Charles Wellington Fisher (August 4,1866 [2] –May 5,1919) [1] was a Canadian politician who served as the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Born in Hyde Park,Canada West,now part of London,Ontario. Fisher came to Cochrane from Ontario in 1899,and became the town's leading merchant. In 1907 he married a niece of the Carling family (of Carling Brewery fame),and promised her that they would live in a castle. By way of fulfilling that promise,he built a mansion in Cochrane in 1908 (which became the Just Home Guest Ranch in 1931 and was donated to a Franciscan order in 1948). [3] [4]
In January 1903,Arthur Sifton,the Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for Banff resigned to become territorial chief justice. [5] In the ensuing by-election,held February 4,Fisher defeated H. J. Richardson to replace him. He served until the district left the Northwest Territories to become part of the new province of Alberta in 1905. [6]
He ran in Banff in Alberta's inaugural election. Politics in the North-West Territories had been conducted on a non-partisan basis but that was not the case in Alberta after provincehood. Fisher aligned himself with the Liberals. In the election,he faced Conservative Robert Brett,who had been Banff's NWT territorial Assemblyman from 1891 to 1899. [6] He more than doubled Brett's vote count on his way to an easy victory. [7]
Fisher was part of a Liberal majority of 23 seats in the 25 seat Legislative Assembly of Alberta,and was one of only seven members with previous legislative experience. In deference to this experience,and as a reward for having beaten Brett,considered a strong opponent,he was elected the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on March 15,1906. [8]
He was re-elected in the next three elections,in the new riding of Cochrane,and was re-elected Speaker after each of them. As Speaker,he presided over the tumultuous Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal,when he ruled future premier Charles Stewart out of order in his attempt to report a scandalous rumour about fellow Liberal John R. Boyle in the legislature. [9]
Fisher died May 5,1919,a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic. His death left his Cochrane seat vacant,and in the ensuing by-election the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) ran a candidate,Alexander Moore,for the first time in their history. He won,and two years later the UFA won a majority government. [10]
Charles Fisher is buried in Calgary's Union Cemetery. [11]
1917 Alberta general election results (Cochrane) [12] | Turnout N.A. | |||
Liberal | Charles Wellington Fisher | 630 | 57.32% | |
Conservative | H.E.G.H. Scholefield | 469 | 42.68% | |
1913 Alberta general election results (Cochrane) [13] | Turnout 85.1% | |||
Liberal | Charles Wellington Fisher | 475 | 55.56% | |
Conservative | H.F. Jarrett | 380 | 44.44% | |
1909 Alberta general election results (Cochrane) [14] | Turnout 89.7% | |||
Liberal | Charles Wellington Fisher | 627 | 67.56% | |
Conservative | Robert Brett | 301 | 32.44% | |
1905 Alberta general election results (Banff) [7] | Turnout 89.7% | |||
Liberal | Charles Wellington Fisher | 421 | 53.70% | |
Conservative | Robert Brett | 363 | 46.30% | |
1903 by-election results (Banff) [6] | Turnout N.A. | |||
Charles Wellington Fisher | 263 | 57.68% | ||
H. J. Richardson | 193 | 42.32% |
Charles Stewart,was a Canadian politician who served as the third premier of Alberta from 1917 until 1921. Born in Strabane,Ontario,in then Wentworth County,Stewart was a farmer who moved west to Alberta after his farm was destroyed by a storm. There he became active in politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1909 election. He served as Minister of Public Works and Minister of Municipal Affairs—the first person to hold the latter position in Alberta—in the government of Arthur Sifton. When Sifton left provincial politics in 1917 to join the federal cabinet,Stewart was named his replacement.
Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton,was a Canadian lawyer,judge and politician who served as the second premier of Alberta from 1910 until 1917. He became a minister in the federal cabinet of Canada thereafter. Born in Canada West,he grew up there and in Winnipeg,where he became a lawyer. He subsequently practised law with his brother Clifford Sifton in Brandon,where he was also active in municipal politics. He moved west to Prince Albert in 1885 and to Calgary in 1889. There,he was elected to the 4th and 5th North-West Legislative Assemblies;he served as a minister in the government of premier Frederick Haultain. In 1903,the federal government,at the instigation of his brother,made Sifton the Chief Justice of the Northwest Territories. After Alberta was created out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1905,Sifton became the first Chief Justice of Alberta in 1907 and served until 1910.
Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long-serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades. He served as the first premier of the Northwest Territories from 1897 to 1905 as is recognized as having a significant contribution towards the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. From 1905 on he served as Leader of the Official Opposition in Saskatchewan as well as Leader of the Provincial Rights Party. His legislative career ended when he was appointed to the judiciary in 1912.
Banff was a provincial electoral district in Alberta,Canada,mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1905 to 1909,and again from 1975 to 1979.
The 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from November 9,1905,to Monday,March 22,1909,with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1905 Alberta general election which was held on November 9,1905. The Legislature officially began on November 9,1905,and continued until the fourth session was prorogued on February 25,1909,and dissolved the next day on February 26,1909,prior to the 1909 Alberta general election.
The 2nd Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from March 23,1909,to April 17,1913,with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1909 Alberta general election which was held on March 22,1909. The Legislature officially resumed on March 23,1909,and continued until the fourth session was prorogued and dissolved on March 25,1913,prior to the 1913 Alberta general election.
The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories,Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories.
The 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from February 2,1922,to May 25,1926,with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1921 Alberta general election held on July 18,1921. The Legislature officially resumed on February 2,1922,and continued until the sixth session was prorogued on May 22,1926 and dissolved on May 25,1926,prior to the 1926 Alberta general election.
Charles Wilson Cross was a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the House of Commons of Canada. He was also the first Attorney-General of Alberta. Born in Ontario,he studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School before coming west to practise in Edmonton. He became active with the Liberal Party of Canada,and when Alberta was created in 1905 he was chosen by Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford to be its first Attorney-General. Implicated in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal,he resigned in 1910 along with the rest of Rutherford's government.
Robert George Brett was a politician and physician in the North-West Territories and Alberta,Canada,and was the second lieutenant governor of Alberta.
Charles Allan Stuart was a Canadian politician and jurist in the province of Alberta. Born in Canada West and educated in the same area after it became Ontario,he came west in 1897 and set up a law practice in Calgary. After a failed election bid to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories,he was elected to the Calgary City Council and then to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He resigned before the end of his term in the latter body to accept a judgeship on the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. He was later appointed to the new Supreme Court of Alberta. He was also the first Chancellor of the University of Alberta,serving in that capacity from 1908 until his death in 1926.
John Adrian Simpson was a Canadian politician and businessman. Born in Peel County,Canada West,he came west in 1890 and eventually settled in Innisfail,where he opened a lumberyard. He served on Innisfail's first town council,and also in the legislative assemblies of the Northwest Territories and later Alberta;in the last,he acted as deputy speaker.
The 3rd Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from September 16,1913,to April 5,1917,with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1913 Alberta general election held on April 17,1913. The Legislature officially resumed on September 16,1913,and continued until the fifth session was prorogued on April 17,1917 and dissolved on May 14,1917,prior to the 1917 Alberta general election.
The 4th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from February 7,1918,to June 23,1921,with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1917 Alberta general election held on June 7,1917. The Legislature officially resumed on February 7,1918,and continued until the fourth session was prorogued on April 19,1921 and dissolved on June 23,1921,prior to the 1921 Alberta general election.
Cochrane was a provincial electoral district in Alberta mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1909 to 1926 under the First Past the Post voting system and under Single Transferable Vote from 1926 to 1940.
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Banff was a territorial electoral district that was mandated to return a single member to the North-West Legislative Assembly from 1891 until Alberta became a province in 1905.