Royce Herbert Frith, CMQC (November 12, 1923 – March 17, 2005) was a Canadiandiplomat, public servant, lawyer, broadcaster, and politician.[1]
Education
He received a BA from the University of Toronto, an 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.[2]
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 show Home on the Range on radio station CFRB in Toronto.[3] 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.[2]
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 before he and his law firm were appointed the town's solicitors.[4]
Active in Liberal Party politics, Frith was president of the Ontario Liberal Party from 1960 to 1961.
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.
Frith, Royce (1991). Hoods on the Hill: How Mulroney and His Gang Rammed the GST Past Parliament and Down Our Throats. Toronto, ON: Coach House Press. ISBN9780889104303. OCLC796996447.