
Governor General	The Duke of Devonshire Baron Byng of Vimy
Prime Minister	Sir Robert Laird Borden Arthur Meighen
Preceded by	Albert Sévigny
Succeeded by	Rodolphe Lemieux
Senator for Amherst, Nova Scotia
In office July 20, 1935 – March 15, 1942
Appointed by	R. B. Bennett
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Richmond—West Cape Breton
In office August 11, 1930 – July 20, 1935
Preceded by	John Alexander Macdonald
Succeeded by	The electoral district was abolished in 1933.
Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Hants County
In office June 25, 1925 – August 11, 1930 Serving with Albert E. Parsons
Preceded by	James W. Reid John A. Macdonald
Succeeded by	Alexander S. MacMillan
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Cumberland
In office October 26, 1908 – December 6, 1921
Preceded by	Hance James Logan
Succeeded by	Hance James Logan
Personal details
Born	(1877-01-05)January 5, 1877 Milton, Massachusetts
Died	March 15, 1942(1942-03-15) (aged 65) Ottawa, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Conservative Party Nova Scotia Conservative Party
Spouse(s)	Mary Grace Pipes m, 1905
Residence	Amherst, Nova Scotia
Profession	Lawyer
Cabinet	Federal: Minister of Fisheries (1930–1932) Minister of Finance and Receiver General (1932–1935)
Religion	Baptist

Edgar Nelson Rhodes, PC (January 5, 1877 – March 15, 1942) was a Canadian parliamentarian from Nova Scotia.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1908 as a member of the Conservative Party. In January 1917, he became Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons when his predecessor, Albert Sévigny, was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet. Rhodes was highly regarded as Speaker and retained the position following the 1917 election that fall, becoming the first Speaker since James Cockburn to preside over more than one Parliament. In 1921, he was made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada before retiring from politics to become president of the British-American Nickel Company.

The company failed in 1925, and he returned to provincial politics. Prior to the 1925 provincial election, he was asked to become leader of the Nova Scotia Conservative Party after the leader of the party, W. L. Hall, was assaulted on the waterfront. Rhodes took over the party, and led it to victory in the 1925 election. The Conservatives defeated a Liberal government that had been in power for forty-three years but had been, in its last years, wracked by an economic downturn and severe labour unrest among miners in Cape Breton.

Rhodes ran on a Maritime Rights platform, promising to curtail federal influence and stop the exodus of people from the province. The Tories more than doubled their seats in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, winning forty out of forty-three seats. The new government introduced pensions for teachers and allowances for widowed mothers. Throughout his term, Rhodes had to contend with continuing violent strikes by miners in Cape Breton during which one miner, William Davis, was killed.

His government also abolished the Legislative Council, the province's appointed Upper House, but first had to go to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to obtain permission to appoint enough new members to the Council to secure a vote for its abolition.

The Rhodes government was re-elected in 1928 with a reduced majority. He returned to federal politics to become Minister of Fisheries under Prime Minister R.B. Bennett. From 1932 to 1935, he served as federal Finance Minister, and, despite the Great Depression, handed down austere budgets that increased taxes and reduced spending.

He was appointed to the Senate of Canada three months before the 1935 federal election that routed Bennett's government. He remained a Senator until his death in 1942 in Ottawa. He is buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery.

On July 12, 1905, he married Mary Grace Pipes, daughter of William Thomas Pipes, Rhodes' law parter and Premier of Nova Scotia from 1882 to 1884. They had one son, Edgar Nelson, and one daughter, Helen Sybil.

External links

• Edgar Nelson Rhodes – Parliament of Canada biography

Speakers of the Canadian House of Commons Cockburn Anglin Blanchet Kirkpatrick Ouimet White Edgar Bain Brodeur Belcourt Sutherland Marcil Sproule Sévigny Rhodes Lemieux Black Bowman Casgrain Glen Fauteux Macdonald Beaudoin Michener Lambert Macnaughton Lamoureux Jerome Sauvé Francis Bosley Fraser Parent Milliken Scheer Regan

Ministers of Finance Galt Rose Hincks Tilley Cartwright Tilley McLelan Tupper Foster Bowell (acting) Foster Fielding White Drayton (acting) Fielding Robb Bennett Robb Dunning Bennett Rhodes Dunning Ralston Ilsley Abbott Harris Fleming Nowlan Gordon Sharp Benson Turner Drury (acting) Macdonald Chrétien Crosbie MacEachen Lalonde Wilson Mazankowski Loiselle Martin Manley Goodale Flaherty Oliver Morneau

Ministers of Fisheries and Oceans Ministers of Marine and Fisheries (1867–1930)1 Mitchell Smith Pope McLelan Foster Tupper Costigan Davies Sutherland Préfontaine Laurier (acting) Brodeur Lemieux Hazen Ballantyne Lapointe Cardin Black (acting) Patenaude (acting) Cardin (acting) Ministers of Marine (1930–1936)2 Cardin Duranleau Gendron Howe Ministers of Fisheries (1930–1969) Macmillan Rhodes Duranleau (acting) Stirling (acting) Ernst Michaud Bertrand Bridges Bertrand (acting) Gregg MacKinnon Mayhew Sinclair MacLean Robichaud Davis Minister of Fisheries and Forestry (1969–1971) Davis Ministers of the Environment (1971–1976)3 Davis Sauvé LeBlanc (acting) Marchand LeBlanc (acting) Ministers of State (Fisheries) (1974–1976) LeBlanc Minister of Fisheries and the Environment (1976–1979) LeBlanc Ministers of Fisheries and Oceans (1979–2015) LeBlanc McGrath LeBlanc de Bané Breau Fraser Nielsen Siddon Valcourt Crosbie Reid Tobin Dingwall (acting) Mifflin Anderson Dhaliwal Thibault Regan Hearn Shea Ashfield Shea Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard (2015–) Tootoo 1The office of Minister of Marine and Fisheries was abolished and the offices of Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Marine were created in 1930 2The offices of Minister of Marine and Minister of Railways and Canals were abolished and the office of Minister of Transport was created in 1936 3From 1971 to 1976 the Minister of the Environment was also the Minister of Fisheries.