George Wilbert Smith (April 24, 1855 – August 1, 1931) was a teacher, businessman and politician in

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 on the Red Deer City Council and in 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 1921 until his death in 1931 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government.

Early life

George Wilbert Smith was born in 1855 in the town of Maitland,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. He moved to the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

and settled in the Red Deer area in 1883. Smith became the first school teacher in central Alberta. Smith was also a business man. He founded and served as a director on the Smith Lead Company Ltd. and also served on the board of directors for the Western General Electric Company.

Political career

Smith ran for the nomination to be Liberal candidate in the 1906 Strathcona federal by-election. At the nomination meeting, Smith led in the first counts but in later rounds of voting, his vote tally was surpassed by that of Wilbert McIntyre who in the end received a majority of the vote, to take the nomination. (McIntyre went on to win the House of Commons seat in the April 5, 1906, by-election.)Edmonton Bulletin, March 22, 1906, p. 1

Municipal

Smith served as an alderman on Red Deer City Council for several years and as mayor from 1916 to 1918.

Provincial

Smith ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

1921 Alberta general election The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. The Liberal government is replaced by the United Farmers of Alberta. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed gov ...

under the United Farmers banner. He defeated incumbent John Gaetz in a two-way race in a landslide to pick up the Red Deer seat for his party. Smith faced Gaetz again 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 ...

as well as Conservative candidate William Payne. The election was held using

Instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where Sequential loser method, one or more eliminations are used to simulate Runoff (election), ...

and no candidate took a majority of the votes in the first count. On the second vote count, Gaetz was eliminated and his votes were transferred. Smith took a majority of the votes cast, to defeat Payne and hold his seat. 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 ...

Smith faced Payne again in a two-way race and defeated him by 88 votes. Smith was hospitalized in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

in July 1931 for ailing kidneys. He died on August 1, 1931, of a heart seizure shortly before he was to have surgery.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, George United Farmers of Alberta MLAs 1855 births Mayors of Red Deer, Alberta 1931 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 20th-century mayors of places in Alberta