Harry Dean Ainlay
Encyclopedia
- Harry Ainlay redirects here. For the school of the same name, see Harry Ainlay Composite High SchoolHarry Ainlay Composite High SchoolHarry Ainlay High School is a Canadian high school located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the Royal Gardens Community, south of Whitemud Drive on 111 Street...
.
Harry Dean Ainlay (January 3, 1887 – March 12, 1970) was a Canadian educator, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, mayor of Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, 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...
, and candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....
, and 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...
.
Early life
Harry Ainlay was born in Brussels, OntarioBrussels, Ontario
Brussels is a community in Huron County, Ontario, Canada, located within the municipality of Huron East. It was originally called Ainleyville. The name was changed in 1872 when a branch line of the Grand Trunk Railway from Guelph came through the town...
, and earned his teaching certificate in that province. He came to Alberta in 1907 to help his carpenter father and settled near Stavely
Stavely, Alberta
Stavely is a farming community in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located south of Calgary on Highway 2 and east of Willow Creek Provincial Park....
for several years before moving to Edmonton in 1912. In 1911, he married Edith Hamilton; the two would remain married until her death in 1959.
Ainlay spent several years in the real estate business, then returned to school at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
. Upon his graduation in 1920, he returned to teaching, serving as vice-principal of the Queen Alexandra School and principal of the Garneau and Strathcona high schools (all in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
).
Municipal politics
Ainlay first sought public office in the 1930 Edmonton electionEdmonton municipal election, 1930
The 1930 municipal election was held November 12, 1930 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board ....
, when he ran for alderman on Edmonton City Council
Edmonton City Council
The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors. Until 2010, Edmonton was divided in six wards with two councillors representing citizens in each ward...
and was defeated, finishing ninth of twelve candidates. He was more successful in the 1931 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1931
The 1931 municipal election was held November 11, 1931 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board .There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: James Collisson, Charles Gibbs,...
, when he finished second of fifteen candidates and was elected to a two year term. He was re-elected in the 1933 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1933
The 1933 Edmonton municipal election was held November 8, 1933 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on City Council and four trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards....
(finishing third of seventeen candidates), but was defeated in the 1935 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1935
The 1935 municipal election was held November 13, 1935 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board...
.
Once out of office, Ainlay made his first bid for mayor in the 1936 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1936
The 1936 municipal election was held November 12, 1936 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the public school board . Voters also rejected a proposal to extend the mayor's term to two years...
, finishing third of five candidates as incumbent Joseph Clarke
Joseph Clarke
Joseph Andrew Clarke was a Canadian politician and lawyer. He served twice as mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, was a candidate for election to the Canadian House of Commons and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and was a member of the Yukon Territorial Council .-Early life:Clarke was born in...
was re-elected. He made two subsequent unsuccessful attempts to return to aldermanic office (in the 1937
Edmonton municipal election, 1937
The 1937 municipal election was held November 10, 1937 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and five trustees to sit on the public school board...
and 1938
Edmonton municipal election, 1938
The 1938 municipal election was held November 9, 1938 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the public school board...
elections) before taking three years off from municipal politics.
Ainlay returned to office in the 1941 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1941
The 1941 municipal election was held November 12, 1941 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board .There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: James...
, finishing first of fourteen candidates in the aldermanic race. He was re-elected in 1943
Edmonton municipal election, 1943
The 1943 municipal election was held November 10, 1943 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board .There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: Athelstan...
, but resigned half way through his two year term to run for mayor in the 1945 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1945
The 1945 municipal election was held November 7, 1945 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and five trustees to sit on the public school board .There were ten aldermen on city council, but five of the positions were already filled: Sidney...
, when he defeated Winslow Hamilton. He was re-elected in the 1946
Edmonton municipal election, 1946
The 1946 municipal election was held November 6, 1946 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council, four trustees to sit on the public school board, and three trustees to sit on the separate school board....
and 1947
Edmonton municipal election, 1947
The 1947 municipal election was held November 5, 1947 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board . Voters also voted on two plebiscites, one of which approved two year mayoral terms...
elections, defeating Thomas Cairns and Frederick Speed, respectively. His 1947 win was notable because it marked the first election in which the mayor was elected to a two year term.
As mayor, Ainlay introduced daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
in the city in 1946 after the Government of Alberta has refused to do so province-wide. However, in the next session of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
, the government introduced legislation to outlaw the use of daylight saving time in Alberta, and Edmonton returned to standard time.
Harry Ainlay did not seek re-election in the 1949 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1949
The 1949 municipal election was held November 2, 1949 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council. The electorate also decided eight plebiscite questions...
.
Provincial and federal politics
Ainlay ran in provincial and federal elections a total of four times, each time under the banner of the Co-operative Commonwealth FederationCo-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...
. The first was in a 1936 by-election in the riding of Edmonton
Edmonton (provincial electoral district)
Edmonton provincial electoral district existed in two incarnations from 1905 - 1909 and again from 1921 - 1955. The district was created when Alberta first became a province....
, when he finished last in a three candidate field that was won by Liberal
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
Walter Morrish (the other candidate, Unity
Alberta Unity Party
The Alberta Unity Party was a provincial political party in Alberta, CanadaThe party was a coalition of all parties opposing the Alberta Social Credit Party government with no formal structure that contested two by-elections from 1936 to 1937....
candidate Margaret Crang, was an aldermanic candidate of Ainlay's).
His second bid for provincial office took place in the 1940 Alberta 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....
, in which Ainlay again ran in the Edmonton
Edmonton (provincial electoral district)
Edmonton provincial electoral district existed in two incarnations from 1905 - 1909 and again from 1921 - 1955. The district was created when Alberta first became a province....
riding. He finished eighth of nineteen candidates on the first count (at the time, the riding used a single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
method of electing its representatives), and was not one of the five candidates elected.
Ainlay's lone bid for federal office took place in the 1945 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1945
The Canadian federal election of 1945 was the 20th general election in Canadian history. It was held June 11, 1945 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada...
, when he ran in the riding of Edmonton East
Edmonton East
Edmonton East is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917.The district includes a portion of the city of Edmonton.-Geography:...
. He finished second of five candidates, defeating incumbent Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Cora Taylor Casselman
Cora Taylor Casselman
Cora Taylor Casselman was a Canadian federal politician.Casselman was elected to represented the electoral district of Edmonton East in the Canadian House of Commons from 1941 to 1945...
but still being defeated by Social Creditor
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...
Patrick Ashby.
This pattern - defeating the incumbent but still losing - held in his last bid for provincial office. After leaving politics in Edmonton, Ainlay had moved to 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...
, where he ran in the 1952 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 1952
The British Columbia general election, 1952 was the 23rd 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 April 10, 1952, and held on June 12, 1952. The new legislature met for the...
in the riding of Dewdney
Dewdney (electoral district)
Dewdney was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its predecessor was the riding of Westminster-Dewdney, which was created for the 1894 election from a partition of the Westminster riding, which was a rural-area successor to the original New Westminster...
. He finished second of four candidates, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Roderick Charles MacDonald
Roderick Charles MacDonald
Roderick Charles MacDonald was a Scottish-born merchant and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Dewdney in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1941 to 1952 as a Conservative....
, but being defeated by Lyle Wicks
Lyle Wicks
Lyle Wicks was a British Columbia politician.Born in Calgary, Wicks graduated from McLean High School in Haney, British Columbia, Canada in 1930...
of the British Columbia Social Credit League
British Columbia Social Credit Party
The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...
. This was Ainlay's last bid for public office.
Post-political career, death, and legacy
After leaving politics, Ainlay was the head of the Yellowhead Route Association in the 1940s and 1950s. He died in Haney, British ColumbiaHaney, British Columbia
Haney, British Columbia was historically a town in Southern British Columbia and is now part of the larger district municipality of Maple Ridge, British Columbia.-Features:...
on March 12, 1970. He was survived by his second wife, Jean.
In 1966, Harry Ainlay Composite High School
Harry Ainlay Composite High School
Harry Ainlay High School is a Canadian high school located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the Royal Gardens Community, south of Whitemud Drive on 111 Street...
was named in his honour. He left an endowment for a $500 scholarship to be given in his name to a graduating student planning on pursuing a career in Education.