Norman E. Cook (December 9, 1888 – August 5, 1950) was a provincial level politician 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 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 ...

. He served as a 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 1940 until his death in 1950. He served in the governing Social Credit caucus during his time in the Legislature representing the electoral district of Olds.

Political career

Cook first ran for a seat in the Alberta Legislature in the

1926 Alberta general election The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta government that had first been elected in 1921 was re-elected, taking a majority of the seats in t ...

. He contested the Olds provincial electoral district as a Liberal candidate. He was handily defeated finishing a distant second to Incumbent

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 ...

MLA Nelson Smith. Cook ran for Social Credit nomination for Olds in the

1935 Alberta general election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmer ...

but lost to

Herbert Ash Herbert Joseph Ash (1878-1959) was a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940. Ash served as a member of the Governing Social Credit caucus, and later as an ...

who would end up becoming the new MLA. Just prior to the

1940 Alberta general election The 1940 Alberta general election was held on March 21, 1940, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Despite its failure to implement its key policy, providing prosperity certificates to all Albertans, the Social Credit Party ...

, Ash was removed from the Social Credit caucus and Cook was picked as the new candidate by the Social Credit Advisory Board. Ash decided to run anyway under the Independent Social Credit banner. The race was joined by Independent candidate

Frank Grisdale Frank Sydney Grisdale, BSc., CBE (July 8, 1887 – December 29, 1976) was a politician from Olds, Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1935. He sat with the United Farmers caucus and served from 193 ...

the former Minister of Agriculture whom Ash defeated in 1935. On election night Grisdale was leading Cook by 110 votes on the first count, while Ash was trailing a distant third. Grisdale did not gain a 50% majority, and was defeated by less than 100 votes after Ash second choice preferences were cast. Cook ran for his second term in office in the

1944 Alberta general election The 1944 Alberta general election was held on August 8, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Overview The election was the first contested by leader Ernest C. Manning. Previously Provincial Secretary, he became leader ...

. Despite running against two other candidates, he swept the district with nearly 67% of the popular vote. Cook continued to gain in popularity, winning a super majority of 74% in his re-election bid for the

1948 Alberta general election The 1948 Alberta general election was held on August 17, 1948, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ernest C. Manning led the Social Credit to a fourth term in government, increasing its share of the popular vote further abov ...

. Cook died in 1950, causing his district to become vacant.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
1950 deaths Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs 1888 births {{Alberta-politician-stub