William Thomas Finlay (July 12, 1853 – May 9, 1914) was a merchant, politician and cabinet minister in

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 ...

and

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

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 ...

. Finlay served as the second mayor of

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

, represented the electoral district of

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 ...

, and served in the Cabinet of

Alexander Cameron Rutherford Alexander Cameron Rutherford (February 2, 1857 – June 11, 1941) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the first premier of Alberta from 1905 to 1910. Born in Ormond, Canada West, he studied and practiced law in Ottawa before ...

as Alberta's first Minister of Agriculture and Provincial Secretary from 1905 to 1909.

Early life

Finlay was born in

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on July 12, 1853, to John Finlay and Christina Brownlee. He was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

and worked in the wholesale grocery business before moving to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1873. Finlay continued to move around, living in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and in and eventually

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 ...

, working as a travelling salesman for the Northwest Lumber Company in 1883 and later his own firm Finlay and Company. Finlay set up branches of the Northwest lumber Company along the

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 ...

line as it moved west across the prairies, and settled in

shortly afterwards. Finlay left his lumber agency in 1886 and joined Thomas Andrew Tweed and two other prominent men in the Medicine Hat Ranche Company. Finlay was active in the Medicine Hat community, serving on the hospital board from 1896 to 1904, as a justice of the peace from 1886 to 1896, as president of the local board of trade in 1888, and as director of the agricultural society in 1889. Finlay married Catherine Anne Allott in Winnipeg on February 10, 1883.

Political life

William first ran for the

Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

in the

1898 Northwest Territories general election The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-Wes ...

in the

district but was defeated, coming a close second to

Horace Albertie Greeley Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

. Finlay was elected the second mayor of Medicine Hat in 1900 and was acclaimed to the position the following year. As mayor, Finlay oversaw the construction of a water system, a municipal building, and natural gas extraction. With his experience as mayor of Medicine Hat, Finlay ran again in the

1902 Northwest Territories general election The 1902 North-West Territories general election, occurred on 21 May 1902 and was the fifth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territ ...

this time becoming elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for

. During the discussions for province-hood for the North-West Territories, Finlay was strongly opposed to the concept of publicly-funded

separate school In Canada, a separate school is a type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces (Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan) and statutory status in the three territories ( Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). In these Canadi ...

s for

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, however, he eventually accepted the compromise solution for Alberta.

Alberta politics

In February 1905, the federal government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Sir

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...

introduced legislation to create two new provinces (

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

) from the Northwest Territories. In August 1905, Laurier appointed George H. V. Bulyea the first

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta The lieutenant governor of Alberta () is the viceregal representative in Alberta of the . The lieutenant governor is appointed in the same manner as the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the m ...

, and on September 2, Bulyea asked

to form the first government of Alberta. On September 9 Finlay was appointed to Rutherford's Cabinet as Alberta's first Minister of Agriculture and Provincial Secretary. Finlay's inclusion in cabinet came after strong pressure on Rutherford from liberals in Medicine Hat to acknowledge the regions importance, as well as Finlay's virtues. Finlay was the only member of the Rutherford cabinet born outside of Canada. In Alberta's first general election, Finlay was elected as a member of the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...

for

defeating conservative candidate Francis O. Sissions by a narrow margin of 51.7 per cent to 48.3 per cent. Under Finlay, the department of Agriculture undertook educational initiatives including experimental agricultural stations, travelling dairy and grain schools, and support for farmers institutes and agricultural fairs. Alberta also saw government creameries built, as well as government financing for factories for cheese, pork, and poultry. As a representative for Medicine Hat, Finlay brought forward several projects in the region. In March 1909, just before the upcoming election, Finlay announced the construction of the $40,000 Medicine Hat Courthouse, a bridge, and a demonstration farm in the region. Finlay was re-elected in the

1909 Alberta general election The 1909 Alberta general election was the second general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on March 22, 1909, to elect 41 members of the Alberta legislature to the 2nd Alberta Legislature. The incumbent Liberal Party led by Premi ...

defeating conservative Francis O. Sissons once again, with a larger margin of 71.7 per cent to 28.3 per cent. Finlay resigned from his cabinet posts shortly afterwards on November 1, 1909, due to his failing health. He stepped down as the member of his riding in 1910 after his health deteriorated to the point where he could no longer perform his duties, and made room for

Charles R. Mitchell Charles Richmond Mitchell (November 30, 1872 – August 16, 1942) was a Canadian lawyer, judge, cabinet minister and former Leader of the Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Early life Mitchell was born in Newcastle, Ne ...

to run in a by-election.

Death

Finlay moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

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, ...

after his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. He died in 1914.

Electoral record

References

Works cited

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, William 1853 births 1914 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Mayors of Medicine Hat 19th-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian politicians Canadian ranchers People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution