Harlan Carey Brewster (November 10, 1870 – March 1, 1918) was a politician in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. Brewster arrived in British Columbia in 1893 and had various careers working on a ship and then in a
cannery
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...
. He eventually became owner of his own canning company. He was elected to the provincial
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
in the
1907 election and was one of only two
Liberals elected to the legislature in the
1909 election.
Brewster became
leader of the opposition, and was elected party leader in March 1912. He lost his seat a few weeks later in the
1912 election, which returned no Liberals at all. In 1916, he won election to the legislature again through a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
, and led his party to victory in a
general election later that year by campaigning on a reform platform. Brewster promised to end
patronage in the civil service, end political machines, improve workmen's compensation and labour laws, bring in votes for women, and other progressive reforms.
In government, Carey brought in
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
, instituted
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
, and combatted political corruption before his unexpected death in 1918. He is interred in the
Ross Bay Cemetery in
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...
.
External links
*
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1870 births
1918 deaths
Premiers of British Columbia
Canadian Baptists
Leaders of the British Columbia Liberal Party
British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs
19th-century Baptists
{{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub