James East
Encyclopedia
James East was a politician and labour activist in Alberta
, Canada
. He was for a time and the longest-serving alderman in Edmonton
's history, and was a defeated candidate at the provincial and federal levels. He was also an ardent monetary reform
er.
, Ontario
on October 7, 1871. At the age of thirteen, he began to work in sawmill
s and farms. He took up prospecting
and travelled the English-speaking world at it, going from South Dakota
(in the Black Hills
region) to New Mexico
and Colorado
, and then spending time in New Zealand
and Australia
. He returned to Canada in 1906, moving to Edmonton in 1907. He continued prospecting, moving to the Yukon
for a time in 1911 before returning to Edmonton, more or less for good.
, when he ran for alderman on the Edmonton City Council
, finishing fifth of eighteen candidates. Unlike most of Edmonton's elections at the time, in which half of the aldermen were elected to two year terms (with the other half being elected to two year terms in intervening years) the recent amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona
meant that all ten aldermen would be elected, five each to terms of each of one and two years. As a finisher in the top five, East would normally have been entitled to a two year term; however the terms of the amalgamation specified that two of the aldermen elected to two year terms had to come from the south side of the North Saskatchewan River
- where Strathcona was located - and there was only one such candidate (John Tipton
) in the top five. Accordingly, Thomas J. Walsh
- who finished eighth - was elected to a two year term, and East to only a one year term. He was easily re-elected to a two year term in the ensuing election
.
However, he was convicted by Justice William Ives
of voting on a matter in which he had a pecuniary interest, and was expelled from office October 27, 1914 (mayor William McNamara
was expelled at the same time and for the same reason). East attempted to return to office in the 1914 election
, but fared no better than tenth out of fourteen candidates.
, where he spent the rest of the First World War on the hospital ships Araguaya and Letitia before leaving the military in 1919.
Upon his return to civilian life, East returned immediately to politics, running in the 1919 municipal election
. In the years intervening since his last election, party politics had arrived at the municipal level in Edmonton, and East aligned himself with the Labour
slate. This was a good election for Labour; their mayoral candidate, Joseph Clarke
, was re-elected, and they also took the top three spots in the aldermanic race; East finished second. The 1921 election
was less kind to Labour, and East, finishing second, was the only one of their candidates elected to city council. He finished first in 1923
, second in 1925
, and third in 1927
.
While serving as alderman, East contested the 1925 federal election
as a Labour-Farmer candidate (aligned with J.S. Woodsworth) in Edmonton West
, where he finished last of three candidates, behind Liberal
Charles Stewart
and Conservative
James McCrie Douglas
.
, rather than running for re-election as alderman, East challenged his federal rival Douglas for the mayoralty. He was defeated handily, finishing second in a four person race. He tried to return to aldermanic office in 1930
, but finished sixth out of twelve candidates as Labour's rival Civic Government Association swept all seats but one. He sat out the 1931 election
, but made a successful run for alderman in 1932
, when he finished in fourth. In the 1934 election
, there were six seats available due to Rice Sheppard
's resignation to run for mayor half way through his term, and East finished in sixth to become Labour's only elected alderman that election. He received only three votes more than James Ponton, the CGA's sixth nominee.
In 1935, municipal politics in Edmonton began to re-align. Labour continued to run candidates, but for the first time they were joined by Social Credit
candidates, many of whom had links to the political left hitherto occupied by Labour (among these Social Credit candidates was East's brother Elisha, who was elected in the 1935 election
- making the pair the only brothers in Edmonton history to serve on City Council at the same time). After being shut out in 1935, Labour stopped running candidates. Rather than align himself with Social Credit in his 1936 re-election attempt
, East joined the newly-formed United People's League. This proved a mistake; though he finished ahead of the other UPL candidates, East fell far short of re-election, finishing eleventh in an election swept by the CGA-successor Citizens' Committee.
James East would make no attempt to return to elected office.
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...
. He was for a time and the longest-serving alderman 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...
's history, and was a defeated candidate at the provincial and federal levels. He was also an ardent monetary reform
Monetary reform
Monetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy from the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
er.
Early life
East was born in BoltonBolton, Ontario
Bolton is the most populated community in the town of Caledon, located in the Region of Peel, approximately 50 kilometres northwest of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. In regional documents, it is referred to as a 'Rural Service Centre'. It has 26,478 residents in 8,721 households...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
on October 7, 1871. At the age of thirteen, he began to work in sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
s and farms. He took up prospecting
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
and travelled the English-speaking world at it, going from South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
(in the Black Hills
Black Hills
The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...
region) to New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, and then spending time in 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...
and 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...
. He returned to Canada in 1906, moving to Edmonton in 1907. He continued prospecting, moving to the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
for a time in 1911 before returning to Edmonton, more or less for good.
Municipal politics and expulsion from office
James East first sought political office in the February 1912 municipal electionEdmonton municipal election, February 1912
On September 27, 1911, the voters of Edmonton approved by plebiscite the amalgamation of Edmonton with Strathcona. This amalgamation was effected February 1, 1912, and, in anticipation of this, no election was held December 11, 1911 as would normally have been required...
, when he ran for alderman on the 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...
, finishing fifth of eighteen candidates. Unlike most of Edmonton's elections at the time, in which half of the aldermen were elected to two year terms (with the other half being elected to two year terms in intervening years) the recent amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona
Strathcona, Alberta
Strathcona was a city in Alberta, Canada, located on the south of the North Saskatchewan River opposite of the City of Edmonton. It amalgamated with Edmonton on February 1, 1912....
meant that all ten aldermen would be elected, five each to terms of each of one and two years. As a finisher in the top five, East would normally have been entitled to a two year term; however the terms of the amalgamation specified that two of the aldermen elected to two year terms had to come from the south side of the North Saskatchewan River
North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....
- where Strathcona was located - and there was only one such candidate (John Tipton
John Tipton (Alberta politician)
John Gaddis Tipton was a Canadian and American politician, lawyer, and coal miner. He was an alderman in Strathcona from 1908 until 1911 and on Edmonton City Council from 1912 until 1913, and was a major force for the amalgamation of the two cities, which was effected February 1, 1912.-Early...
) in the top five. Accordingly, Thomas J. Walsh
Thomas J. Walsh (Alberta politician)
Thomas J. Walsh was a politician in Alberta, Canada. He served as alderman on the Edmonton City Council from 1912 until 1913.-Biography:...
- who finished eighth - was elected to a two year term, and East to only a one year term. He was easily re-elected to a two year term in the ensuing election
Edmonton municipal election, December 1912
The second of two 1912 municipal elections was held December 9, 1912 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards....
.
However, he was convicted by Justice William Ives
William Ives
William Carlos Ives was a provincial politician and provincial Supreme Court Justice.- Early life :William Carlos Ives was born in Compton, Quebec on October 30, 1873. His family moved to the Alberta District in the Northwest Territories shortly after he was born. When he reached his teenage...
of voting on a matter in which he had a pecuniary interest, and was expelled from office October 27, 1914 (mayor William McNamara
William McNamara (politician)
William James McNamara was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of both Edmonton and Wetaskiwin, Alberta, and the first mayor of Edmonton to be forced from office over a scandal.-Biography:...
was expelled at the same time and for the same reason). East attempted to return to office in the 1914 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1914
The 1914 municipal election was held December 14, 1914 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards....
, but fared no better than tenth out of fourteen candidates.
World War I, return to municipal office, and federal politics
In 1916, East enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...
, where he spent the rest of the First World War on the hospital ships Araguaya and Letitia before leaving the military in 1919.
Upon his return to civilian life, East returned immediately to politics, running in the 1919 municipal election
Edmonton municipal election, 1919
The 1919 municipal election was held December 8, 1919 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board. T P Malone, Paul Janvrin, T S Magee, and Joseph Henri Picard were acclaimed to two year terms on the separate school board...
. In the years intervening since his last election, party politics had arrived at the municipal level in Edmonton, and East aligned himself with the Labour
Labour candidates and parties in Canada
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s...
slate. This was a good election for Labour; their mayoral candidate, 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, and they also took the top three spots in the aldermanic race; East finished second. The 1921 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1921
The 1921 municipal election was held December 12, 1921 to elect a mayor and seven aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board...
was less kind to Labour, and East, finishing second, was the only one of their candidates elected to city council. He finished first in 1923
Edmonton municipal election, 1923
The 1923 municipal election was held December 10, 1923 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board...
, second in 1925
Edmonton municipal election, 1925
The 1925 municipal election was held December 14, 1925 to elect a mayor and seven aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards...
, and third in 1927
Edmonton municipal election, 1927
The 1927 municipal election was held December 12, 1927 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards...
.
While serving as alderman, East contested the 1925 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1925
The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".The Liberals under...
as a Labour-Farmer candidate (aligned with J.S. Woodsworth) in Edmonton West
Edmonton West
Edmonton West was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1988 and from 1997 to 2004.-Demographics:-History and geography:...
, where he finished last of three candidates, behind 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...
Charles Stewart
Charles Stewart (Canadian politician)
Charles Stewart, PC was a Canadian politician who served as the third Premier of Alberta from 1917 until 1921. Born in Strabane, Ontario, in Wentworth County, Stewart was a farmer who moved west to Alberta after his farm was destroyed by a storm...
and Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
James McCrie Douglas
James McCrie Douglas
James McCrie Douglas was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of Edmonton, and a member of the Canadian House of Commons.-Early life:...
.
Out of office, resurgence, and final defeat
In the 1929 municipal electionEdmonton municipal election, 1929
The 1929 municipal election was held December 9, 1929 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and four trustees to sit on the public school board...
, rather than running for re-election as alderman, East challenged his federal rival Douglas for the mayoralty. He was defeated handily, finishing second in a four person race. He tried to return to aldermanic office in 1930
Edmonton 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 ....
, but finished sixth out of twelve candidates as Labour's rival Civic Government Association swept all seats but one. He sat out 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,...
, but made a successful run for alderman in 1932
Edmonton municipal election, 1932
The 1932 municipal election was held November 9, 1932 to elect a mayor and five aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on the public school board ....
, when he finished in fourth. In the 1934 election
Edmonton municipal election, 1934
The 1934 municipal election was held November 14, 1934 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and three trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards....
, there were six seats available due to Rice Sheppard
Rice Sheppard
Rice Sheppard was a politician and farmers' activist in Alberta, Canada. He served on Edmonton City Council for many years, ran for mayoral, provincial, and federal office, and was an executive member of the United Farmers of Alberta.-Early life:Sheppard was born April 2, 1861 in Lambourn,...
's resignation to run for mayor half way through his term, and East finished in sixth to become Labour's only elected alderman that election. He received only three votes more than James Ponton, the CGA's sixth nominee.
In 1935, municipal politics in Edmonton began to re-align. Labour continued to run candidates, but for the first time they were joined by Social Credit
Social Credit Party of Alberta
The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....
candidates, many of whom had links to the political left hitherto occupied by Labour (among these Social Credit candidates was East's brother Elisha, who was elected 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...
- making the pair the only brothers in Edmonton history to serve on City Council at the same time). After being shut out in 1935, Labour stopped running candidates. Rather than align himself with Social Credit in his 1936 re-election attempt
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...
, East joined the newly-formed United People's League. This proved a mistake; though he finished ahead of the other UPL candidates, East fell far short of re-election, finishing eleventh in an election swept by the CGA-successor Citizens' Committee.
James East would make no attempt to return to elected office.