Championing the Connection of Community & Regiment

HCol Leslie Frost, PC, QC, LLD, DCL, MPP

Leslie Frost was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of The Queen's York Rangers in 1965 and became the Honorary Colonel in 1968, serving until 1973.

Born in Orillia, Frost enlisted in the Canadian Army at the age of 20 and served as a Lieutenant with the 20th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, in France. He was discharged in 1918 after being seriously wounded.

After graduating from Osgoode Hall, Frost was called to the bar in 1921. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1937 and never lost an election until his retirement from politics in 1963.

Frost served as Premier of Ontario from 1949 to 1961, leading his party to three successive majority governments in 1951, 1955 and 1959. His progressive policies included the creation of what would become OHIP, a twenty-fold expansion of the provincial education budget and the introduction of voting rights for Indigenous peoples in Ontario.

In retirement, Frost became an author and historian. He wrote *Fighting Men*, about the 35th Regiment, Simcoe Foresters, in the First World War, and *Forgotten Pathways of the Trent*, an examination of Indigenous routes used for trade and war in southern Ontario.
Frost was also an avid Civil War enthusiast and collector. Among his possessions was a piece of wood from Abraham Lincoln's original log cabin, which he kept in his office.

He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1969.