George MacLachlan (February 7, 1881 – November 23, 1962) was a provincial level politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, Canada. He was born in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Early life

MacLachlan and his family would move to the area of

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

in 1904. The edge of his homestead would later be surveyed by the government and become part of Highway 2, when construction began in 1906. He began his political career on the municipal level when he was elected twice to the serve on the local council in 1907 and 1909. He served on the council with future premier Herbert Greenfield. George was especially interested in maintaining and improving the local roads.

Provincial politics

MacLachlan first ran for the Alberta Legislature and was elected as a

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

candidate in the

1921 Alberta general election The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments. The Liberal Party, which had governed the province since it ...

. He would enjoy a relatively long career in provincial politics serving 18 years and 4 terms in the Legislative Assembly. George was also the last of the United Farmers to serve as a member of the Assembly. In the

1935 Alberta general election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmer ...

MacLachlan was defeated for the first time by almost 2000 votes in a landslide finishing 3rd to

Harry Knowlton Brown Harry Knowlton Brown (December 13, 1897 – November 15, 1974) was a provincial politician from Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie ...

of the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

party. He would attempt to regain his seat running in the

1940 Alberta general election The 1940 Alberta general election was held on March 21, 1940, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Despite its failure to implement its key policy, providing prosperity certificates to all Albertans, the Social Credit Party ...

. He was returned to his 4th term in the Legislative Assembly, this time as an Independent. He defeated Brown by 100 votes on ballot transfer. MacLachlan would be defeated again in the 1944 Alberta general election This time he was defeated by Robin Jorgenson from Social Credit. He retired from provincial politics after that.

External links

Century Settlers, Westlock museum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacLachlan, George 1881 births 1962 deaths United Farmers of Alberta MLAs Independent Alberta MLAs 20th-century Canadian politicians Politicians from Glasgow Scottish emigrants to Canada