Edward L. Fearon (September 20, 1859November 3, 1933) was a Canadian politician. He served on the

North-West Legislative Assembly The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a un ...

for

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

from 1894 to 1898.

Early life

Edward L. Fearon was born September 20, 1859 in Scotland. Fearon moved to

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

in 1878 and joined the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

where he was stationed at

Fort Walsh Fort Walsh is a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site of Canada that was a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort and the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre. Administered by Parks Canada, it forms a constituent part of Cypress ...

Political life

Fearon contested the 1894 North-West Territories general election in the

electoral district against incumbent

Thomas Tweed Thomas Andrew Tweed (April 14, 1853 – April 4, 1906) was a merchant and political figure in the Northwest Territories, Canada. He represented Medicine Hat (N.W.T. electoral district), Medicine Hat in the Legislative Assembly of the Northw ...

. In the years prior to the election, the Medicine Hat community became divided with Tweed around the issues of prohibition, hospital supply purchasing and obtaining government contracts for friends. Fearon was a popular rancher near Maple Creek. During the campaign Tweed's opponents depicted him as hostile to labour, against provincehood, and an ineffective representative. Fearon defeated Tweed with 398 votes to Tweed's 309. Fearon did not contest the

1898 North-West Territories general election The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-Wes ...

. When describing Fearon's term in office, Historian L.J. Roy Wilson described Fearon as a "very poor representative".

Later life

Fearon joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898 and returned to ranching in Maple Creek in 1901. In 1902 he married Annie Hastings. Fearon died on November 3, 1933 at the age of 74.

References

;Works cited * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fearon, Edward 1859 births 1933 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories