The Speakers of the Senate of Canada

Hon. Elie Beauregard
P.C., Q.C. (1949–1953)

Elie Beauregard, a lawyer at age 25 and King’s Counsel at age 35, was a prominent Montréal businessman and financier. Holder of several corporate directorships, he was President of the Canadian Industrial Alcohol Company Limited and Vice-President of the Provincial Bank of Canada and of the General Security Insurance Company. Beauregard participated in two royal commissions: one on the Quebec textile industry and the other involving Montréal’s transit system. His only involvement in elective politics was as an alderman for the City of Outremont, now a borough of Montréal.

His influence in the Liberal Party of Quebec was largely behind the scenes, as treasurer of the party, political organizer and trusted advisor on election strategy. He chaired the 1936 provincial Liberal convention that elected Adélard Godbout as party leader and Premier of the province.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King nominated Beauregard for appointment to the Senate in February 1940. Nearly 10 years later, Louis St-Laurent appointed him Speaker. Beauregard served as Speaker from 1949 to 1953, the term of the 21^st Parliament. Ross Macdonald, the Liberal Leader of the Government in the Senate and former Speaker of the House of Commons, once noted that it was frequently necessary for the two Speakers to confer: “I found him to be a man of deep understanding and sympathy; and we had no problems which we could not solve amicably.”

Beauregard died in 1954, after 14 years’ service in the Senate.

Beauregard’s term as Speaker of the Senate covered almost the entirety of the time that the Canadian Army Special Force was the third-largest military contribution among United Nations forces fighting in Korea.

Next Speaker: Hon. Wishart McLea Robertson

Previous Speaker: Hon. James Horace King