6th Alberta Legislature

6th Alberta Legislature
Majority parliament
February 10, 1927 – May 10, 1930
Parliament leaders
Premier	John Edward Brownlee November 23, 1925 – July 10, 1934
Cabinet	Brownlee cabinet
Party caucuses
Government	United Farmers of Alberta
Opposition	Liberal Party
Crossbench	Dominion Labor Party
	Conservative Party
Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly	George Norman Johnston February 10, 1927 – July 22, 1935
Members	60 MLA seats
Sovereign
Monarch	George V May 6, 1910 – January 20, 1936
Lieutenant Governor	Hon. William Egbert October 29, 1925 – May 5, 1931
Sessions
1st session February 10, 1927 – April 2, 1927
2nd session February 2, 1928 – March 21, 1928
3rd session January 31, 1929 – March 20, 1929
4th session January 30, 1930 – April 3, 1930
←  5th →  7th

The 6th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from February 10, 1927, to May 10, 1930, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1926 Alberta general election held on June 28, 1926. The Legislature officially resumed on February 10, 1927, and continued until the fourth session was prorogued on April 3, 1930, and dissolved on May 10, 1930, prior to the 1930 Alberta general election. ^[1]

Alberta's sixth government was controlled by the majority United Farmers of Alberta for the second time, led by Premier John Edward Brownlee. There was no Official Opposition in Alberta between 1926 and 1941 due to the Independent Movement which saw a majority of non-UFA candidates elected as independents. The Speaker was George Norman Johnston.

The 1926 Alberta general election formed the first legislature that was elected under Single Transferable Vote.

Bills

Sexual Sterilization Act

Main article: Sexual Sterilization Act

The Sexual Sterilization Act was an act passed by the Alberta Legislature in 1928. The Act, ostensibly drafted to "protect the gene pool", allowed for sterilization of mentally disabled persons in order to prevent the transmission of traits to offspring deemed undesirable, the act also created the Alberta Eugenics Board.

At that time, eugenicists argued that mental illness, mental retardation, epilepsy, alcoholism, pauperism, certain criminal behaviours, and social defects, such as prostitution and sexual perversion, were genetically determined and inherited. Further, it was widely believed that persons with these disorders had a higher reproduction rate than the normal population. As a result, it was feared the gene pool in the general population was weakening.

During the time the Sexual Sterilization Act was in effect, 4,800 cases were proposed for sterilization in the province of Alberta, of which 99% received approval. Examination of sterilization records demonstrates that legislation did not apply equally to all members of society. Specifically, the Act was disproportionately applied to those in socially vulnerable positions, including females, children, unemployed persons, domestics, rural citizens, unmarried, institutionalized persons, Roman and Greek Catholics, and persons of Ukrainian, Native and Métis ethnicity. ^[2]

The Act was repealed in 1972.

Alberta Natural Resources Act

Main article: Natural Resources Acts

The Alberta Natural Resources Act was an act passed by the Alberta Legislature in the fifth session in 1930. The Act facilitated the transfer from the Parliament of Canada and to the province of Alberta control over crown lands and natural resources within these provinces from the federal government to the provincial governments. Alberta through the Alberta Act had not been given control over their natural resources when they entered Confederation, unlike the other Canadian provinces. ^[3]

The Alberta Natural Resource Transfer Agreement ^[4] restricts the inherent hunting and fishing rights for indigenous peoples. “The Natural Resource Transfer Agreements with the three Western Provinces provide that laws respecting game in the province shall apply to Indians within the boundaries of the province”. ^[5]

Membership in the 6th Alberta Legislature

	District	Member	Party	First elected/ previously elected
	Acadia	Lorne Proudfoot	United Farmers	1921
	Alexandra	Peter Enzenauer	United Farmers	1921
	Athabasca	John Frame	Liberal	1926
			United Farmers
	Beaver River	John Delisle	United Farmers	1926
	Bow Valley	Joseph Shaw	Liberal	1926
	Calgary	Alexander McGillivray	Conservative	1926
		George Harry Webster	Liberal	1926
		John Irwin	Conservative	1926
		Fred J. White	Dominion Labor	1921
		Robert Parkyn	Independent Labor	1926
	Camrose	Vernor Smith	United Farmers	1921
	Cardston	George Stringam	United Farmers	1921
	Claresholm	Gordon Walker	United Farmers	1926
	Cochrane	Robert McCool	United Farmers	1926
	Coronation	George Johnston	United Farmers	1921
	Cypress	Perren Baker	United Farmers	1921
	Didsbury	Austin Claypool	United Farmers	1921
	Edmonton	John Lymburn	United Farmers	1926
		Charles Weaver	Conservative	1926
		Charles Gibbs	Dominion Labor	1926
		Warren Prevey	Liberal	1926
		David Milwyn Duggan	Conservative	1926
	Edson	Christopher Pattinson	Dominion Labor	1926
	Empress	William Smith	United Farmers	1921
	Gleichen	John Buckley	United Farmers	1921
	Grouard	Leonidas Giroux	Liberal	1924
	Hand Hills	Gordon Forster	United Farmers	1921
	High River	Samuel Brown	United Farmers	1921
	Innisfail	Donald Cameron	United Farmers	1921
	Lac Ste. Anne	Charles McKeen	United Farmers	1921
	Lacombe	Irene Parlby	United Farmers	1921
	Leduc	Douglas Breton	United Farmers	1926
	Lethbridge	Andrew Smeaton	Dominion Labor	1926
	Little Bow	Oran McPherson	United Farmers	1921
	Macleod	William Shield	United Farmers	1921
	Medicine Hat	Charles Pingle	Liberal	1913, [a] 1925
		Hector Lang (1928)	United Farmers	1928
	Nanton	Daniel Harcourt Galbraith	United Farmers	1921
	Okotoks	George Hoadley	United Farmers	1909 [b]
	Olds	Nelson Smith	United Farmers	1921
	Peace River	Hugh Allen	United Farmers	1926
	Pembina	George MacLachlan	United Farmers	1921
	Pincher Creek	Earle Cook	United Farmers	1921
	Ponoka	John Brownlee	United Farmers	1921
	Red Deer	George Wilbert Smith	United Farmers	1921
	Ribstone	William Farquharson	United Farmers	1922
	Rocky Mountain	Philip Christophers	Dominion Labor	1921
	Sedgewick	Albert Andrews	United Farmers	1922
	St. Albert	Lucien Boudreau	Liberal	1913, 1926
	St. Paul	Laudas Joly	United Farmers	1921
	Stettler	Albert Sanders	United Farmers	1921
	Stony Plain	Willard Washburn	United Farmers	1921
	Sturgeon	Samuel Carson	United Farmers	1921
	Taber	Lawrence Peterson	United Farmers	1921
	Vegreville	Archie Matheson	United Farmers	1921
	Vermilion	Richard Reid	United Farmers	1921
	Victoria	Rudolph Hennig	United Farmers	1926
	Wainwright	John Russell Love	United Farmers	1921
	Warner	Maurice Conner	United Farmers	1921
	Wetaskiwin	Evert Sparks	United Farmers	1921
	Whitford	George Mihalcheon	United Farmers	1922

Notes:

Composition changes during the 6th Assembly

Number of members per party by date		1926	1928		1930
		Jun 28	Jan 10	May 1	?
	United Farmers	43			44
	Liberal	7	6	7	6
	Dominion Labor	5
	Conservative	4
	Independent Labor	1
	Total members	60	59	60
	Vacant	0	1	0
	Government Majority	26	27	26	28

Membership changes during the 6th Assembly
	Date	Name	District	Party	Reason
	June 28, 1926	See List of Members			Election day of the sixth Alberta general election
	January 10, 1928	Charles Pingle	Medicine Hat	Liberal	Died of a stroke
	May 1, 1928	Hector Lang	Medicine Hat	Liberal	Elected in a by-election
	1930	John Frame	Athabasca	United Farmers	Crossed the floor from the Liberals to the United Farmers caucus

Notes

1. Redcliff
2. First elected as Conservative

References

1. Perry, Sandra E.; Footz, Valerie L. (2006). Massolin, Philip A. (ed.). A Higher Duty: Speakers of the Legislative Assemblies. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. p. 496. ISBN   0-9689217-3-6 . Retrieved August 9, 2020.
2. Grekul, Jana Marie. The Social Construction of the Feebleminded Threat: Implementation of the Sexual Sterilization Act in Alberta 1929 – 1972. University of Alberta, Ph.D. Thesis, 2002.
3. Constitution Act, 1867 , 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3. (U.K.), R.S.C. 1985, App. II, No. 11, s. 109.
4. Alberta Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1930, c. 3
5. Hawley, Donna. The Indian Act Annotated (2nd ed). Toronto: Carswell.

Further reading

• Normandin, A. L., ed. (1930). "The Canadian Parliamentary Guide". The Canadian Parliamentary Guide = Guide Parlementaire Canadien. Ottawa: Mortimer Company Ltd. ISSN   0315-6168. OCLC   893686591 . Retrieved August 9, 2020.
• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer; Legislative Assembly Office (2006). A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. The Centennial Series. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN   0-9689217-8-7 . Retrieved May 25, 2020.
• Perry, Sandra E.; Footz, Valerie L. (2006). Massolin, Philip A. (ed.). A Higher Duty: Speakers of the Legislative Assemblies. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN   0-9689217-3-6 . Retrieved August 9, 2020.

External links

• Alberta Legislative Assembly
• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
• By-elections 1905 to present