Floyd Milton Baker (December 1, 1891 – April 2, 1986) was a 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 ...

, 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. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

from 1935 to 1967 sitting with the Social Credit caucus in government.

Political career

Baker ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature 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 Farme ...

standing as a Social Credit candidate in the electoral district of Clover Bar. He defeated three other candidates easily to pick up the district for his party. Baker was tasked with managing the by-election campaign for candidate Clarence Tade in a by-election held in the Athabasca riding on November 7, 1938. Tade won the race with a comfortable margin to hold the seat for Social Credit. 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 Part ...

would see a much closer result. Baker would face a tough three-way race that went into the second vote count. He would edge out Co-operative Commonwealth candidate David Roberts whom he faced for the second election in a row by less than 200 votes to hold his seat. Baker would face Roberts again in a two-way battle in the

1944 Alberta general election The 1944 Alberta general election was held on August 8, 1944, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. As well, in late 1944 and early 1945, Armed Forces voters voted for separate representation - by electing an Army, an Air Forc ...

. He would gain some vote share over the last election to hold his seat with a solid majority. 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 ...

would see the opposition vote collapse. Baker would also lose a little bit of his vote share compared to the last election but he would hold his district easily defeating two other candidates to win his fourth term in office. Baker ran for a fifth term in office in the

1952 Alberta general election The 1952 Alberta general election was held on August 5, 1952, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ernest C. Manning in his third election as leader of the Social Credit Party, and its first election since the Social Credit ...

. He won a solid majority to return to office defeating two other candidates. Baker continued to lose popular vote share for the second election in a row. The

1955 Alberta general election The 1955 Alberta general election was held on June 29, 1955, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Despite losing almost 10% of the popular vote (compared to its 1952 proportion of the vote) and 30% of its seats in the legisla ...

saw a hotly contested four-way race. Despite a slight increase in his popular vote Baker was unable to secure a majority. He was returned to office in the third vote count defeating Liberal candidate Wilfred McLean. Baker ran for a seventh term in office in the

1959 Alberta general election The 1959 Alberta general election was held on June 18, 1959, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ernest C. Manning, in his fifth election as party leader and provincial premier, led the Social Credit Party to its seventh c ...

. He faced three other candidates defeating them with a substantial majority to hold his seat. Baker ran for his eighth and final term 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 nu ...

. His popularity continued to increase as he was returned to office easily defeating three other candidates. Baker retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the assembly in 1967.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Floyd Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs 1986 deaths 1891 births 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta