Chester Irving Sayers (August 17, 1899 – June 19, 1985) was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1941 to 1971 sitting with the Social Credit caucus in government.

Political career

Sayers ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature as the Social Credit candidate in the electoral district of Camrose in a by-election held on February 6, 1941. He defeated Co-operative Commonwealth leader

Chester Ronning Chester Alvin Ronning (December 13, 1894 – December 31, 1984) was a Canadian educator, politician, and diplomat. Ronning was born in Fancheng, China, now in Xiangyang, Hubei province, the son of Norwegian American Lutheran missionaries, a ...

in a hotly contested straight fight to hold the seat for his party. He ran for a second term in the

1944 Alberta general election The 1944 Alberta general election was held on August 8, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Overview The election was the first contested by leader Ernest C. Manning. Previously Provincial Secretary, he became leader ...

. He faced former MLA

William Chant William Neelands Chant (July 13, 1895 – September 25, 1976) was a farmer and political figure in Alberta and British Columbia. He represented Camrose in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940 as a Social Credit and then Inde ...

and defeated him and another candidate with a large majority. Sayers ran for a third term in office in the 1948 general election. He won decisively, increasing his popular vote. Sayers ran for a fourth term in the 1952 general election. He lost a little ground in his popular vote, but still took the district with a comfortable plurality. The 1955 general election would see Sayers nearly get defeated. He faced a strong challenge from Liberal candidate Ed Schnell whom he defeated on the third vote count to hold the district. Sayers ran for his sixth term in the

1959 Alberta general election Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. He improved his popularity winning his largest popular vote to date. The opposition vote among the three other candidates shifted and collapsed in support giving Sayers a wide margin of victory. The 1963 general election saw Sayers win the largest popular vote of his career. He defeated three other candidates to win his seventh term in office. He ran for his final term in the 1967 general election. He faced a hotly contested race amongst three other candidates. The opposition vote was divided and Sayers was returned with a large plurality. Sayers retired from the Alberta Legislature at dissolution in 1971.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayers, Chester Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs 1985 deaths 1899 births