Gordon Peter Campbell

Gordon Peter Campbell (October 3, 1898 – January 16, 1964) was a Canadian Senator, lawyer and businessman.

A lawyer by profession, he was senior partner at the Toronto firm of Campbell, Godfrey and Lewtas.[1]

Campbell was a senior fundraiser for the Liberal Party of Canada[2] and managed the party's financial affairs during the 1940 federal election.[1]

In the 1930s he founded the Centurian Club, a non-partisan service organization with a mandate to interest young people in politics.[1]

Campbell was born in Ridgetown, Ontario. As a youth, he earned pocket money by working in the general store and operating a dance hall with friends that, on one occasion, featured a young Guy Lombardo conducting the orchestra.[1]

He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1923 and became a junior partner in the Toronto firm of Arnoldi, Parry and Campbell. He initially focussed on litigation but later switched to corporate and taxation law.[1]

He became particularly involved with maritime law[2] and served as counsel to the Lake Shipping Association and the East Elevators Association.[1] He was one of the first proponents of offshore radio, and recommended that commercial radio stations be established off the coasts of Canada.

In the 1930s, he played a role in the drafting of the Canada Shipping Act of 1934, Canada's first attempt to regulate the shipping industry which had previously been regulated by laws inherited from Britain.[1][2]

He was named King's Counsel in 1939.[1]

Campbell was appointed to the Senate by William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1943 and sat in the chamber as a Liberal until his death at the age of 65.

Later in his career, Campbell was vice-president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Crown Trust and was president of several shipping firms. He was also a director of Argus Corporation.[1]

He played a role in the development of Collingwood, Ontario as a centre for skiing with his ownership of Blue Mountain Resorts Ltd.[1][2]

References
  1. "Helped Draft Shipping Act, Senator Campbell Dies", Globe and Mail, January 17, 1964
  2. "Sen. Peter Campbell, Toronto lawyers", Toronto Star, January 16, 1964
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