Archibald Malcolm (Archie) Matheson was a Canadian politician who represented

Vegreville Vegreville ( uk, Веґревіль) 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 ''Vegrev ...

in 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 singl ...

from 1921 until 1935. He was elected in the 1921 election and re-elected in

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of V ...

and

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

as a member of 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 ...

(UFA), which was the governing party of his entire time in office. Despite this, Matheson frequently opposed government policy. In January 1923 he objected to

Herbert Greenfield Herbert W. Greenfield (November 25, 1869 – August 23, 1949) was a Canadian politician and farmer who served as the fourth premier of Alberta from 1921 until 1925. Born in Winchester, Hampshire, in England, he immigrated to Canada in his late tw ...

's government's continued support of

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, remarking "This government has acted as philosopher, guide, and God to the people long enough." In 1926, he expressed frustration with the John Brownlee government's delay in providing a new police station for his riding, going so far as to threaten to raise the matter in the legislature. In February 1928, he led the opposition to Brownlee's proposal to exempt lawyers and trust companies wishing to act as

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agents from the new $1,000 bond required of others wishing to do so. Matheson proposed eliminating this exemption and raising the amount of the bond to $5,000. He was partially successful: the bond remained at $1,000 and trust companies remained exempt, but lawyers were barred from the real estate business altogether. Matheson was also an active opponent of the '' Sexual Sterilization Act'' of Alberta, and attempted to adjourn debate before it came to a vote. When he failed, he absented himself from the final vote as a sign of protest. He was a vocal advocate for farmers and in the 1930s proposed unsuccessfully that the government declare a moratorium on the collection of debts from them. His aggressive approach to the government sometimes paid off, as in his lobbying for the construction of a courthouse in Vegreville. In 1929 Vegreville was designated as a judicial subdistrict, which entitled it to court offices, a deputy sheriff, and a clerk of court. The following year it was awarded a full courthouse.Mittelstadt 310–318 Matheson sought re-election in the 1935 election, but finished a distant third, joining every UFA candidate in the province in defeat, as William Aberhart's new Social Credit League achieved a large majority.

Electoral record

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Archibald Malcolm Farmers from Alberta Scottish emigrants to Canada United Farmers of Alberta MLAs 1891 births 1978 deaths