Dick Ruston

Richard Fletcher Ruston (August 28, 1919 – May 19, 2002) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1985, as a member of the Liberal Party.

Ruston was born in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, and educated in the area. He was manager of the Essex County Medical Co-op. He and his wife Shirley lived in Essex where they raised five children.^[1]

Ruston was a councillor in Maidstone Township from 1960 to 1962, reeve of the community from 1963 to 1968, and an Essex County councillor.^[1]

He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1967 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Fred Cada by 991 votes.^[2] He was re-elected in the 1971 election by roughly the same margin, and won with larger majorities in 1975,^[3] 1977,^[4] and 1981.^[5] He served as Liberal Party whip for a period. The Progressive Conservative Party governed Ontario during this period, and Ruston was an opposition member for his legislative career. He was primarily a defender of farmer's interests.

Ruston announced that he would retire from the legislature in mid-1985, and was not a candidate in that year's provincial election.^[6]

He died in 2002 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease.^[7] Fellow MPP and friend Sean Conway described him as a follower of Ontario's Clear Grit tradition, and a believer that "the best government [...] is the smaller unit closest to the people".^[8]

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history