View source for Ralph Campney

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Ralph Campney
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC|size=100%}}
| image            = Ralph Osborne Campney portrait.jpg
| caption          = Campney, c. 1940s
| imagesize        = 
| office           = [[Minister of National Defence (Canada)|Minister of National Defence]]
| primeminister    = [[Louis St. Laurent]]
| term_start       = July 1, 1954
| term_end         = June 20, 1957
| predecessor      = [[Douglas Abbott]]
| successor        = [[George Pearkes]]
| office1          = [[Solicitor General of Canada]]
| term_start1      = October 15, 1952
| term_end1        = January 11, 1954
| predecessor1     = [[Stuart Sinclair Garson]]
| successor1       = [[William Ross Macdonald]]
| parliament2      = Canadian
| riding2          = [[Vancouver Centre]]
| predecessor2     = [[Rodney Young (politician)|Rodney Young]]
| successor2       = [[Douglas Jung]]
| term_start2      = June 27, 1949
| term_end2        = June 9, 1957
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1894|06|06}}
| birth_place      = [[Picton, Ontario|Picton]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1967|10|06|1894|06|06}}
| death_place      = 
| spouse           = 
| party            = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| relations        = 
| children         = 
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = 
| allegiance       = Canada <br> United Kingdom
| branch           = [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]], Royal Flying Corps
| rank             = Lieutenant
| unit             = 
| serviceyears     = 1914-1918
| battles          = World War I
}}

'''Ralph Osborne Campney''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC}} (June 6, 1894 &ndash; October 6, 1967) was a [[Canadian]] politician.

Born in [[Picton, Ontario|Picton]], [[Ontario]], he first ran unsuccessfully for the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the riding of [[Vancouver Centre]] in a 1948 [[by-election]]. A [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]], he was elected in the [[1949 Canadian federal election|1949 federal election]] and in [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953]]. He was defeated in [[1957 Canadian federal election|1957]]. From 1951 to 1952, he was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence. From 1952 to 1954, he was the [[Solicitor General of Canada]]. From 1953 to 1954, he was also the [[Associate Minister of National Defence]]. From 1954 to 1957, he was the [[List of Canadian Ministers of National Defence|Minister of National Defence]].

==Early life and military service==
Campney was born on June 6, 1894, on a farm near [[Picton, Ontario]], to Frank Campney and Mary Emily Cronk. Campney attended Picton Collegiate and graduated at 16, beginning a career as a rural school teacher. In 1914, Campney entered [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] at [[Kingston, Ontario]], studying medicine.<ref name=crowsep54>{{cite magazine |title=Introducing the New Minister |magazine=The Crowsnest |publisher=Queen's Printer |date=September 1954 |number=11 |volume=6 |pages=11}}</ref>

In March 1915, Campney enlisted in the [[Canadian Army]] with No.5 Stationary Hospital (Queen's). During [[World War I]] he was deployed overseas to Egypt as part of the [[Dardanelles Campaign]]. The unit was later transferred to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] where it supported [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] forces at the [[Battle of the Somme]]. In 1917, Campney was commissioned into the infantry, joining the [[19th Battalion (Central Ontario), CEF|19th Canadian Infantry Battalion]] after the [[Battle of Vimy Ridge]]. He served with the unit until the [[Battle of Passchendaele]] when he was invalided to England. In England, Campney transferred to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and remained with the unit until the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]].<ref name=crowsep54/>

==Postwar and political career==
After leaving the military, Campney returned to Queen's University in 1919 where he transferred from medicine to arts and obtained his [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1921. Campney entered [[Osgoode Hall]] to study law and in 1924, was called to the [[Ontario Bar Association|bar]]. He was secretary to the Canadian delegation to the [[League of Nations]] in [[Geneva]], Switzerland in Fall 1924. Upon his return to Canada, Campney became political secretary to [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] from 1925 to 1926 in [[Ottawa]]. In 1929, Campney became private secretary to the [[Minister of International Trade (Canada)|Minister of Trade and Commerce]] [[James Malcolm (politician)|James Malcolm]].<ref name=crowsep54/>

Campney left Ottawa in 1929 and moved to [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]], to practice law. 1936, Campney was asked by the Canadian government to become the first chairman of the National Harbours Board, remaining in this position for three and a half years. He resigned from the position and returned to his private law practice. In 1940, Campney was appointed Dominion King's Counsel. He ran for the first time as a Liberal nominee in a federal by-election in the riding of Vancouver Centre in 1948, where he was defeated. He ran again the following year in the general election, where he was elected to the House of Commons and was re-elected in 1953. In 1950, Crampney was chair of a special parliamentary committee on the [[National Defence Act]] which unified the administration of the three military services. In January 1951, he was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Defence, [[Brooke Claxton]]. The following year, on October 15, 1952, he was made Solicitor General of Canada. On February 15, 1953, he was appointed Associate Minister of National Defence while keeping his duties as Solicitor General and kept these two positions until January 12, 1954, when he resigned as Solicitor General. On July 1, he succeeded Claxton as Minister of National Defence.<ref name=crowsep54/>

==Election results==
{{CANelec/top|CA|1957|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|[[Douglas Jung]]|9,087|41.50|+32.86}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|'''Ralph Campney'''|5,357|24.47|-16.37}}
{{CANelec|CA|Social Credit|Cyril White|4,707|21.50|-2.96}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|William James Dennison|2,216|10.12|-12.21}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Maurice Rush|528|2.41|-1.33}}
{{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|21,895|100.0 &nbsp;}}
{{CANelec/gain|CA|PC|Liberal|+24.62}}
{{end}}

{{CANelec/top|CA|1953|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|'''Ralph Campney'''|8,259|40.83|-1.73}}
{{CANelec|CA|Social Credit|[[Leslie Peterson (politician)|Leslie R. Peterson]]|4,946|24.45|&ndash;}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|[[Rodney Young (Canadian politician)|Rodney Young]]|4,516|22.33|-4.05}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|Wendell Willard Wright|1,749|8.65|-16.02}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Ernest Lawrie|756|3.74|-0.20}}
{{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|20,226|100.0 &nbsp;}}
{{CANelec/hold|CA|Liberal|-13.09}}
{{end}}

{{CANelec/top|CA|1949|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|'''Ralph Campney'''|10,299|42.56|+8.90}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|[[Rodney Young (Canadian politician)|Rodney Young]]|6,382|26.37|-17.22}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|[[Henry Herbert Stevens]]|5,970|24.67|+1.93}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Maurice Rush|952|3.93|&ndash;}}
{{CANelec|CA|Independent|Harold Meade Young|595|2.46|&ndash;}}
{{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|24,198|100.0 &nbsp;}}
{{CANelec/gain|CA|Liberal|CCF|+13.06}}
{{end}}

{{CANelec/top|CA|8 June 1948|by=yes|reason=On [[Ian Alistair Mackenzie|Ian Mackenzie]] being called to the Senate, 19 January 1948|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|[[Rodney Young (Canadian politician)|Rodney Young]]|9,518|43.60|+16.27}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|'''Ralph Campney'''|7,348|33.66|+3.90}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|Hilliard Lyle Jestley|4,965|22.74|-3.73}}
{{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|21,831|100.0 &nbsp;}}
{{CANelec/gain|CA|CCF|Liberal|+6.18}}
{{end}}

==References==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=4729}}
{{reflist}}

{{CA-Ministers of Defence}}
{{CA-Solicitors General of Canada}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campney, Ralph}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:People from Prince Edward County, Ontario]]
[[Category:Solicitors general of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni]]
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force officers]]
[[Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) officers]]
[[Category:Canadian military personnel from Ontario]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]