Clinton Keith French (December 25, 1907 – August 8, 1987) was a municipal and 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 Ter ...

, Canada. 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. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sing ...

from 1959 to 1975 sitting with the Social Credit caucus in both government and opposition.

Political career

French began his political career by serving as mayor of the town of

Hanna Hannah or Hanna may refer to: People, biblical figures, and fictional characters * Hannah (name), a female given name of Hebrew origin * Hanna (Arabic name), a family and a male given name of Christian Arab origin * Hanna (Irish surname), a fami ...

. French ran for a seat in the Alberta Legislature in the

1959 Alberta general election Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity o ...

. He defeated two other candidates by a wide margin to hold the Hand Hills provincial electoral district for the governing Social Credit Party. Hand Hills was abolished in the

1963 Alberta general election The 1963 Alberta general election was held on June 17, 1963, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Social Credit Party, led by Ernest C. Manning, won its eighth consecutive term in government, winning roughly the same num ...

due to redistribution. French ran for re-election in the new electoral district of

Hand Hills-Acadia Hand Hills-Acadia was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1963 to 1971. It was formed prior to the 196 ...

. He faced a straight fight against Independent candidate Lyal Curry, handily defeating him to win his second term in office. French ran for a third term in the

1967 Alberta general election The 1967 Alberta general election was held on May 23, 1967, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 16th Alberta Legislature. The election was called after the 15th Alberta Legislature was prorogued on April 11, 1967, and ...

. He faced two other candidates and was nearly defeated in a very tight 3 way race. He won by just 535 votes over Progressive Conservative candidate Bill Cross to hold his district. Hand Hills-Acadia was abolished due to redistribution in the

1971 Alberta general election The 1971 Alberta general election was the seventeenth general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on August 30, 1971, to elect seventy-five members of the Alberta Legislature to form the 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly. The Progr ...

. French ran in his second tight three way race winning by 15 votes over future MLA John Butler to pick up the new district for the Social Credit party. French retired from provincial politics at the dissolution of the assembly in 1975. French died in late 1987.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Clinton 1907 births 1987 deaths Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs Mayors of places in Alberta