Arthur Henry Williams
| Arthur Henry Williams | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Ontario (riding) |
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In office 1948–1949 |
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| Preceded by | William Sinclair |
| Succeeded by | Walter Thomson |
| Ontario MPP | |
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In office 1943–1945 |
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| Preceded by | Gordon Daniel Conant |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Kelso Creighton |
| Constituency | Ontario (riding) |
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Reeve for Township of East York, Ontario |
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In office 1936–1936 |
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| Preceded by | John Warren |
| Succeeded by | John Warren |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 4, 1894 Tredegar, Wales |
| Died | October 4, 1968 (aged 73) Pickering, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | East York Workers' Association Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
| Spouse(s) | Lily Evans m. 4 Feb 1912 |
| Residence | East York, Oshawa |
| Occupation | Trade union organizer |
Arthur Henry Williams (December 4, 1894 – October 4, 1968) was a Canadian trade union organizer and politician who served in both the Ontario legislature and the Canadian House of Commons on behalf of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. He was born in Tredegar, Wales, emigrating with his wife to Canada in 1929.
Williams lived in the Toronto suburb of East York, Ontario in the 1930s and served as president of the East York Workers' Association, a Great Depression era labour organization which was formed in 1931 to improve the situation of the unemployed and had 1,600 members by 1934. He married Lily Evans in 1912.
At the end of 1933, Williams was elected to and served a one-year term as alderman on the East York Town Council for 1934. That same year, Williams ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1934 provincial election as an Ontario CCF candidate and won 21% of the vote (30% in East York Township) coming in third place. He also ran for the House of Commons in York East (the federal riding that included East York) during the 1935 federal election for the national CCF but was defeated by Conservative Robert Henry McGregor and the Liberal candidate.
One of the Association's campaigns led by Williams was to convince the East York town council to issue poor relief in the form of cash instead of vouchers. After the council agreed to issue cash instead of vouchers but reduced the value of relief payments the Association organized a "voucher strike" to raise the payments. Council reversed its decision and the Association retaliated by encouraging members to pull their children out of school which had the effect of reducing the provincial government's grant to East York. The Council then capitulated to the Association's demands only to have the Bank of Nova Scotia refuse to grant the municipality a loan which in turn caused the council to end cash relief and return to vouchers. In December 1935, Williams was elected reeve of East York.
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