Walter Davy Cowan, D.D.S., (December 31, 1865 - September 28, 1934) was a Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 politician who served as Mayor of Regina and as a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

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A dentist by profession, Cowan was born in Guelph

Guelph, Ontario

Guelph is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Waterloo and west of downtown Toronto at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 7. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it...

, Canada West, to Scottish immigrants. After his early schooling in Guelph, Cowan attended the University of Maryland

University of Maryland

When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...

, graduating with a degree in dentistry in 1888.

In 1889 he moved to Regina

Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...

 in what was then the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 and was one of the first dentists in the region. He organized the first dental association in Canada, the Dental College of the Northwest Territories (later the Dental College of Saskatchewan) and served as its president until 1913.

In 1890, Dr. Cowan was elected to the town council and served for one year. In 1891, he became associated editor of the Dominion Dental Journal. He helped form the National Dental Association in 1904 and served as the organization's president.

Cowan ran for parliament in the 1911 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1911

The Canadian federal election of 1911 was held on September 21 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Canada.-Summary:...

 as a Conservative but was defeated in the Regina electoral district

Regina (electoral district)

Regina was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1908 to 1935.This riding was created in 1907 from parts of the former Northwest Territories ridings Assiniboia West and Qu'Appelle ridings...

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Cowan was elected Mayor of Regina in 1916 and held that office for two years, deciding not to run for a third term after he was elected to 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...

 in the 1917 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1917

The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription...

 as a Unionist MP supporting the wartime government of Sir Robert Borden

Robert Borden

Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...

. He did not run for re-election in the 1921 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...

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He also served during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as commanding officer of the Dental Corps, District No.12, with the rank of major.

Cowan returned to the House of Commons after being elected as the Conservative MP for Long Lake

Long Lake (electoral district)

Long Lake was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1935.This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Last Mountain and Regina ridings....

 in the 1930 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...

. He died in office in 1934.

In 1918, Cowan published a book on post-war reconstruction called After Hell, what?.