William Floyd Gilliland (December 17, 1890 – September 5, 1961) was a 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 1944 until his death in 1961, as a member of the governing Social Credit caucus.

Early life

Gilliland was a farmer in the Peace River district for thirty years before running for public office.

Political career

Gilliland first ran for a seat in the Albert Legislature in the 1944 general election. He was nominated as the Social Credit candidate in

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

on the second count at a convention held in Grimshaw,

on March 2, 1944. Gilliland took over 50% of the vote to defeat incumbent independent Eld Martin and two other candidates. In the 1948 general election Gilliland defeated two other candidates with over 60% of the popular vote. Of the eleven MLAs who represented Peace River until 1948 he was the only one to win a second term in office. In the 1952 general election Gilliland rolled up a very large majority over two other candidates. In the 1955 general election he won over 50% of the popular vote to hold his district. In the 1959 general election Gilliland defeated two other candidates with over 60% of the popular vote. Gilliland suffered a heart attack at the 1961 Social Credit national convention in Ottawa. He died later that year while hospitalized in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilliland, William 1890 births 1961 deaths Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs