Concept

W. Garfield Case

Summary
Wilfrid Garfield Case also known as W. Garfield Case, (September 23, 1898 – September 22, 1959), was a Canadian politician who served as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament and Mayor of Owen Sound, Ontario. He is best known for his upset victory over Defence Minister General Andrew McNaughton in the Grey North federal by-election held on February 5, 1945. Case was raised on a farm in York County and schooled in Aurora, Ontario before attending the Ontario Agricultural College. He enlisted in the Army during World War I but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He was discharged after being seriously injured. Before becoming a politician, he worked as a farmer and insurance broker. Case was first elected mayor of Owen Sound in 1942 and was re-elected in 1943 and 1944. He also served as president of the Ontario Mayor's Association. He unsuccessfully ran in Grey North in the 1940 federal election as a "National Liberal Progressive" against both the Liberal and Conservative candidates, placing third. He had earlier, in 1930 federal election, been an unsuccessful Liberal candidate in Dufferin—Simcoe and was a former president of the Owen Sound Liberal Association. During World War II the Liberals and Conservative parties agreed not to run candidates against each other in by-elections and to allow whichever party had held the riding before the by-election to run without opposition. This pact was strained in 1942 when William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberals allegedly backed Joseph Noseworthy of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (which had refused to agree to the "truce") in his candidacy against new Conservative leader Arthur Meighen who was attempting to enter the House of Commons via a by-election in York South. Noseworthy upset Meighen in the vote leaving the Tories leaderless. On November 1, 1944, General McNaughton was appointed to Mackenzie King's cabinet as Minister of Defence replacing James Ralston who had resigned as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1944.
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