David Croll

He entered provincial politics in the 1930s, and served as minister of public works and municipal affairs in the Mitch Hepburn government.

[1] Croll was born in Moscow, Russia and was brought to Canada with his family as a young boy, at which point his name was anglicized.

Croll became a lawyer and entered politics serving as mayor of Windsor, Ontario from 1931 to 1934 during the worst days of the Great Depression.

[1] He made his reputation as a social reformer when he insisted the city go into deficit in order to provide relief programs for the unemployed and destitute.

He served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War, enlisting as a Private in the Essex Scottish Regiment and rising in rank to lieutenant-colonel.

Fears of the rearming of Germany were not allayed when we read of the reappearance on the present scene of left-over and warmed-up Nazi generals and some of the manifestations of Fascism.

The children of the poor (and there are many) are the most helpless victims of all, and find even less hope in a society where welfare systems from the very beginning destroys their chances of a better life."

He died of heart failure in the Château Laurier Hotel, a few hours after attending an afternoon senate session on June 11, 1991.