Donovan Swailes
Encyclopedia
Donovan Swailes was a politician and musician in Manitoba
, Canada
. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation from 1945 to 1959.
Swailes was raised in Leeds, and worked in the textile industry. His father was a coal miner, who later worked in a woollen mill. His mother was active in the Salvation Army
and the suffragette movement, and served time in prison for smashing windows in a London department store during a demonstration. The younger Swailes played the trombone
for the Salvation Army and took courses from the University of Leeds
. During World War I
, he worked as a musician at the Opera House in Cork
, Ireland
, and later for the Australia
n Navy. After the war, he toured New Zealand
with a professional band.
He moved to Canada in 1920, and became involved in the country's labour and social-democratic movements. He joined the Independent Labour Party
in 1925, and later became the first president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
. In 1943, he represented Winnipeg
and the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council at the Convention of the American Federation of Labour. In the same year, he was elected secretary-treasurer of the Manitoba CCF. He served on the board of directors of the Winnipeg Musicians Union, the Executive Committee of Family Bureau, and the Advisory Board of the Manitoba Department of Education.
Originally a farmer after moving to Canada, Swailes later became a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
under the direction of Hugh Ross
and Bernard Naylor. He became Secretary of the Musicians' Union in 1934.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1945
, for the Winnipeg constituency. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members by a single transferable ballot. Swailes finished thirteenth on the first count, but was declared elected to the seventh position on the thirteenth count following transfers from other CCF candidates. Swailes was an important organizer for the CCF in this campaign, working with David Lewis
and Lloyd Stinson
.
Winnipeg's electoral map was redrawn for the 1949 provincial election
. Swailes ran for re-election in the Winnipeg Centre
constituency, which elected four members via a single transferable ballot. He finished in second place, and was declared elected on the first count. In the 1953 election
, he was re-elected at the top of the poll.
Swailes ran for Mayor of Winnipeg in 1952, but finished third against Garnet Coulter
and Stephen Juba
.
Winnipeg abandoned multi-member constituencies for the 1958 provincial election
and Swailes was re-elected in the constituency of Assiniboia, defeated Progressive Conservative
George William Johnson
by 131 votes. Assiniboia was a marginal seat, and Swailes had little assistance from party headquarters in this campaign. He was defeated in the 1959 election
, losing to Johnson by 217 votes.
Swailes was elected to the Winnipeg city council later in 1959, and served for over a decade. He attempted a comeback at the provincial level in the 1962 provincial election
, running in Winnipeg Centre as a candidate of the New Democratic Party
(which replaced the CCF in 1961). He finished a surprisingly poor third against Progressive Conservative James Cowan
.
Former CCF leader Lloyd Stinson once described Swailes as "the hardest worker on the opposition side". He was active in many issues, and often criticized the Douglas Campbell
administration for its conservatism.
Swailes's brother, Robert Blatchford Swailes, was a parliamentarian in British Columbia
.
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, 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...
. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...
as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation from 1945 to 1959.
Swailes was raised in Leeds, and worked in the textile industry. His father was a coal miner, who later worked in a woollen mill. His mother was active in the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and the suffragette movement, and served time in prison for smashing windows in a London department store during a demonstration. The younger Swailes played the trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
for the Salvation Army and took courses from the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he worked as a musician at the Opera House in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and later for the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Navy. After the war, he toured New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with a professional band.
He moved to Canada in 1920, and became involved in the country's labour and social-democratic movements. He joined the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party (in Manitoba) (II)
Prior to 1920, there were a number of groups in Winnipeg which called themselves the "Independent Labour Party". For information on these groups, see Independent Labour Party ....
in 1925, and later became the first president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
Manitoba Federation of Labour
The Manitoba Federation of Labour is the Manitoba provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress.It was formed in 1956 and has a membership of 90,000 people working in various private sector and public sector fields such as Manufacturing, Government, Retail, Hospitals, Schools,...
. In 1943, he represented Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council at the Convention of the American Federation of Labour. In the same year, he was elected secretary-treasurer of the Manitoba CCF. He served on the board of directors of the Winnipeg Musicians Union, the Executive Committee of Family Bureau, and the Advisory Board of the Manitoba Department of Education.
Originally a farmer after moving to Canada, Swailes later became a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba.-History:...
under the direction of Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross may refer to:* Hugh Ross , American choral director and conductor* Hugh McGregor Ross , computing pioneer and specialist in the Gospel of Thomas...
and Bernard Naylor. He became Secretary of the Musicians' Union in 1934.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1945
Manitoba general election, 1945
Manitoba's general election of October 15, 1945 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The 1945 provincial election was extremely different from the previous election, which was held in 1941...
, for the Winnipeg constituency. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members by a single transferable ballot. Swailes finished thirteenth on the first count, but was declared elected to the seventh position on the thirteenth count following transfers from other CCF candidates. Swailes was an important organizer for the CCF in this campaign, working with David Lewis
David Lewis (politician)
David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...
and Lloyd Stinson
Lloyd Stinson
Lloyd Stinson was a politician in Manitoba, Canada, and the leader of that province's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1953 to 1959. Although widely regarded as a capable leader, he was unable to achieve a major electoral breakthrough for his party.Stinson was born in Treherne,...
.
Winnipeg's electoral map was redrawn for the 1949 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1949
Manitoba's general election of November 10, 1949 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election pitted the province's coalition government, made up of the Liberal-Progressive Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, against a variety of...
. Swailes ran for re-election in the Winnipeg Centre
Winnipeg Centre
Winnipeg Centre is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1925 and since 1997...
constituency, which elected four members via a single transferable ballot. He finished in second place, and was declared elected on the first count. In the 1953 election
Manitoba general election, 1953
Manitoba's general election of June 8, 1953 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives...
, he was re-elected at the top of the poll.
Swailes ran for Mayor of Winnipeg in 1952, but finished third against Garnet Coulter
Garnet Coulter
Garnet Coulter QC was a Canadian politician serving as an alderman and the 35th Mayor of Winnipeg.After graduating with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Manitoba, Coulter served as a lawyer in Winnipeg since 1907...
and Stephen Juba
Stephen Juba
Stephen Juba, OC was a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1959, and served as the 37th Mayor of Winnipeg from 1957 to 1977. He was the first Ukrainian Canadian to hold high political office in the city.Juba left school at age fifteen, when...
.
Winnipeg abandoned multi-member constituencies for the 1958 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1958
Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1958 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was the first to be held in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956...
and Swailes was re-elected in the constituency of Assiniboia, defeated Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...
George William Johnson
George William Johnson
George William Johnson was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1959 to 1962, representing the Winnipeg riding of Assiniboia for the Progressive Conservative Party...
by 131 votes. Assiniboia was a marginal seat, and Swailes had little assistance from party headquarters in this campaign. He was defeated in the 1959 election
Manitoba general election, 1959
Manitoba's general election of May 14, 1959 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...
, losing to Johnson by 217 votes.
Swailes was elected to the Winnipeg city council later in 1959, and served for over a decade. He attempted a comeback at the provincial level in the 1962 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1962
Manitoba's general election of December 16, 1962 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a second majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...
, running in Winnipeg Centre as a candidate of the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party of Manitoba
The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
(which replaced the CCF in 1961). He finished a surprisingly poor third against Progressive Conservative James Cowan
James Cowan (Progressive Conservative Manitoba politician)
James Cowan was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1958 to 1969....
.
Former CCF leader Lloyd Stinson once described Swailes as "the hardest worker on the opposition side". He was active in many issues, and often criticized the Douglas Campbell
Douglas Lloyd Campbell
Douglas Lloyd Campbell, OC was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th Premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958...
administration for its conservatism.
Swailes's brother, Robert Blatchford Swailes, was a parliamentarian in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.