James Lorimer Ilsley - Definition and Overview

The Right Honourable James Lorimer Ilsley (January 3 1894 - January 14 1967) was a Canadian politician and jurist.

Ilsley practiced law in Halifax, Nova Scotia until he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal in the 1926 Canadian election. He survived the 1930 Canadian election that sent the Liberals into Opposition. When the party returned to power in the 1935 Canadian election, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King brought Ilsley into Cabinet as Minister of National Revenue. In 1940 he was promoted to Minister of Finance holding that position for the duration of World War II during a period of massive expansion in expenditure due to the war effort. He was recognised for his service in 1946 when he was appointed to the Imperial Privy Council and given the honorific of Right Honourable.

The same year, he became Minister of Justice serving in that position until he retired from politics in 1948. The next year he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and became Chief Justice of Nova Scotia in 1950 serving in that capacity until his death in 1967 at the age of 73.