Cass represented the
riding of
Grenville—Dundas just south of
Ottawa. He first won a seat in the
1955 provincial election. He was appointed to
provincial cabinet in 1958 as
Minister of Highways under
Leslie Frost and became known as the cabinet's troubleshooter. In 1961, Frost retired and Cass was considered one of his potential successors. Instead, he supported provincial treasurer
James Allan at the party's
leadership convention. Allan was defeated by
John Robarts, who appointed Cass
Minister of Municipal Affairs, and later,
Attorney General in 1962. While he was Attorney-General, Cass continued to practise on the weekends as a small-town lawyer in his hometown of Chesterville and another office in nearby Winchester, where his mother lived. However, to avoid a conflict of interest, he stayed out of the courts and practised solely as a
solicitor. Cass provoked serious controversy when, in response to an
organized crime scare, he proposed Bill 99, a sweeping amendment to the Police Act, which would have broadened police powers allowing the Ontario Police Commission the right to interrogate and cross-examine witnesses
in camera in contravention of the traditions established by
English Common Law. When queried on the amendments by the press, Cass said "Yes, these are drastic, draconian measures that in some ways are really unbelievable in a country that has an English common law system." The resultant uproar and, in particular, a speech by
Liberal MPP
Andy Thompson forced Cass to resign from Cabinet on March 23, 1964. Thompson's success buoyed him into the position of leader of the Liberal Party several months later. The controversy led to the Robarts government appointing the McRuer Commission on
Civil Rights that led to a number of reforms to enhance
civil liberties in Ontario. Following his re-election in the
1967 general election, Cass was rehabilitated by being chosen
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario once the body reconvened on February 14, 1968. He was a popular presiding officer and served until his retirement at the
1971 election. As Speaker, Cass ruled that
Opposition MPPs could no longer begin their questions during
Question Period with the word "why", as questions were "usually not aimed at soliciting information from cabinet ministers, but at giving the questioner an opening to catalogue his complaints about the government." This resulted in various verbal gymnastics as Opposition MPPs struggled to find a way to say "why" without saying "why.
Cabinet posts ==References==