William Horace Temple - Unionism

Unionism

Temple was also a supporter of trade union rights throughout his life, and walked on countless picket lines. In the fall of 1973, during a strike by The Canadian Textiles and Chemical Union at Artistic Woodworking in North York, while on the picket line, he was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer. When Temple's case was brought to trial, the officer who had allegedly been assaulted (who was twice Temple's size and more than half his age) claimed in testimony that he had smelled alcohol on Temple's breath. This caused more offence to Temple than the claim that he had committed an assault, and a long series of character witnesses testified that Temple had never consumed anything stronger than ginger ale as long as they had known him. The charges were dismissed.