Article

James Lorimer Ilsley

Published Online November 29, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

James Lorimer Ilsley, jurist, politician (b at Somerset, NS 3 Jan 1894; d at Halifax 14 Jan 1967). Educated at Acadia and Dalhousie, Ilsley practised law until his election to Parliament as a Liberal in 1926.

Ilsley, James Lorimer

James Lorimer Ilsley, jurist, politician (b at Somerset, NS 3 Jan 1894; d at Halifax 14 Jan 1967). Educated at Acadia and Dalhousie, Ilsley practised law until his election to Parliament as a Liberal in 1926. Re-elected in 1930 and 1935, he became minister of national revenue in 1935 and minister of finance in 1940. He successfully managed the nation's finances through WWII.

He believed that the Canadian federal system required renovation, but his proposals presented to a 1945-46 dominion-provincial conference on reconstruction were rejected by Ontario and Québec. Deeply disappointed, Ilsley became minister of justice in 1946, but retired to practise law in 1948. Appointed to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in 1949, he became chief justice in 1950. Between 1954 and 1960 he chaired the Royal Commission on PATENTS, COPYRIGHT AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS.