Alexander "Alex" Gibbon "Gillion" "Gillan" Thorburn (December 18, 1836 – 1894) was a real-estate agent, merchant and Canadian former politician. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

from 1888 until 1891. Prior to that he was a school trustee. __TOC__

Early life

Thorburn was born on December 18, 1836, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was a manufacturer. He left Scotland when he was 20 years old, arriving in Lower Canada in 1856. He married his wife Elizabeth at Galt, Ontario, on July 1, 1863. After marriage he moved out to the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

settling in the town of Broadview. He started his own general store and became a real-estate agent for the Canada North-West Land Company. His first involvement with politics was on the municipal level when he became a school trustee.

Political career

Thorburn was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the first Northwest Territories general election held in 1888. He won a hotly contested three-way race in the Whitewood electoral district. In that race he defeated second place Thomas Lyons by eight votes and third place candidate John Hawkes by 63 votes winning the electoral district with almost 39% of the popular vote. During his time in office, land was needed for settlement and local infrastructure in his district. On April 16, 1891 Thorburn and a committee petitioned Minister of Interior Edgar Dewdney who was visiting the area. The petition called for the surrender of surrounding land that was being used by the Kahkewistahaw First Nation. The constituents of Whitewood wanted the land to be opened up for settlement and the development of a

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

line. The petition was rejected by Dewdney. Thorburn ran for a second term in office in the

1891 Northwest Territories general election The 1891 North-West Territories general election was held on 7 November 1891 to elect 25 members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was the second general election in the History of the North-West Territories. ...

. Despite marginally increasing his popular vote, he was defeated by Daniel Campbell finishing second with 41.5% of the popular vote and 19 votes behind Campbell. He finished well ahead of John Hawkes in the race, whose popular vote collapsed from the last election. He died in 1894 and was buried at Broadview Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorburn, Alexander 1836 births 1894 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories People from Broadview, Saskatchewan