Fletcher Stewart Thomas

Fletcher Stewart Pickering "Tommy" Thomas (June 7, 1897 November 9, 1957) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1945 to 1957 who represented the central Ontario riding of Elgin. He served as a cabinet minister under Leslie Frost, holding two successive positions between 1951 and 1956.

Background Born in 1897 in Toronto Township, Ontario to Joseph P. Thomas and Maggie Stewart, Thomas and his mother moved to Streetsville nine years later following the death of his father.

In 1915, he enrolled at the Ontario Agricultural College, He served in France and was also one of the "Polar Bears" in the North Russia Intervention before being discharged in 1919.

Returning to OAC, he graduated in 1922 and became an agricultural agent working in Grey County, Port Arthur and Elgin County (serving in the last area for 19 years).

He died in 1957. He is buried in Elmdale Memorial Park Cemetery.

Politics In the 1945 Ontario election, Thomas ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of Elgin, defeating Mitchell Hepburn. Modest in victory, he said in his acceptance speech, "I am no wonder boy, and I repeat, I don't crave publicity. My ambition now is to be a good member for Elgin and to spend the rest of my time looking after my farm."

In 1951, he was appointed as Minister of Public Works in the government of Leslie Frost, where he was in charge of coordinating the province's conservation projects. He also went to the Supreme Court of Canada in order to clarify the status of Ontario's agricultural marketing legislation. He resigned from his role as Minister in 1956 because of ill health, but continued to serve in the Legislature.

On his death in 1957, Leslie Frost said in tribute, "In both posts, the tremendous contribution he made to the great farming community of Ontario, and in connection with conservation works, was of a high order indeed."

Cabinet posts