James Coyne

James Elliott Coyne, OM (July 17, 1910 – October 12, 2012) was the second Governor of the Bank of Canada, from 1955 to 1961, succeeding Graham Towers. During his time in office, he had a much-publicized debate with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, a debate often referred to as the "Coyne Affair" (or sometimes the "Coyne Crisis"), which led to his resignation and, eventually, to greater central-bank independence in Canada.

Life and career

Coyne was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Edna Margaret (née Elliott) and James Bowes Coyne, a judge at the Manitoba Court of Appeal, who was co-prosecutor of the men accused of seditious conspiracy in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. His grandfather was lawyer and historian James Henry Coyne. Coyne graduated Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1925, and had conferred upon him a BA in 1931 from the University of Manitoba. He studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, playing for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, and in 1934 received a B.A. Jurisprudence and BCL. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.