John Queen (February 11, 1882 – July 15, 1946) was a

labour activist A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

politician who was a leader of the Winnipeg General Strike, for which he served a year in prison. He was a Labour city councillor in Winnipeg from 1916 to 1921; MLA for

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

from 1920 to 1941; and the

mayor of Winnipeg The mayor of Winnipeg is a member of Winnipeg City Council, but does not represent a ward. The position of mayor was created in 1873 following the incorporation of Winnipeg. Since 1998, the term of office has been for four years. The 44th and cu ...

from 1935–1936 and 1938–1942. He was also the

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...

of Manitoba's

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

from 1923 to 1935.

Background

Queen was born at

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1882, the son of John Queen and Jane Todd, both natives of Scotland. A cooper by trade, he arrived in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1906 with his younger brother William, moving into a rooming house at 259 Dorothy St., a stone's throw from the massive

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

yards where many working-class Scottish and English immigrants were then employed. He operated a horse-drawn delivery wagon for a laundry. On June 25, 1908, Queen married Katherine Ross, who had herself emigrated from Scotland in 1907. By 1911 the family, which by then included a son John and a daughter Gloria (later Gloria Queen-Hughes, a prominent feminist and mayoral candidate), were living in the working-class neighbourhood of Weston.

Political activism

Queen soon became involved in the radical politics of Winnipeg. He joined the

Social Democratic Party of Canada The Social Democratic Party was a social democratic political party in Canada founded in 1911 by members of the right wing of the Socialist Party of Canada, many of whom had left the organisation in May 1907 to form the Social Democratic Party of ...

in 1908, as the group was breaking away from the more doctrinaire

Socialist Party of Canada The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the socialist newspaper ''Western Clarion''. History Establishment The founding of the Socialist Party of Canada bega ...

. Queen's own variety of socialism was undogmatic, and was strongly influenced by the reform liberalism of

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

Elected political career

City council

Queen was elected to the

Winnipeg City Council The Winnipeg City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Winnipeg) is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Council is seated in the Council Building of Winnipeg City Hall. In this capacity, he argued for a more progressive tax system, and defended the rights of returning soldiers. He intended to run for federal office in 1917 but stood aside in the interest of labour unity. Queen was a leading figure in the Winnipeg General Strike, and received a one-year jail sentence for "

seditious conspiracy Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of Conspiracy (criminal), conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting ...

" in 1920. This did not hurt his popularity among the city's workers, and he was elected by Winnipeg voters to the

Manitoba Legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

in 1920 and as mayor later.Edmonton Bulletin, April 28, Dec. 4, 1920

Elected to provincial legislature

In June 1920, while still serving his prison term, he was elected to the

in the ten-member district of

. After taking his seat in 1921, he supported a motion to allow "peaceful picketing" within the province; this motion was defeated. The SDPC ceased to exist in 1920. Queen was re-elected in 1922 as an "Independent Workers" candidate. He then joined the

. When Fred Dixon resigned in 1923, Queen became the ILP's parliamentary leader. Canada's labour movement experienced several setbacks in the late 1920s, and the ILP was not an especially strong electoral force during Queen's time as leader. Only three party members were elected in 1927, all from

—Queen,

William Ivens William Ivens (June 28, 1878 – June 20, 1957) was a religious and political figure in Manitoba, Canada. He was a leading figure in the Winnipeg General Strike,, and subsequently served as a Labour member of the Manitoba legislature from 1920 ...

and

Seymour Farmer Seymour James Farmer (June 20, 1878 – January 16, 1951) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as Winnipeg MLA from 1922 to 1949. During this time he also served as mayor of Winnipeg 1923-1924 and later as city councillor in the l ...

. The party fared slightly better in 1932, winning four seats in Winnipeg (electing Ivens, Farmer, Hyman and Queen) and electing

Harold Lawrence Harold Frederick Lawrence (December 17, 1887 – 1953) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1932 to 1936. Lawrence was born and educated in Burton upon Trent, England in 1887, and came to C ...

in St. Boniface who beat out veteran Conservative MLA

Joseph Bernier Joseph Bernier (August 16, 1874—June 8, 1951) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba on four occasions between 1900 and 1932. Bernier was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ma ...

. The party made little headway beyond urban areas, however, and remained a relatively small opposition group to the Progressive government of

John Bracken John Bracken (June 22, 1883 – March 18, 1969) was a Canadian agronomist and politician who was the 11th and longest-serving premier of Manitoba (1922–1943) and later the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (1942–19 ...

Mayor

After failed attempts in 1932 and 1933, Queen was elected mayor of Winnipeg in 1934 (defeating John McKerchar, the candidate of the city's business interests). Queen again pushed for progressive taxation, and spoke out against a proposed tax reduction for various businesses within the city. As mayor, he passed a tax reform bill that provided for a significant increase in the city's revenues. Queen served as mayor from 1935 to 1936, and again from 1937 to 1942. He did not endorse many explicitly socialist policies during his period in office, instead he favoured a general programme of civic improvement. Queen's housing reforms were upheld as a model for the rest of the nation. He held leading positions in the Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities.

Later political career

Queen continued to serve in the provincial legislature during his tenure as mayor, though he turned over the leadership of the party to

in 1935. Along with the rest of the ILP caucus, he became affiliated with the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe follo ...

in 1933. His defeat in the provincial election of 1941 seems to have been unexpected. Queen was also defeated when he ran for re-election as

's mayor in 1942, He lost another bid in 1944. Opposition from Winnipeg's

Communists 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 so ...

was undoubtedly a contributing factor in both cases. He died at home in Winnipeg on July 15, 1946.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen, John 1882 births 1946 deaths Scottish emigrants to Canada Mayors of Winnipeg Canadian socialists Independent Labour Party (Manitoba, 1920) MLAs Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLAs 20th-century Canadian politicians People of the Winnipeg general strike