| James East | |
 |
|
|
Alderman on the Edmonton City Council
|
|
| In office February 16, 1912 – October 27, 1914 |
|
| In office December 8, 1919 – December 9, 1929 |
|
| In office November 9, 1932 – November 12, 1936 |
|
|
|
|
| Born | October 7, 1871 Bolton, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Died | June 23, 1940 (aged 68) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Other political affiliations |
United People's League, Labour-Farmer |
| Profession | Prospector |
James East (born October 7, 1871; died June 23, 1940) was a politician and labour activist in Alberta, Canada. The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Bolton is the most populated community in the town of Caledon, located in the Region of Peel, approximately 50 kilometers north-west of Toronto, in Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec 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 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 The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA is an Agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Events 3761 BC - The epoch (origin of the modern Hebrew calendar ( Proleptic Julian calendar) Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1180 - First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan 1305 - The Flemish Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Alberta (ælˈbɝtə is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1 1905 Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page 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. Edmonton (ˈɛdmɨntɨn is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta. He was also an ardent monetary reformer. Monetary Reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying Money and financing the economy than the current system
Contents |
Early life
East was born in Bolton, Ontario on October 7, 1871. Bolton is the most populated community in the town of Caledon, located in the Region of Peel, approximately 50 kilometers north-west of Toronto, in Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec At the age of thirteen, he began to work in sawmills and farms. A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards Sawmill process A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of 100 years ago a log enters 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. Prospecting is the physical search for Minerals Fossils precious metals or mineral specimens and is also known as Fossicking. South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. The Black Hills ( Pahá Sápa in Lakota, Moˀȯhta-voˀhonáaeva in Cheyenne) are a small isolated Mountain range rising from the New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. 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. Yukon (ˈjuːkɒn is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three territories.
Municipal politics and expulsion from office
James East first sought political office in the February 1912 municipal election, when he ran for alderman on the Edmonton City Council, finishing fifth of eighteen candidates. On September 27, 1911, the voters of Edmonton approved by plebiscite the amalgamation of Edmonton with Strathcona The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 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. Strathcona was a city in Alberta, Canada located to the south of the North Saskatchewan river. 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. The North Saskatchewan River is a Glacier -fed River flowing east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. John Gaddis Tipton (January 27 1849 &ndash October 9 1914 was a Canadian and American politician lawyer and coal miner Accordingly, Thomas J. Walsh - who finished eighth - was elected to a two year term, and East to only a one year term. Thomas J Walsh (died July 15 1945 was a politician in Alberta, Canada. He was easily re-elected to a two year term in the ensuing election. 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
However, he was convicted by Justice W. C. 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). William J McNamara (born December 27, 1879) was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of both Edmonton and Wetaskiwin East attempted to return to office in the 1914 election, but fared no better than tenth out of fourteen candidates. 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
World War I, return to municipal office, and federal politics
In 1916, East enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, where he spent the rest of the First World War on the hospital ships Araguaya and Letitia before leaving the military in 1919. The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the group of Canadian military units formed for service overseas in the First World War. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All
Upon his return to civilian life, East returned immediately to politics, running in the 1919 municipal election. 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 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. 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 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. Joseph Andrew Clarke (born September 20, 1869; died July 26, 1941) was a politician and lawyer from Canada. The 1921 election was less kind to Labour, and East, finishing second, was the only one of their candidates elected to city council. 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 He finished first in 1923, second in 1925, and third in 1927. 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 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 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
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. 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. James Shaver Woodsworth ( July 29, 1874 &ndash March 21, 1942) was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement For the current|defunct federal|provincial electoral district see Edmonton West (electoral district ---> Edmonton West was a federal The Liberal Party of Canada ( Parti libéral du Canada) colloquially known as the Grits (originally " Clear Grits " is a major Canadian political Charles Stewart PC ( Strabane, Ontario August 26, 1868 - December 6, 1946 Ottawa) was a The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. James McCrie Douglas (born February 5, 1867; died March 16, 1950) was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of
Out of office, resurgence, and final defeat
In the 1929 municipal election, rather than running for re-election as alderman, East challenged his federal rival Douglas for the mayoralty. 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 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. 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 He sat out the 1931 election, but made a successful run for alderman in 1932, when he finished in fourth. 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 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 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. 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 Rice Sheppard (born April 2 1861 died August 26 1947 was a politician and farmers' activist in Alberta, Canada. 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). The Social Credit Party of Alberta is a provincial Political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the Social credit monetary policy 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 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. 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 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.
Death
James East died June 23, 1940, at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife and one son.