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How William Jarvis Stood for Election
T
he first elections for the provincial parliament of Upper
Canada were held in 1800. At the time, Secretary Jarvis
was facing a steady stream of criticism about the job he
was doing, felt himself surrounded by "enemies," and
perhaps was thinking of alternative employment. He decided
to run for public ofice.
Secretary Jarvis, however, did not believe that running for
office required him actually to do much of anything. He
decided that he did not have to make speeches or attend
public meetings or greet the public or canvass door-to-door.
This would not be seemly. All that was needed was to
write a flyer, have it published in the local newspaper
displayed at various locations around town. In the flyer
he tried to explain the somewhat odd
reasoning that lay behind his lack of action:
" . . . it is true I have not solicited the Suffrages of
my Fellow-subjects from door-to-door, such conduct,
I am confident, you would think ill-became a Man who,
ardently wishes, shortly to be in the Character of your
Representative; I have not been urgent in the pursuit of
so distinguished a preference, deeming it the most
Constitutional way for you to exercise your own Discretion
and Judgement in the Choice of a Person to represent you
in the next Provincial Parliament."
Perhaps the public was not so high-minded as William
Jarvis. They seem to have wanted him to show more
of an effort. On election day Jarvis withdrew when
he saw himself running last in a field of four candidates.
The election was interrupted by a riot and had to
be re-run, but Jarvis did not offer himself as a
candidate a second time.
More stories about the history of Jarvis Collegiate, early Toronto and William and Samuel Jarvis.
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