Peter Alexander Miskew (27 November 1899 – 9 September 1965) was a politician and lawyer 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. 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 1930 to 1935 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government and also with the Liberal caucus in opposition.

Political career

Miskew ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Alberta electoral district 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 ...

as a candidate under the United Farmers banner. Miskew held the riding for 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 ...

in a hotly contested election. He won the three-way race by a plurality of 66 votes over Liberal candidate S.W. Bahlay. Miskew crossed the floor to the Liberal caucus on February 3, 1934 three days after Premier John Brownlee announced Miskew would move the speech from the throne in the 4th Session of the

7th Alberta Legislative Assembly The 7th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from January 29, 1931, to July 22, 1935, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1930 Alberta general election held on June 19, 1930. The Legislature officially re ...

. Miskew informed the Premier of his decision to cross by a memo and stated that he did not support the policies of the United Farmers government any longer. Miskew achieved his law degree graduating the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

on May 10, 1935 as part of a class of 20 senior law students. Miskew's tenure as an MLA caused the University to clarify its ban on campus political clubs. President Robert Wallace had originally stated that no student should ally with a political party. He was later forced to clarify that he meant in regards to the ban on political clubs when asked about Miskew and a Social Credit candidate who had attended the University. Miskew retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the Assembly in 1935.

References

External links

Alberta Legislature Membership Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miskiw, Peter United Farmers of Alberta MLAs Alberta Liberal Party MLAs University of Alberta alumni Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Canada Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria 1899 births 1965 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta