Rt. Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King

W.L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister for more than twenty-one years, is Waterloo County’s most widely known son. His grandfather was William Lyon Mackenzie, leader of the Reform Movement that culminated in the Rebellion of 1837. His boyhood home in Berlin at 528 Wellington North, has been restored as a national historic site.

He attended Berlin schools and had a brilliant career at the University of Toronto, graduating with a B.A. in 1895, an LL.B 1896, and M.A. from Harvard 1898 and a PhD 1909. While studying at Chicago he lived in Hull House founded by Jane Adams and social ideas planted at this time grew into a program of social welfare for all Canada. As a reporter, he investigated sweat shop conditions of workers on government contracts, which were later corrected by Acts of Parliament. He accepted a position with the Minister of Labour in spite of the fact that the salary was smaller than that of a Harvard teaching position.

He joined the civil service at Ottawa as Deputy Minister of Labour in 1900. King was elected to Parliament as a member for Waterloo North in 1908, was appointed Minister of Labour by Sir Wilfrid Laurier and on the death of Laurie in 1919 he was elected Liberal leader. He became Prime Minister of Canada in 1921 and held that high office for three separate periods totalling twenty-one years and five months.