Ernest Richard Draffin (September 21, 1909 – December 19, 1982) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1945 to 1949 as a member of the

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Ernest Richard Draffin and Margaret McGowan, Draffin was educated at

Brooklands, Manitoba St. James-Assiniboia is a major community area in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As it encapsulates most of the city ward of St. James, which includes the major St. James Street, the area itself is often simply referred to "St. James." Located in th ...

and at the Kiwanis Night School for Boys. He began working at Canadian National Telegraphs in 1925. Originally as a messenger, he later rose to the position of Chief Timekeeper, retiring in 1973. He was a member of the

Commercial Telegraphers Union of America The Commercial Telegraphers Union of America (CTUA) was a United States labor union formed to promote the interests of commercial telegraph operators. Background and early history The first practical telegraph system in the United States was pu ...

, and served on the provincial executive of the CCF. Draffin was also active in ice hockey and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Draffin also served as president of the Manitoba Football Association, later the

Manitoba Soccer Association The Manitoba Soccer Association (MSA) is the governing body for soccer in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The association was formed March 19, 1896 in Brandon, MB. The MSA is a member of the national governing body, the Canadian Soccer Assoc ...

, helped found the Manitoba Sports Federation and was technical director for soccer at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicago ...

. He was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1945 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate David Best by 180 votes in the suburban Winnipeg constituency of Assiniboia. He served as an opposition member in the legislature for the next four years. The CCF suffered an electoral setback in the 1949 provincial election, and Draffin lost his seat to

Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1925 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no Liberal-Progressive party: it was an alliance between two parties. In Manitoba, a party existe ...

candidate

Reginald Wightman Reginald Frederick Wightman (May 28, 1899 – January 23, 1981) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1949 to 1958. Wightman was born in Nesbitt, Manitoba. He wa ...

by 1,214 votes. He campaigned in the

St. Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

constituency in the 1953 provincial election, but finished a poor third against Liberal-Progressive Thomas Hillhouse. In the 1958 election, he finished third in Fort Rouge against Progressive Conservative

Gurney Evans Edward Gurney Vaux Evans (September 3, 1907 – January 8, 1987) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1969, and served as a cabinet minister in the ...

. Draffin ran for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

in the 1953 Canadian election, as a candidate of the federal Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. He finished third in Winnipeg South against Progressive Conservative Owen C. Trainor. He also campaigned for the Winnipeg City Council in the 1953 municipal election, but was defeated in the city's predominantly middle-class first ward. Draffin was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 in recognition of his soccer playing abilities and contributions to the sport. He died in Winnipeg at the age of 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Draffin, Ernest 1909 births 1982 deaths Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLAs 20th-century Canadian politicians Politicians from Winnipeg