Political Career
Eagleson was also active in politics for many years. In the 1963 federal election, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons for the Progressive Conservatives in the Toronto riding of York West. He was defeated by hockey player Red Kelly who ran for the Liberals. Later that year, he was elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly as the Progressive Conservative MPP for the Toronto riding of Lakeshore, serving there until 1967 when he was defeated by Patrick Lawlor of the Ontario New Democratic Party.
He was a major PC fundraiser and, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. He was a member of the Big Blue Machine that dominated Ontario politics for much of the 1970s and 1980s. At one point, his name was considered as a potential candidate for prime minister.
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