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Stuart Lyon Smith
Stuart Lyon Smith (May 7, 1938 – June 10, 2020) was a Canadian politician, psychiatrist and public servant. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1982, and was the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 1976 to 1982.
Smith was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Nettie (Krainer) and Moe Samuel Smith, who ran a grocery store in the east-end of Montreal after his earlier garment-making business failed. His grandparents had been Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Austria.
He attended McGill University where he was elected president of the Students' Society of McGill University and earned the top award for debating. In 1957, he organized a student strike against the Maurice Duplessis government, which led to the provincial government launching a student loan programme to meet the students' demands. He graduated in medicine from McGill University Medical School. In 1962, he was one of five university students chosen from across Canada to participate in the first exchange with students from the Soviet Union.
Smith joined the Liberal Party and went to work as an executive assistant for MP Alan Macnaughton. When Macnaughton announced his retirement as MP for Mount Royal, Smith stepped forward to seek the Liberal Party's nomination to succeed him. He withdrew his name as a candidate to allow Pierre Trudeau to run without strong opposition for the 1965 federal Liberal nomination. Trudeau won the next election and went on to become the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada.
In 1967, Smith left Montreal for Hamilton, Ontario to become associate professor of psychiatry at McMaster University Medical School and run the in-patient unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
While in medical school, he co-hosted the CBC Television program Youth Special with Paddy Springate, who would later become his wife, for four years, followed by a year of hosting CBC's The New Generation. As a practising psychiatrist at McMaster University, he wrote and presented a weekly television program on CHCH-TV called This is Psychiatry.
Smith was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1975 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Bob Morrow, a city councillor and future mayor, by 542 votes in Hamilton West. Liberal leader Robert Nixon announced his retirement after the election, and Smith entered the leadership contest to succeed him. He built a support base on the left wing of the party, and was sometimes compared to Pierre Trudeau in his appearance and mannerisms. He finished in first place on the first ballot, and defeated the more right-wing David Peterson by forty-five votes on the second ballot to become the party's new leader.
The Liberals lost one seat in the legislature in the 1977 election, but nonetheless displaced the New Democratic Party as the Official Opposition to William Davis's Progressive Conservatives. Smith became Leader of the Opposition in the legislative sitting that followed.
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Stuart Lyon Smith
Stuart Lyon Smith (May 7, 1938 – June 10, 2020) was a Canadian politician, psychiatrist and public servant. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1982, and was the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 1976 to 1982.
Smith was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Nettie (Krainer) and Moe Samuel Smith, who ran a grocery store in the east-end of Montreal after his earlier garment-making business failed. His grandparents had been Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Austria.
He attended McGill University where he was elected president of the Students' Society of McGill University and earned the top award for debating. In 1957, he organized a student strike against the Maurice Duplessis government, which led to the provincial government launching a student loan programme to meet the students' demands. He graduated in medicine from McGill University Medical School. In 1962, he was one of five university students chosen from across Canada to participate in the first exchange with students from the Soviet Union.
Smith joined the Liberal Party and went to work as an executive assistant for MP Alan Macnaughton. When Macnaughton announced his retirement as MP for Mount Royal, Smith stepped forward to seek the Liberal Party's nomination to succeed him. He withdrew his name as a candidate to allow Pierre Trudeau to run without strong opposition for the 1965 federal Liberal nomination. Trudeau won the next election and went on to become the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada.
In 1967, Smith left Montreal for Hamilton, Ontario to become associate professor of psychiatry at McMaster University Medical School and run the in-patient unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
While in medical school, he co-hosted the CBC Television program Youth Special with Paddy Springate, who would later become his wife, for four years, followed by a year of hosting CBC's The New Generation. As a practising psychiatrist at McMaster University, he wrote and presented a weekly television program on CHCH-TV called This is Psychiatry.
Smith was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1975 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Bob Morrow, a city councillor and future mayor, by 542 votes in Hamilton West. Liberal leader Robert Nixon announced his retirement after the election, and Smith entered the leadership contest to succeed him. He built a support base on the left wing of the party, and was sometimes compared to Pierre Trudeau in his appearance and mannerisms. He finished in first place on the first ballot, and defeated the more right-wing David Peterson by forty-five votes on the second ballot to become the party's new leader.
The Liberals lost one seat in the legislature in the 1977 election, but nonetheless displaced the New Democratic Party as the Official Opposition to William Davis's Progressive Conservatives. Smith became Leader of the Opposition in the legislative sitting that followed.