Joseph Seeley McCallum (July 9, 1884 – July 22, 1945) was a Canadian 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 ...

Early life

Joseph Seeley McCallum was born July 9, 1884, in

Renfrew, Ontario Renfrew is a town on the Bonnechere River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located one hour west of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Renfrew is the fourth largest town in the county after Petawawa, Pembroke and Arnprior. The town is a small tran ...

, to Angus McCallum and wife Jane Seeley. His family moved to Beaver Lake, Alberta in 1892. He married Catherine Elizabeth McCallum on January 20, 1905.

Political life

McCallum was first elected to the Alberta Legislature in the

1913 Alberta general election The 1913 Alberta general election was held in March 1913. The writ was dropped on 25 March 1913 and election day was held 17 April 1913 to elect 56 members to the 3rd Alberta Legislature. Elections in two northern districts took place on 30 July ...

. He defeated independent candidate Peter Savarich by a wide and comfortable margin to earn his first term in office. Throughout his career in the Legislature he served as a backbencher in the provincial

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

government. McCallum stood for re-election in the

1917 Alberta general election The 1917 Alberta general election was held on 7 June 1917 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Liberals won a fourth term in office, defeating the Conservative Party of Edward Michener. Because of World War I, eleven Me ...

. This time he defeated Conservative candidate Malcolm Gordon to earn his second term in office. In his bid for a third term in office 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 ...

, McCallum would be defeated by Archie Matheson a candidate from the

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

. After his defeat from provincial politics McCallum made two attempts to gain a seat in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

. The first time he ran he was a candidate of Unknown affiliation but most likely ran for the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

in the

Vegreville Vegreville () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is on Highway 16A approximately east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the ''Vegreville Observer'', a week ...

in the

1926 Canadian federal election The 1926 Canadian federal election was held on September 14, 1926, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 16th Canadian Parliament, 16th Parliament of Canada.Ray Argyle, . ''Turning Points : The Campaigns that Changed Canada: 2 ...

. He was defeated by

candidate Michael Luchovich. McCallum and Luchovich would face each other again in the

1935 Canadian federal election The 1935 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 1935, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Min ...

this time both men would be defeated by

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 ...

candidate William Hayhurst. He died in Edmonton in 1945.

References

External links

*
Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Candidates in the 1926 Canadian federal election Candidates in the 1935 Canadian federal election 1884 births 1945 deaths Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta {{Alberta-MLA-stub