Edward Leslie Gray (April 8, 1895 – June 13, 1992) was a politician and 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

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. Gray was born April 8, 1895, in Maple Valley,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

to Samuel Gray and Mary Taylor, both of Irish descent. Gray was elected in a by-election in the

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

after the death of

George Van Allen George Harold Van Allen (June 22, 1890 – June 15, 1937) was a Canadian provincial politician from Alberta. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1937, sitting with the Liberal caucus in governmen ...

. He also became the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...

leader in 1937. The by-election was considered the first test of strength for the

Alberta Social Credit Party Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...

government. Gray's election marked the beginning of the Unity Movement, despite running under the Liberal banner he was elected with the popular support of Conservatives. He defeated 2 time Edmonton Mayor Joseph Clarke, who ran as a People's Candidate backed by Social Credit, and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Leader

Jan Lakeman John "Jan" Lakeman (April 6, 1887 – November 7, 1956) was a mid-20th century labour rights activist, perennial election candidate and leader of the provincial Communist Party in Alberta, Canada. Political career Born in the Netherlands, he ...

. Gray served as Alberta Liberal Party leader until 1940, strongly favouring a coalition arrangement with the Conservatives and some former

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 ...

members against Social Credit. The coalition ran under the name of the Independent Citizens' Association. He ran in Bow Valley in the 1940 Alberta election, but was defeated. Gray died on June 13, 1992.

References

External links

Grande Prairie Herald October 8, 1938

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Hansard Death Announcement

* 1895 births 1992 deaths Leaders of the Alberta Liberal Party Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Ontario Agricultural College alumni Politicians from Simcoe County {{Alberta-politician-stub