Provincial Political Career
After practicing as a lawyer, Lawrence became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Him membership started when he won a 1958 provincial by-election in the downtown Toronto riding of St. George for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. In 1968, Premier John Robarts brought him into cabinet as Minister of Mines.
In 1971, he ran to succeed Robarts as party leader at the PC Party leadership convention. Lawrence lost to Bill Davis by 44 votes on the fourth ballot. Davis reunited the Tory party by inviting many of Lawrence's key workers, including Hugh Segal and Norman K. Atkins, onto his team to create the Big Blue Machine that helped the Tories remain in power for a further fourteen years.
Davis appointed Lawrence as his Attorney-General but, in 1972, Lawrence resigned his seat in the Ontario legislature in order to enter federal politics.
Read more about this topic: Allan Lawrence (politician)
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