John Polworth Lawrie was a politician in Manitoba

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...

 from 1936 to 1949. Originally elected as a 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:...

, he sat as a Progressive Conservative after the party changed its name.

Lawrie was educated in Edinburgh, and came to Canada in 1893. He worked as an implement dealer and insurance broker, also served as a police magistrate and commissioner.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1936 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1936

Manitoba's general election of July 27, 1936 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The was the second election in Manitoba after the formation of a Liberal-Progressive alliance in 1932...

, defeating incumbent 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 John Muirhead

John Muirhead

John Muirhead was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1922 to 1936.Muirhead was born in Clinton, Ontario, and educated at public schools...

 by 82 votes in the constituency of Norfolk. The Conservatives were the primary opposition party in Manitoba during this period, and Lawrie sat with his party on the opposition benches.

In 1940, the Liberal-Progressives and Conservatives joined together in a wartime coalition government

Coalition government

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

. This arrangement did not prevent the parties from fielding candidates against one another in the 1941 election

Manitoba general election, 1941

Manitoba's general election of April 22, 1941 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was held shortly after the formation of a coalition government in December 1940...

, however; Lawrie again faced John Muirhead, and won by only 44 votes. He served as a government backbencher for the remainder of his tenure in the legislature.

In the 1945 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...

, he defeated a candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.

Lawrie did not run for re-election in 1949, and died three years later.