Ernest R. Draffin was a politician in Manitoba, 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...

 from 1945 to 1949 as a member of the social-democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.

Draffin was educated at Brooklands, Manitoba and at the Kiwanis Night School for Boys. He began working at Canadian National Telegraphs in 1925. Originally as a messenger, he later rose to the position of Chief Timekeeper. He was a member of the Commercial Telegraphers Union of America

Commercial Telegraphers Union of America

The Commercial Telegraphers Union of America was a United States labor union formed to promote the interests of commercial telegraph operators.-Background and early history:...

, and served on the provincial executive of the CCF. Draffin was also active in ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 and soccer.

He was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1945 provincial election

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...

, defeating 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:...

 candidate David Best

David Best (Manitoba politician)

David Alexander Best was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1941 to 1945 as an anti-coalition Conservative....

 by 180 votes in the suburban Winnipeg constituency of Assiniboia. He served as an opposition member in the legislature for the next four years.

The CCF suffered an electoral setback in 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...

, and Draffin lost his seat to Liberal-Progressive

Manitoba Liberal Party

The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...

 candidate Reginald Wightman

Reginald Wightman

Reginald Frederick Wightman was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1949 to 1958....

 by 1,214 votes.

He campaigned in the St. Andrews constituency in the 1953 provincial 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...

, but finished a poor third against Liberal-Progressive Thomas Hillhouse

Thomas Hillhouse

Thomas Paterson Hillhouse was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1950 to 1969, initially serving as a Liberal-Progressive and subsequently as a Liberal, after the party changed its name.Hillhouse was educated at the University of...

. In the 1958 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...

, he finished third in Fort Rouge against Progressive Conservative Gurney Evans

Gurney Evans

Edward Gurney Vaux Evans was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1969, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin and Walter Weir...

.

Draffin ran for 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 the 1953 Canadian election

Canadian federal election, 1953

The Canadian federal election of 1953 was held on August 10 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 22nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Louis St...

, as a candidate of the federal Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. He finished third in Winnipeg South

Winnipeg South

Winnipeg South is a Canadian federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979, and since 1988. It covers the south of the city of Winnipeg...

 against Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 Owen C. Trainor. He also campaigned for the Winnipeg City Council

Winnipeg City Council

The Winnipeg City Council is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.-2006-2010:Council elected in the 2006 election:-2010-2014:...

 in the 1953 municipal election

Winnipeg municipal election, 1953

The 1953 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 28, 1953 to elect councillors and school trustees in the Manitoba city of Winnipeg. There was no mayoral election; mayors were elected for two-year terms in this period, and 1953 was an off year....

, but was defeated in the city's predominantly middle-class first ward.

Draffin was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 in recognition of his soccer playing abilities.