William Ernest Payne (October 1, 1878 – April 21, 1943) was a lawyer and 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 in 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 1931 to 1935 as a member of the Conservative Party.

Early life

Payne moved to

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

in 1902 and joined the law firm started by George Wellington Greene. He worked as a lawyer at Greene and Payne in Red Deer for many years until he attempted to win a seat in the Alberta Legislature.

Political career

Payne ran as a Conservative candidate 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 ...

in Red Deer. He ran against incumbent George Smith and former MLA John Gaetz. He was eliminated on the second vote count, losing to Smith. Payne faced Smith again in a two-way race in the

1930 Alberta general election Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. He was defeated by 88 votes. Smith died in 1931 and a by-election was held on November 16. Payne ran and defeated United Farmers candidate R.L. Gaetz by a couple hundred votes. 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 ...

Payne was defeated by Social Credit candidate

Alfred Hooke Alfred John "Alf" Hooke (February 25, 1905 – February 17, 1992) was a teacher, politician and writer from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1971 as a member of the Social Credit Party. He held numer ...

. He finished a distant fourth out of five candidates.

Family

Payne was the great grandson of Daniel Massey and father of

William Hector Payne William Hector Payne (5 July 1914 – 18 April 1989) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was an insurance agent and sales manager by career. He was first elected at the Coast—Capilano riding in ...

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs 1878 births 1943 deaths {{Alberta-politician-stub