Cornelius "Don" Hiebert (August 2, 1862 – March 21, 1919) was a Russia-born Canadian politician from

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 ...

Early life

Hiebert was born in

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and lived in Russia and attended school until he was 13 years old, when his family moved to

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 o ...

, Canada. He worked in a little general store until he decided to move to

Didsbury, Alberta Didsbury is a town in central Alberta, Canada at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is located next to Alberta Highway 2A, near the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. Didsbury is within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. Didsbury is approximately th ...

in 1900. When he arrived to the new town he founded a small general and hardware store. Hiebert began his political career on the municipal level. He was elected to serve as Village Overseer, the precursor to the Mayoral position for Didsbury from 1901 to 1904. After his 3 years managing the affairs of Didsbury he became more ambitious and ran for a seat in the provincial legislature.

Provincial political career

Hiebert was 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 singl ...

in the

1905 Alberta general election The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the provi ...

defeating future Member of Parliament Michael Clark in a hotly contested 3 way race. He was just one 1 out of 2 Conservatives elected to serve in the official opposition that year. Hiebert became the first Mennonite elected to the Alberta Legislature. His electoral district was eliminated due re-distribution in the

1909 Alberta general election The 1909 Alberta general election was the second general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on March 22, 1909, to elect 41 members of the Alberta legislature to the 2nd Alberta Legislature. The incumbent Liberal Party led by Premi ...

. He was unable to obtain the Conservative nomination at the party's provincial convention in Red Deer that year. Despite losing the Conservative nomination, Hiebert tried running in the provincial election to retain his seat in the new

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

electoral district. He was defeated by

Joseph Stauffer Lieutenant Joseph Emmett Stauffer (October 29, 1874 – April 10, 1917) was a teacher, politician and soldier from Alberta. Early life Stauffer was born October 29, 1874, in Manassas, Virginia, to parents of German-Swiss ancestry. He moved to C ...

and ended up finishing the election in third place and losing his nomination deposit. After Hiebert was defeated from the Legislature, the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'' wrote in a scathing editorial that his wavering from Conservatism was spineless, and that even his adherent supporters now despise him.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiebert, Cornelius 1862 births 1919 deaths Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Independent Alberta MLAs People from Didsbury, Alberta Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada