Robert Newton Lowery (July 13, 1882 – April 27, 1962) 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 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 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 ...

Background

Lowery was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, the son of Edward Wesley Lowery and Christina Elizabeth Maguire, and moved to Canada with his family in 1883. He attended public schools in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. He first worked as an employee of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

and later worked as a real estate agent and broker. In 1909, Lowery married Gertrude Bowman. In religion, he was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

. He was chair of the Selkirk Board of Management, and a director of the

Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Political career

Lowery first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1914 provincial election, 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 ...

candidate Daniel McLean by 623 votes in the

Winnipeg North Winnipeg North () is a federal electoral district in Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It covers the northern portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Geography The riding includes the neighbourhoods of Jeff ...

's "B" constituency. He contested Winnipeg North "A" in the 1915 election, and defeated

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

candidate Arthur Beech by 195 votes (Conservative incumbent Joseph P. Foley finished third). The Liberals won a landslide majority in this election, and Lowery 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. Manitoba's electoral laws were changed prior to the 1920 provincial election, such that Winnipeg was redesigned as a single 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 ...

. Lowery fared poorly in his bid for re-election, finishing in 30th place on the first ballot with only 254 votes. He was eliminated on the thirteenth count, having received only thirty more ballots through transfers. Lowery's brother Edward Wesley was the candidate of 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, ...

for

Winnipeg North Centre Winnipeg North Centre was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented by a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004. It is a largely working class riding in Winnipeg and has traditi ...

in the 1925 federal election. He died in Winnipeg at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowery, Robert 1882 births 1962 deaths Manitoba Liberal Party MLAs American emigrants to Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba