James Thomas Joseph Collisson (August 21, 1875 – July 30, 1962)
was a politician in

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, a long-time municipal councillor in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

, and a candidate for election to 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 ...

Early life

Collisson was born in Lucan, Ontario in 1875. He was educated there and in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, and moved to Edmonton to teach in 1898. He remained there until 1903, when he moved to

Dawson, Yukon Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest town in Yuko ...

. He taught there for two years, and returned to Edmonton in 1905. He joined the law form Short, Cross and Bigger (of which former and future mayor William Short was a partner) as a student at law. He was admitted to the Law Society of Alberta in 1908. He served on Edmonton's public school board from 1908 until 1913.

Municipal politics

Collisson first sought municipal office in the 1916 municipal election, when he ran for alderman on

Edmonton City Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

. He finished eighth of eleven, which wasn't high enough to be elected (only the top six candidates were elected in that election). He was more successful in

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, when he finished fourth of sixteen candidates and was elected to a two-year term. He was re-elected in

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(when he finished fifth of sixteen candidates) and

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China h ...

(when he finished second of eleven). He cut short his third term in order to run for mayor in the 1925 election, but finished second in a six candidate race as incumbent

Kenny Blatchford Kenneth Alexander Blatchford (March 5, 1882 – April 20, 1933) was a Canadian politician who served as both mayor of Edmonton, Alberta and a member of the House of Commons of Canada. Early life Kenny Blatchford was born in Minnedosa, Ma ...

took more than fifty-five percent of the vote. He returned to politics in the 1928 election, when he returned to his old position on the strength of a sixth-place finish in a fourteen candidate field. He was re-elected in the 1930 election, when he finished third of nine candidates, but left municipal politics for good at the conclusion of this term. On council, he chaired the finance committee.

Provincial politics

Collisson ran for the

as a Liberal candidate in the 1930 provincial election. He finished eighth of seventeen candidates in the riding of

, and was eliminated on subsequent counts (the riding used a

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

voting system at the time).

Personal life, death, and legacy

After leaving politics, Collisson served as the president of Edmonton's community chest from 1941 until 1948. James Collisson died July 30, 1962. He was survived by his wife, Irene, one son and two daughters, and eight grandchildren.

References

Edmonton Public Library biography of James CollissonCity of Edmonton biography of James Collisson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collisson, James 1875 births 1962 deaths People from Middlesex County, Ontario People from Dawson City Canadian schoolteachers Lawyers in Alberta Edmonton city councillors