Jump to content

Claresholm (provincial electoral district)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Monkbot (talk | contribs) at 00:32, 30 January 2021 (Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 9 templates: hyphenate params (11×);). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Claresholm
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1909
District abolished1929
First contested1909
Last contested1926

Claresholm was a provincial electoral district in Alberta mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1909 to 1929.[1]

History

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Claresholm
Assembly Years Member Party
See Macleod electoral district from 1905-1909
2nd  1909–1913     Malcolm McKenzie Liberal
3rd  1913–1917 William Moffat
4th  1917–1921     Louise McKinney Alberta Non-Partisan League
5th  1921–1926     Thomas Milnes Independent Farmer
6th  1926–1930     Gordon Beverly Walker United Farmers
See Nanton-Claresholm electoral district from 1930-1940

The Claresholm electoral district was formed prior to the 1909 Alberta general election from the northern portion of the Macleod electoral district. The electoral district would be renamed Nanton-Claresholm prior to the 1930 Alberta general election.

Malcolm McKenzie was elected the first MLA for Claresholm in the 1909 election, McKenzie was the incumbent, having been elected to the Macleod electoral district in 1905. McKenzie's margin of victory in Claresholm was much larger than he had achieved in 1905[2][3]

Premier Arthur Sifton appointed McKenzie Provincial Treasurer. In keeping with the era's custom, McKenzie responded to the cabinet appointment by resigning his seat in the legislature to contest it in a by-election. Despite his previous wide margins, in 1912 he carried Claresholm by only 14 votes.[4][5]

McKenzie's tenure as treasurer was not to last long: he caught a chill while attending the convention that nominated him as the Liberals' Claresholm candidate in the 1913 election, and by the time he returned to Edmonton on March 10, 1913, he was sufficiently ill to confine himself to bed. He had developed peritonitis, and died from it early in the morning of March 15. The Liberal Edmonton Bulletin, in mourning his passing, said that "no lawyer in the province had such a firm grasp in legal matters. No member of the house performed his legislative duties so admirably and so well. He has left his impression on more legislation than any other member."[6]

In the 1917 Alberta general election, Louise McKinney became the first woman sworn into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and the first woman elected to a legislature in the British Empire. She served in the Alberta legislature from 1917 to 1921 as a member of the Non-Partisan League. McKinney defeating Liberal incumbent and former Mayor of Claresholm William Moffat.[7] She was one of two women elected to the Legislative Assembly that year, the other being Roberta MacAdams. Later McKinney was one of the Famous Five who campaigned successfully for the right of Canadian women to be appointed to the Senate.

McKinney ran for a second term in the 1921 Alberta general election as a member of the United Farmers. She was defeated by Independent Farmer candidate Thomas Milnes.[8]

The electoral district is named for the Town of Claresholm, Alberta.

Election results

1900s

1909 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Malcolm McKenzie 696 61.87% –
Conservative J. F. Garrow 429 38.13% –
Total 1,125 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A – –
Eligible electors / turnout N/A N/A –
Liberal pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1909 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1910s

Alberta provincial by-election, May 27, 1912
Ministerial by-election upon Malcolm McKenzie's appointment as Provincial Treasurer
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Malcolm McKenzie 651 50.54% -11.33%
Conservative D. S. MacMillan 637 49.45% 11.33%
Total 1,288 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A – –
Eligible electors / turnout N/A N/A –
Liberal hold Swing -11.33
Source(s)
"By-elections". elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
1913 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal William Moffatt 496 51.08%
Conservative D. S. McMillan 348 35.84%
Independent G. Malshow 127 13.08%
Total 971 –
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1917 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan League Louise McKinney 839 55.60% 42.52%
Liberal William Moffatt 670 44.40% -6.68%
Total 1,509 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A – –
Eligible electors / turnout 1,884 80.10% –
Nonpartisan League gain from Liberal Swing -2.02%
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1920s

1921 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Farmer Thomas Milnes 809 51.46% -4.14%
United Farmers Louise McKinney 763 48.54% –
Total 1,572 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A – –
Eligible electors / turnout N/A N/A –
Independent Farmer gain from Nonpartisan League Swing -4.14%
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1926 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Farmers Gordon Beverly Walker 939 68.99% 20.46%
Conservative John R. Watt 422 31.01% –
Total 1,361 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 148 – –
Eligible electors / turnout 2,009 75.11% –
United Farmers notional gain from Independent Farmer Swing 17.53%
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Election results for Claresholm". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Claresholm Official Results 1909 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  3. ^ "Macleod Official Results 1905 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  4. ^ Thomas, Lewis Gwynne (1959). The Liberal Party in Alberta. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. pp. 125–127.
  5. ^ "By-elections". elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Death Calls Provincial Treasurer". Edmonton Bulletin. March 15, 1913. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
  7. ^ "Claresholm Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  8. ^ "Claresholm Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 8 September 2010.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claresholm_(provincial_electoral_district)&oldid=1003649339"