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1921 Edmonton municipal election

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The 1921 municipal election was held December 12, 1921 to elect a mayor and seven aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board. F A French, Paul Jenvrin, Thomas Magee, and Joseph Henri Picard were acclaimed to two-year terms on the separate school board.

There were ten aldermen seats on city council, but three of the positions were still filled from the previous election: Joseph Adair, James Collisson, and Valentine Richards were all elected to two-year terms in 1920 and were still in office. William Campbell McArthur had also been elected to a two-year term, but had resigned in order to run for mayor. Andrew McLennan had also been elected to a two-year term only to resign. In order to fill these vacancies, Izena Ross and Kenneth Alexander Blatchford, the least popular of the top seven candidates, were elected to one-year terms.

Izena Ross, first elected in 1921, was Edmonton's first woman city councillor.

There were seven trustees on the public school board, but only four posts were open - three of the positions were already filled: W H Alexander, E T Bishop, and William Rea had all been elected to two-year terms in 1920 and were still in office.

The same was true on the separate board. Only four posts were open - J Cormack, J J Murray, and Joseph Gariépy were continuing.

The 1921 election was the first in which a woman - Izena Ross - was elected to city council.

Voter turnout

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Out of 33256 eligible voters, 10,943 cast ballots, for a voter turnout of 32.8%. (The vote count is much higher than that because each voter could cast up to seven votes in the aldermanic election.)

Results

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Mayor

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Party Candidate Votes %
  Citizens' League David Duggan 7,011 66.87%
Independent William Campbell McArthur 3,227 30.78%
Independent Albert Stimmel 246 2.35%

Aldermen

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Block Voting was used to elect the city councillors (aldermen). Each voter could cast up to seven votes. About 63,000 votes were cast in this election by about 10,000 voters. The Civic Government Association ran seven candidates and received the largest block of votes. But only its most popular candidate received support from a majority of voters. His supporters did not mark all their other six votes for CGA candidates and only six but not seven on the slate were elected.

Izena Ross, elected in 1921, was the first woman to run for a seat on the Edmonton city council. Her vote tally, showing support from about a third of the voters, was enough to win a seat.

Due to the guaranteed southside representation, southsider Pratt was given a two-year term, although he was the least popular successful candidate. Blatchford and Ross each were elected just to one-yer terms. Pratt lived at 11132 87th Avenue[1]

Party Candidate Votes
  Citizens' League Charles Weaver 5,814
  Dominion Labour Party James East 4,968
  Citizens' League Thomas Malone
(South Side)
4,685
  Citizens' League Ambrose Bury 4,673
  Citizens' League Kenneth Alexander Blatchford 4,277
  Citizens' League Izena Ross 3,341
  Citizens' League Bickerton Pratt
(South Side)
3,256
Independent Lyman Theophilus Barclay 3,119
  Dominion Labour Party James Findlay 3,112
  Dominion Labour Party E. E. Hyde 2,991
Independent Archie Rendell 2,562
Independent A. Boileau 2,322
Independent S. D. Walker 1,585
  Independent Labour Party George L. Ritchie 1,501
  Citizens' League L. T. Murray 1,486
Independent Mrs. A. S. Taylor 1,324
  Independent Labour Party Mary Cantin 1,095
  Independent Labour Party J. E. White 982
Independent Hyman King 936

Public school trustees

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Party Candidate Votes
  Dominion Labour Party Samuel Barnes 4,652
  Citizens' League Ralph Bellamy 4,512
  Dominion Labour Party Frank Scott 4,381
  Citizens' League Alex C. Grant 4,172
  Dominion Labour Party Frank Crang
(South Side)
3,951
  Citizens' League Oscar F. Strong 3,810
  Citizens' League W. H. Speer 3,523
  Dominion Labour Party Raymond C. Ghostley 3,215

Under the minimum South Side representation rule, Crang was elected over Grant.

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

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F A French (South Side), Paul Jenvrin, Thomas Magee, and Joseph Henri Picard were acclaimed.

References

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  1. ^ 1920 Henderson's Directory