Leonard W. Brockington: Calgary's silver-tongued orator.

I met with Leonard Brockington after World War Two and became familiar with his impressive speeches and writings. He was considered Canada's greatest orator before the war and in the period up to his death in 1966. Brockington, or "Brock" as he was called, was Calgary's city solicitor from 1922 to 1935. He had served his Articles in the old law firm of Lougheed and Bennett and indeed was presented to the bar by Bennett himself in 1919. Brockington spent the year 1920 with that firm, and was doing well. In the summer of 1920, however, the City of Calgary advertised for a lawyer to replace the retiring assistant city solicitor. Brockington decided to apply. Bennett and A. MacLeod Sinclair, leading counsel in the Lougheed Bennett firm, tried to dissuade him, but when Brock persisted, they each gave him a glowing recommendation. A year later, in 1922, he was promoted to the position of City Solicitor. In later years he was the first chairman of the Board of Governors of the CBC, served as special assistant to Prime Minister Mackenzie King (1940-41), and was advisor to Brendan Bracken, British Minister of Information, on Commonwealth Affairs.

In 1932, when the Canadian Bar Association met in Calgary, the president was Louis St. Laurent, who later became Prime Minister of Canada. It was the custom of the annual meeting for the president to entertain the visiting dignitaries at a small dinner. At this 1932 meeting, held at the Ranchmen's Club in Calgary, the Bar of England was represented by Viscount Hailsham, secretary of state for war in the British Cabinet, Maitre Olivier Jallu, representing the Paris Bar, and the Hon. William MacCracken, president of the American Bar Association. There also were a few invited guests, including the Hon. R.B. Bennett, then the Prime Minister of Canada.

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The chairman of the convention committee was A.L. Smith, K.C., who would, in the ordinary course, have been the person to thank St. Laurent for the dinner extended to the guests. But Smith was unable to be present so Leonard Brockington was called upon to do the honours. His thank-you speech was such classic "Brockington," that he was invited in the following year to address the Canadian Bar at its annual meeting held in Ottawa. After that he was invited many times to address both the Canadian and American Bar Associations at their annual meetings.

I am indebted to Stephen Hanson, senior director for the Canadian Bar Association, for this excerpt from the Canadian Bar Review, vol. 10, pp 468 & 469. It is Brock's thank-you for the dinner given by Louis St. Laurent:

 
   I have been asked to crystallize in a few words the thanks of us 
   all to that pleasant duality, our President and our host, for his 
   gracious and graceful hospitality; but before I do I am sure that, 
   with the chivalry that is characteristic of him and of the province 
   from whence he comes, he will allow me to make a short digression. 
   I would like on behalf of the Bench and Bar of Alberta, whose 
   humble spokesman I am on this happy occasion, to welcome some of 
   the distinguished visitors present here this evening. 
 
   Maitre Olivier Jallu is an officer of the Legion of Honour. He was 
   a distinguished soldier and for some time private secretary to 
   Monsieur Poincare. He does not speak English but I know that his 
   intellect, like that of most eminent men of his race, is what 
   Huxley calls a cold clear logic engine ready to spin the gossamers 
   as well as to forge the anchors of the mind. I salute him as the 
   embodiment of one of the most lovable things in the world, the 
   gallant and unconquerable spirit of the "sweet land of France." 
 
   I next greet the Honourable William MacCracken, the representative 
   of our recalcitrant kinsmen of the schism [the United States]. 
   Whatever may happen at the economic table, where happily both our 
   nations still speak the same grand old language with the same fine 
   old accents. 
 
   At this most delightful family party I would like also to give the 
   most cordial welcome from us all to a gentleman, who having learnt 
   the lesson and precepts of unselfish service from that lover of his 
   fellow-men, his father, has himself made so notable a contribution 
   to the educational, legal and political life of his country and 
   ours. I refer of course to Viscount Hailsham. His Lordship in 
   visiting Western Canada has reached the last home of the colonist. 
   I know that word sometimes falls somewhat harshly and ungratefully 
   upon a Canadian ear. It is nevertheless a good honest word of an 
   ancient and honourable lineage. When a Roman "Colonus" left his 
   father's house he always carried from his father's fireside a 
   living coal with which to light the first and lasting fire in his 
   new homestead. We bid his Lordship a heart-felt and fraternal 
   welcome to this land of his kinsmen and hope that he will find our 
   hearths still aglow with the ardour and geniality of his and our 
   ancestral fires. 
 
   Lastly by way of salutation I welcome home from the crusades one 
   Richard Coeur de Lion [R.B. Bennett]. Now I do not know whether he 
   has taken Jerusalem or whether Jerusalem has taken him but his own 
   people are most certainly pleased to see once more the old warrior 
   home from the friendly wars. 
 
   He is here on a holiday. But let nobody be misled. The Prime 
   Minister's idea of a holiday is to read a parliamentary bluebook 
   while he is shaving and sing the swan-song of Free Trade in his 
   matutinal bath-tub. He has learnt however, that ...