Irwin Haskett

Irwin Haskett
Ontario MPP
In office 1959–1971
Preceded by	George Dunbar
Succeeded by	Claude Bennett
Constituency	Ottawa South
Personal details
Born	Wesley Irwin Haskett (1903-04-22)April 22, 1903 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	March 23, 1994(1994-03-23) (aged 90)
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouse(s)	Vera Moorhead (d. 1970) Mary Costache (d. 2011)
Occupation	Lawyer

Wesley Irwin Haskett (April 22, 1903 – March 23, 1994) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1959 to 1971 who represented the riding of Ottawa South. He was a cabinet minister in the government of Leslie Frost.

Background

He was born in Montreal, the son of Samuel Wesley Haskett, and was educated at Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa. He became an attorney specializing in patent law. In 1936, he married Vera Moorhead. Haskett was a freemason.^[1] Vera died in 1970 and Haskett remarried Mary Costache.^[2]

Haskett was active in the Ottawa community serving as president of the Ottawa Board of Trade and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. He was one of the founders of the annual Tulip Festival in Ottawa which he regularly attended. His wife Mary said, "We always went to look at the tulips." He died in 1994.^[3]

Politics

In the 1959 provincial election, he ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Ottawa South. He defeated Liberal candidate Archibald Laidlaw by 1,870 votes.^[4] He was re-elected in 1963 and 1967. He retired from office in 1971.^[5]

On November 8, 1961, he was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Reform Institutions.^[6] On August 14, 1963 he was reassigned as Minister of Transport.^[7] He continued as Minister until 1971 when Bill Davis decided to drop him from his cabinet.^[8]

Cabinet positions

Ontario provincial government of John Robarts

References

1. PG Normandin (1968). Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1968.
2. "Obituary: Mary Haskett (nee Costache)". The Globe and Mail. January 14, 2011. p. S6.
3. "Tulip Festival originator dies at 90 after active life". The Ottawa Citizen. March 25, 1994. p. A2.
4. Canadian Press (June 12, 1959). "Complete Results of Ontario Voting by Constituencies". The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa. p. 26.
5. "Retirement is announced by Haskett". The Globe and Mail. Apr 27, 1971. p. 2.
6. "The New Cabinet". The Globe and Mail. November 9, 1961. p. 6.
7. "3 Ministers Shuffled By Robarts". The Globe and Mail. August 15, 1963. p. 1.
8. Manthorpe, Jonathan; Slinger, John (March 2, 1971). "Changes in policies promised: Davis priorities to include environment and jobless". The Globe and Mail. p. 1.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history