Earle Goodwin Cook (November 9, 1881 – April 20, 1966) was a provincial 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 ...

, Canada. He served as a member of 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 to 1930 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government.

Political career

Cook ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

1921 Alberta general election The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments. The Liberal Party, which had governed the province since it ...

as a United Farmers candidate in the Pincher Creek electoral district. The race for the seat was hotly contested with four candidates running. Cook defeated Liberal candidate

Harvey Bossenberry Harvey Bossenberry (December 15, 1880 – June 19, 1951) was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1935 sitting with the Liberal caucus in opposition. Early life H ...

by 101 votes to pick up the seat for his party. The

1926 Alberta general election The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta government that had first been elected in 1921 was re-elected, taking a majority of the seats in t ...

saw Cook and Bossenberry face each other for the second time. In the first count of ballots, Bossenberry received the most votes but less than a majority of votes cast. The three-way race went to a second count - the second-choice preferences of the supporters of third-place candidate, Conservative R.O. Allison, were counted. Cook won by 52 votes over Bossenberry. This is the only instance in this election where a candidate who lead in the first count was not elected in a second round count under the preferential balloting system.; A Report on Alberta Elections 1905-1982 Cook ran for a third term in the

1930 Alberta general election Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. He faced Bossenberry for the third time, this time in a straight fight. Bossenberry edged Cook out by 39 votes to defeat him. Cook tried to regain his seat running in the

1935 Alberta general election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmer ...

. There were four candidates in the race this time. He faced Bossenberry for the fourth straight time who was defeated finishing second. Cook finished a very distant fourth place while Social Credit candidate Roy Taylor won the seat.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Earle 1966 deaths United Farmers of Alberta MLAs 1881 births Place of death missing