Hugh Alden Edighoffer (July 22, 1928 – July 2, 2019) was a politician in Ontario, Canada.^[1] He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1967 to 1990, and was Speaker of the legislature during the administration of David Peterson.

Background

Edighoffer was born in 1928 at Stratford, Ontario,^[2] grew up in Mitchell, was educated at Pickering College and worked as a retail merchant in the clothing business before entering provincial politics. He also served on the town council for Mitchell in 1958 and 1959 and was mayor from 1960 to 1961.^[2]

Politics

He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1963 election, but lost to Progressive Conservative J. Fred Edwards by over 5,000 votes in the constituency of Perth.^[3] Edighoffer ran again in the 1967 election, and defeated Edwards by 187 votes.^[4] He was re-elected without difficulty in the elections of 1971,^[5] 1975,^[6] 1977,^[7] 1981,^[8] 1985,^[9] and 1987.^[10]

The Liberal Party, which had been out of power since 1943, formed a minority government after the election of 1985. Edighoffer, who had served as Deputy Speaker in a previous minority parliament, was appointed Speaker of the Legislature on June 4, 1985 after the toppling of the Frank Miller's government in a motion of non-confidence. Edighoffer was nominated and seconded for the Speaker's position by the leaders of all three political parties represented in the legislature, and was generally regarded as an impartial officeholder.^[2] He was re-appointed as speaker on November 3, 1987 following that year's provincial election. He served in the position for another three years, and did not seek re-election in 1990.^[2]

Edighoffer's painting in the Ontario legislature was painted by Istvan Nyikos, a Hungarian-born Canadian artist.^[11]

Parliamentary positions