Editing Royce Frith

{{short description|Canadian diplomat, public servant and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix   = [[The Honourable]]
| name               = Royce Frith
| honorific-suffix   = [[Member of the Order of Canada|CM]], [[Queen's Counsel|QC]]
| image              = 
| imagesize          = 
| smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| order              = 
| office             = [[Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]]
|primeminister   = [[Jean Chrétien]] 
| term_start         = 1994
| term_end           = 1996
| predecessor        = [[Fredrik Stefan Eaton]]
| successor          = [[Roy MacLaren (politician)|Roy MacLaren]]
| order2             = 
| office2            = [[Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada]]
| term_start2        = September 30, 1991
| term_end2          = September 1, 1993
| predecessor2       = [[Allan MacEachen]]
| successor2         = [[John Lynch-Staunton]]
| office3            = [[Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada]]
| term_start3        = November 1984
| term_end3          = September 1991
| predecessor3       = [[Dufferin Roblin]]
| successor3         = [[Gildas Molgat]]
| office4            = [[Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)|Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada]]
| term_start4        = April 1980
| term_end4          = September 1984
| predecessor4       = [[Dufferin Roblin]]
| successor4         = [[C. William Doody]]
| office5            = [[Senate of Canada|Canadian Senator]] for [[Glen Tay, Ontario|Glen Tay]], [[Ontario]]
| term_start5        = April 5, 1977
| term_end5          = August 29, 1994
| appointed5         = [[Pierre Trudeau]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1923|11|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Lachine, Quebec|Lachine]], [[Quebec]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2005|03|17|1923|11|12}}
| death_place        = [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]]
| restingplace       = 
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| citizenship        = 
| nationality        = 
| party              = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| otherparty         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
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| relations          = 
| children           = 
| residence          = 
| alma_mater         = [[University of Toronto]]<br />[[York University]]<br />[[University of Ottawa]]
| occupation         = Lawyer, diplomat, broadcaster
| profession         = 
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'''Royce Herbert Frith''', {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|QC}} (November 12, 1923 – March 17, 2005) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[diplomat]], public servant, lawyer, broadcaster, and politician.<ref name="PARLINFO">{{cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=459acd7b-62de-47da-bd2f-0aea2feedad2&Language=E&Section=ALL |title=Parliamentarian File - Complete File - FRITH, The Hon. Royce Herbert, C.M., Q.C., B.A., LL.B., D.E.S.(D) |work=PARLINFO |publisher=Parliament of Canada |access-date=October 11, 2013}}</ref>

==Education ==
He received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] from the [[University of Toronto]], an [[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B]] from [[Osgoode Hall Law School]] and a Dipl. d’études supérieures (droit) from the [[University of Ottawa]]. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1949 and would become a partner in the Toronto firm of Magwood, Frith & Casey, specializing in litigation, municipal and broadcast and entertainment industry law.<ref name="CKWW">{{cite web |title=CKWW-AM |url=https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/ontario/ontario-south-western/ckww-am/ |website=History of Canadian Broadcasting |publisher=Canadian Communications Foundation |access-date=March 24, 2024}}</ref>

==Broadcasting==
An amateur [[actor]] and performer, Frith found time to act in plays, perform on the radio, and sing and play several instruments, while concurrently building his legal career. In 1949, he hosted [[Western music (North America)|western music]] show ''Home on the Range'' on radio station [[CFRB]] in Toronto.<ref name=cfrb>{{cite web|url=https://broadcasting-history.ca/radio/radio-stations/ontario/ontario-city-of-toronto/cfrb-am/|title=CFRB-AM|website=Canadian Communications Foundation – Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes |publisher=Broadcasting-history.ca|access-date=March 11, 2024}}</ref> He also sang in a choir as a youth that appeared regularly on [[CBC Radio]] and continued to appear on CBC singing in radio operas, acting in dramas such on the anthology series ''Wednesday Night'' and ''Stage'' and as a panelist on ''The Superior Sex'' and ''Live A Borrowed Life'' on [[CBC Television]] in the 1950s. In the 1960s he presented the public affairs show ''Telepoll'' on the [[CTV Television Network]] for several seasons.<ref name="CKWW"/>

Frith successfully applied to the [[Board of Broadcast Governors]] in 1963 for a license to operate a new radio station in [[Windsor, Ontario]]. Frith was awarded a license to operate [[CKWW-AM]] but sold the station to [[Geoff Stirling]] before it went on the air.<ref name="CKWW"/>

==Early political career==
A resident of the Toronto suburb of [[Leaside, Ontario]], Frith was elected to Leaside town council in the 1950s first as councillor and later as Deputy [[Reeve (Canada)|Reeve]] before he and his law firm were appointed the town's solicitors.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Redway |first1=Alan |title=Canada's 150th: Celebrating Leaside's colourful Senator Royce Frith |url=https://leasidelife.com/canadas-150th-celebrating-leasides-colourful-senator-royce-frith/ |access-date=March 24, 2024 |work=Leaside Life |date=February 1, 2017}}</ref>

Active in Liberal Party politics, Frith was president of the [[Ontario Liberal Party]] from 1960 to 1961.

==Federal government and Senate==
Frith first came to prominence as a member of the [[Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism]] in the 1960s. He served as a legal advisor to the [[Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages|Commissioner of Official Languages]] from 1971 until 1977 when he was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]] by [[Pierre Trudeau]]. He sat in the [[Upper House]] as a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] and served in various positions including [[Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Senate]] and led the Liberals' [[filibuster]] against the introduction of the [[Goods and Services Tax (Canada)|Goods and Services Tax]] forcing [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]] to use an obscure section of the [[Constitution Act, 1867|Constitution]] to appoint extra Senators and ensure passage of the measure.

==High Commissioner==
Frith left the [[Upper House]] in 1994 to become Canada's [[High Commissioner]] to the [[United Kingdom]]. Frith had a very high profile and used his flair for public performance to his advantage, particularly during Canada's [[Turbot War]] with [[Spain]] in which he played a crucial role in rallying British public opinion behind Canada. Frith also ensured the retention of [[Canada House]] in [[Trafalgar Square]] as the site of the Canadian [[high commission]] when the government had considered abandoning the location in order to save money. Frith returned to Canada in 1996 and resumed his law practice.

==Later life==
In his last years, Firth was a lawyer with the firm Ladner Downs in [[Vancouver]] and went into the office daily until just a few weeks prior to his death. He served on various boards including the Board of Trustees of the [[National Arts Centre]] in [[Ottawa]].  Frith has also served on the governing bodies of the [[Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific]] and the [[Vancouver Symphony]]. In 2000 he was appointed a member of the [[Order of Canada]].

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Frith |first1=Royce |title=Hoods on the Hill: How Mulroney and His Gang Rammed the GST Past Parliament and Down Our Throats |year=1991 |publisher=Coach House Press |location=Toronto, ON |isbn=9780889104303 |oclc=796996447}}
* {{cite book |last1=Frith |first1=Royce |last2=Kuchar |first2=Len |title=The show must not go on |year=1993 |publisher=Robert Davies Publishing |location=Montreal, QC |isbn=9781895854213 |oclc=30484876 |author-mask=1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/showmustnotgoon0000frit }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=708}}

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{{s-gov}}
{{succession box|
   title=[[Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada]]|
   before=[[Allan MacEachen]]|
   after=[[John Lynch-Staunton]]|
   years=1991–1993}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Fredrik Stefan Eaton]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Canadian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom|Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]]|years=1994–1996}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Roy MacLaren (politician)|Roy MacLaren]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Canadian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frith, Royce}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Canadian Protestants]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Ontario]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada senators]]
[[Category:Leaders of the opposition in the Senate of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:University of Ottawa alumni]]
[[Category:High commissioners of Canada to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ontario municipal councillors]]
[[Category:CTV Television Network people]]
[[Category:Canadian radio hosts]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]