Alfred Speakman - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alfred Speakman was a politician from Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Federal political career

Speakman was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

in a landslide victory in the 1921 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

as a United Farmers of Alberta

United Farmers of Alberta

The United Farmers of Alberta is an association of Alberta farmers that has served many different roles throughout its history as a lobby group, a political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. Since 1934 it has primarily been an agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary...

Member of Parliament for Red Deer

Red Deer (electoral district)

Red Deer is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1908.-History:This riding was created in 1907 from Calgary and Strathcona ridings. At the time this was an overwhelmingly rural riding with only the then small town of Red...

.

He would go on to be re-elected to 4 terms in office before his defeat in the 1935 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1935

The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...

, in that election he ran under the Cooperative Commonwealth banner instead of the United Farmers banner. He was defeated by Social Credit

Social Credit Party of Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...

candidate Eric Joseph Poole

Eric Joseph Poole

Eric Joseph Poole was a building contractor and a Canadian federal politician.-Political career:Poole first ran for political office in the 1935 Canadian federal election as a Social Credit candidate...

and finished that election a distant 3rd place.

Provincial political career

Speakman was instrumental in helping the Unity Movement in Alberta take off to unite Alberta's opposition parties and oppose the Social Credit government. On October 12, 1937 Speakman used his background as a long serving Member of Parliament to bring delegates from the United Farmers, Conservatives, Liberals and some disillusioned Social Crediters to a conference in Red Deer that would help bring the Unity coalition together.

Speakman ran as an Independent in Red Deer

Red Deer (provincial electoral district)

Red Deer was a provincial electoral district representing the city of Red Deer, Alberta in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 to 1986...

in the 1940 Alberta general election

Alberta general election, 1940

The Alberta general election of 1940 was the ninth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada, was held on March 21, 1940 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....

and was elected with a comfortable vote margin after ballot transfers. Speakman served as an Independent in the Unity caucus until his death in 1943.

Speakman would briefly serve as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta in 1942.

External links

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