Walter Ernest Clark 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 1955 to 1958 as a 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 :...

. He was 54 years old at the time of his election, and was a farmer and former municipal official in Baldur

Baldur, Manitoba

Baldur is a village in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located in the Rural Municipality of Argyle. Baldur is the largest community of the municipality, which is in southwestern Manitoba between Brandon and Portage la Prairie.-History:...

.

Clark was elected to the Manitoba legislature in a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 called in the Mountain constituency after the resignation of high-profile cabinet minister Ivan Schultz

Ivan Schultz

Ivan Schultz was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1930 to 1955, and was a prominent cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.Schultz was educated at Wesley College and...

. He defeated Progressive 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:...

 Marcel Boulic

Marcel Boulic

Marcel Boulic was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Progressive Conservative from 1958 to 1959, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Dufferin Roblin....

 by 276 votes, and served for the next three years as a backbench supporter of Douglas Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell, OC was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th Premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958...

's government. Many Liberal-Progressives were concerned with Clark's relatively narrow margin of victory, as Mountain had previously been considered as one of the party's safest seats. Clark received support from the constituency's Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

 majority and large Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 population, while Boulic did well among French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

s, who made up one third of the electorate.

The Liberal-Progressives were defeated in the 1958 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1958

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1958 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was the first to be held in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956...

, and Clark lost to Progressive Conservative Abram Harrison

Abram Harrison

Abram William Harrison was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1943 to 1966, initially as a Conservative and later as a Progressive Conservative, after the party changed its name...

 by 238 votes in the redistributed constituency of Rock Lake. He tried to return to the legislature in the 1959 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1959

Manitoba's general election of May 14, 1959 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...

, but lost to Harrison by an increased margin.

Electoral record