Christopher Pattinson (January 16, 1885 – January 17, 1958) was a Canadian provincial politician from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

from 1926 to 1935 sitting with the Dominion Labor Party caucus in opposition.

Early life

Christopher Pattinson was born January 16, 1885, in Fletchertown,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to John Pattinson and Elizabeth Hayston. He attended

Central Labour College The Central Labour College, also known as The Labour College, was a British higher education institution supported by trade unions. It functioned from 1909 to 1929. It was established on the basis of independent working class education. The colle ...

and subsequently moved to Canada in 1911. He married Helen Shearer on February 26, 1913, and had three children together.

Political career

Pattinson ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

1926 Alberta general election The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta government that had first been elected in 1921 was re-elected, taking a majority of the seats in ...

. He stood as a Dominion Labor Party candidate in the electoral district of Edson. The three-way race was close and no candidate won a majority of votes on the first count. Under

Alternative Voting Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an alternative to mainstream superh ...

in use at the time, the least popular candidate was eliminated and his votes transferred. Pattison then won with a 100-vote lead over his remaining opponent. Pattinson was re-elected in the

1930 Alberta general election The 1930 Alberta general election was held on June 19, 1930, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta won election to a third term in government, and John E. Brownlee continued as premier. This pro ...

. He won a landslide victory over Liberal candidate Charles Payne with nearly 76 percent of the popular vote. 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 Farme ...

would see Pattinson defeated by Joseph Unwin from the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

party. Unwin's campaign had been buoyed by the massive popularity of Bill Aberhart and his visionary Social Credit proposals. As the least popular candidate, Pattinson was eliminated in the second vote count. Pattison attempted to regain his Edson seat in the legislature by running as a Co-operative Commonwealth candidate in the

1948 Alberta general election The 1948 Alberta general election was held on August 17, 1948, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ernest C. Manning led the Social Credit to a fourth term in government, increasing its share of the popular vote further ab ...

. Unwin by that time had been jailed for his part in the Bankers' Toadies incident. Pattinson did not manage to defeat incumbent Social Credit MLA

Norman Willmore Norman Alfred Willmore (February 13, 1909 – February 2, 1965) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1944 until his death in 1965 as a member of the Social Credit caucus in government. He ...

although finishing second in the three-way race.

References

External links

*
Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pattinson, Christopher Dominion Labor Party (Alberta) MLAs 1885 births 1958 deaths People from Cumberland British emigrants to Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta