George Waldron Prout (June 5, 1878 – ca. 1980) was a politician in

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 ...

, Canada. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

from 1915 to 1920, as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Prout was born to a

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family in

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, and was educated privately. He came to Canada in 1896, and worked as a financial agent in

Selkirk, Manitoba Selkirk is a city in the western Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba, located on the Red River of the North, Red River about northeast of Winnipeg, the provincial capital. It has a population of 10,504 as of the 20 ...

. He married Emma Evans McKinley in 1914. In religion, Prout was a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

., He first sought election to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1914, and lost to

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

Walter Montague by only one vote in the constituency of Kildonan and St. Andrews. Montague was not a candidate in the 1915 provincial election, and Prout defeated his new Conservative opponent by 541 votes to win a seat in the legislature. The Liberals won a landslide majority government in this election, and Prout served as a backbench supporter of

Tobias Norris Tobias Crawford Norris (September 5, 1861 – October 29, 1936) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Manitoba from 1915 to 1922. Norris was a member of the Liberal Party.J. M. Bumsted"Tobias Crawford Norris" ''The Ca ...

's administration for the next five years. In 1917, he introduced the Rural Credits Act which provided for the establishment of rural credit societies that could obtain short term loans on behalf of members to purchase seed, livestock, implements, machinery and other supplies., Prout sought re-election in the Winnipeg constituency in the 1920 provincial election. Prior to this election, a change in Manitoba's electoral system redesigned Winnipeg as a ten-member constituency, with members chosen by a

single transferable ballot The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vo ...

. Prout was not selected as a Liberal candidate, and ran for re-election as an independent. He fared poorly, finishing in 31st place on the first count with only 219 votes, and was eliminated on the eleventh count. Prout attempted to return to the legislature in the 1927 provincial election, running as a Liberal candidate in the

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia * Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elec ...

constituency. He finished a distant third against Nicholas Bachynsky of the Progressive Party. He died in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prout, George 1878 births Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs Year of death missing Barbadian emigrants to Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba