Ernest Edward Winch was a British Columbia politician, trade unionist and socialist. He was a BC Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLA in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly from 1933 until his death in 1957.

Born in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Winch's father was a master bricklayer. The younger Winch apprenticed in the trade. In 1899 he went to Australia briefly and returned again in 1903 but again went back to England. In 1909, he came to Canada with his young family.

Winch began studying socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 in 1910 and joined the Social Democratic Party of Canada

Social Democratic Party of Canada

The Social Democratic Party was a social democratic political party in Canada founded in 1911 by members of the right wing of the Socialist Party of Canada. these members were dissatisfied with what they saw as that party's rigid, doctrinaire approach...

 the next year becoming its provincial secretary by 1913. In July 1918, he became president of the Vancouver Trade and Labour Council, he endorsed the Vancouver General Strike on 1918 and the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.

He was an active member of various left wing parties including the Socialist Party of Canada

Socialist Party of Canada

There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...

 and the Independent Labour Party. He refounded the Socialist Party of Canada (British Columbia)

Socialist Party of Canada (British Columbia)

The Socialist Party of British Columbia was a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada, that merged in 1905 into a national political party, the Socialist Party of Canada...

 in 1932 and, with it, joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

. In the 1933 provincial election

British Columbia general election, 1933

The British Columbia general election of 1933 was the eighteenth general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 13, 1933, and held on November 2, 1933...

 he, his son Harold Winch, and five others became the first CCF MLAs in the legislature. In 1938, his son became party leader.

Winch was founder of the New Vista Society of Salmon Arm in 1943, a founder member of the Association for the Protection of Fur bearing Animals of British Columbia.

External links

• Ernest Edward Winch at The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...