Robert Gardiner was a farmer and federal Member of Parliament from 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...

.

Gardiner first ran for a seat in 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...

 for the Progressive Party of Canada

Progressive Party of Canada

The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

 in a by-election on June 27, 1921. He won the district of Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat (electoral district)

Medicine Hat is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1908. The riding covers the City of Medicine Hat and surrounding areas on the southeast side of Alberta – including Cypress County, Forty Mile County, the Municipal...

 in a landslide defeating former provincial Conservative MLA and Mayor of Medicine Hat Nelson Spencer

Nelson Spencer

Nelson Spencer was a merchant, provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada, and a lieutenant colonel with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I.-Biography:...

. Gardiner would defend his incumbency less than 6 months later in the 1921 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

. He would be easily re-elected in the cold winter election defeating future Member of Parliament Frederick William Gershaw

Frederick William Gershaw

Frederick William Gershaw was a Canadian physician and politician.Born in Emerson, Manitoba, he received a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Manitoba in 1911. He became a medical officer for the Canadian Pacific Railway and moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta. In 1912, he married Harriet...

 a candidate from the Liberals

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...

 in a landslide.

The 1925 Canadian 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...

 saw the ridings in 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...

 redistributed, Gardiner changed to the brand new Acadia

Acadia (electoral district)

Acadia was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1968.-History:Acadia was created in 1924 from Battle River and Bow River ridings...

 district. In his 3rd bid for election he would go up against former 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...

 MLA Robert Eaton

Robert Eaton (politician)

Robert Barry Eaton was a farmer, service man and provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1921.-Political career:...

. He would defeat Eaton in another landslide victory. Less than a year later another election would be called after the collapse of the Liberal Progressive coalition, Gardiner would run for a 4th term in office and for the 4th time in just 5 years. He easily won his district again in the 1926 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1926

The Canadian federal election of 1926 was held on September 14 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called following an event known as the King-Byng Affair...

 this time under the banner of the United Farmers of Alberta

United Farmers of Alberta

The United Farmers of Alberta is an association of Alberta farmers that has served many different roles throughout its history as a lobby group, a political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. Since 1934 it has primarily been an agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary...

. Gardiner would be acclaimed to his 5th term in the 1930 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1930

The Canadian federal election of 1930 was held on July 28, 1930 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 17th Parliament of Canada...

. Upon running for his 6th term in office, this time under the 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...

 banner, he would be defeated by Victor Quelch

Victor Quelch

Captain Victor Quelch was a farmer, a soldier in the Canadian Army, and was also a long serving Canadian federal politician.-Military service:...

 from the Social Credit Party of Canada

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...

 in the 1935 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1935

The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...

.

Gardiner was a member of the Ginger Group

Ginger Group (Canada)

The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The group is said to have taken its name from Ginger Goodwin, a United Mine Workers organizer. Ginger was shot dead outside Cumberland, British...

of radical MPs in the 1920s and early 1930s.

External links