Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin (September 15, 1905 – April 23, 1973) was an accountant, stock broker and political figure in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He represented Vancouver-Burrard in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 1952 to 1966 as a

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 ...

member. He was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, the son of John Fitzgerald Martin and Margaret Edith Goodday, and was educated in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 ...

and

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. In 1941, Martin married Margaret Boyd. He served as a sergeant-instructor in the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1945, Martin was an unsuccessful candidate in the federal riding of

Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre () is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It includes the neighbourhoods of downtown Vancouver, the West End, Yaletown, False Creek ...

. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the provincial assembly in 1945 and 1949 before being elected in 1952 in Vancouver-Burrard. He was only in second place in the first count. But BC used

Instant runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where one or more eliminations are used to simulate runoff elections. When no candidate has a ...

in that election and no candidate had a majority of votes in the first Count, so votes were transferred to produce a majority winner. Martin won in the end after some votes cast initially for Liberal and Progressive Conservative candidates were transferred to him, giving him a majority of votes still in play on the final count. Martin served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Health and Welfare and as Minister of Health Services and Hospital Insurance. He did not run for re-election in 1966. He died in 1973. The Eric Martin Pavilion, formerly the Eric Martin Institute, of the

Royal Jubilee Hospital Royal Jubilee Hospital is a 500-bed general hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, located about east of the city centre, in the Jubilee neighbourhood (itself named after the hospital). Overview Its name commemorates the Golden Jubile ...

was named in his honour.

References

1905 births 1973 deaths British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Politicians from Winnipeg 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia {{SocialCredit-BritishColumbia-MLA-stub