Thomas Mitchell March Tweedie (March 4, 1871 – October 4, 1944) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and Chief Justice in Alberta, Canada.

Early life

Thomas Mitchell March Tweedie was born in

River John River John is a river in Nova Scotia. Draining the extreme western part of Pictou County, it flows into Amet Sound on the Northumberland Strait at River John, a village which takes its name from the river. The Miꞌkmaq name is Kajeboogwek ("flow ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

, on March 4, 1871, to James Tweedie a Methodist Minister, and his wife Rachael Susannah. He graduated from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not par ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in 1902 and subsequently entered

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, where he earned a law degree in 1905. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in Nova Scotia in 1905, and then moved to

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 ...

where he would be one of the last individuals admitted to the bar in the Northwest Territories on July 10, 1907. Settling in Calgary he would begin to practice law with future MLA

Alexander McGillivray Alexander McGillivray, also known as ''Hoboi-Hili-Miko'' (December 15, 1750February 17, 1793), was a Muscogee (Creek) leader. The son of a Muscogee mother and a Scottish father, he had skills no other Creek of his day had: he was not only lite ...

, and was named

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

on March 19, 1913.

Provincial career

Tweedie was first elected 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 ...

in a 1911 by-election and served the Calgary seat that had been previously vacated by Richard Bennett. In this elected he ran under the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

banner. Tweedie defeated popular municipal alderman Thomas Skinner who ran as a Liberal candidate. Tweedie was re-elected to his second term 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 ...

. The Calgary riding was broken up into 3 different ridings under the redistribution bill passed by the Sifton government. Thomas ran in the new riding of

Centre Calgary Centre Calgary was a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1913 to 1921. History The Centre ...

. He won his second term in the legislature with a large margin defeating Liberal candidate John McDougall. 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 M ...

he ran for re-election in Calgary Centre, this time being defeated by Alex Ross who ran as a Labor candidate. Thomas would quickly make the jump to federal politics running in the federal election later that year.

Federal career

After Thomas lost his seat in the 1917 provincial election, he attempted a run at federal politics. Thomas ran as a Unionist member in the new

Calgary West Calgary West was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1953, and from 1979 to 2015. It was in the western part of the City of Calgary. The electoral district was ...

federal riding during the 1917 federal election. He won a comfortable victory and served as the first

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for the riding in the coalition government. Thomas served most of his first in term parliament, until he vacated his seat on October 14, 1921, after he was appointed as a Justice to the Bench.

Judicial career

Thomas was appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court of Alberta Trial Division in Calgary on September 15, 1921 and subsequently resigned his seat in the House of Commons. He served as a justice for 23 years, where he was known for his judgements on civil actions including contracts, bankruptcies, and torts, before being appointed as a Chief justice on August 16, 1944. Tweedie's reputation as a popular and well respected legal mind would be somewhat tarnished after his involvement assisting the Alberta Minister of Public Works Oran McPherson with his divorce in 1932. Tweedie would hold court in the judge's library in Edmonton to expedite the process, and when McPherson's wife challenged the divorce, the matter ended up in front of the Privy Council. He would die a short time later on October 4, 1944 after attending a dinner in his honour hosted by the Lethbridge Bar Association at the age of 73.

References

External links

*
Justice Thomas Tweedie: Alberta Archives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tweedie, Thomas 1871 births 1944 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Unionist Party (Canada) MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Mount Allison University alumni Judges in Alberta People from Pictou County