William J. Cameron "Cam" Kirby (January 12, 1909 – June 27, 2003) was an

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 ...

politician, leader of the Conservative Party, barrister, Queen's Counsel, and a Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. Born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Kirby's great grandfather Charles Kirby (1805–1870) came to Canada as a soldier in a regiment from Yorkshire, England at the time of the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada and settled in Whitby. His son Joseph Kirby (1844–1937) enlisted as

mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

in the 184th Regiment of New York State Infantry of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and returned to Canada in 1865 and joined the Ashberminam Company of Volunteers during the Fenian Raids of 1866. In 1882 he applied for a homestead in the N.W.T. situated near what is now the town of Fleming (Sask.). Kirby's father William John Kirby (1866–1964) moved further west in 1885, initially as a

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

in Albert Canyon, worked as an agent for the Dominion Express in Vancouver, British Columbia, and later in Calgary where Cameron Kirby was born in 1909. In 1911 William Kirby set up as a merchant in Lochairn, later named at his instigation

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David Th ...

after the Hudson's Bay Fort built nearby on the North Saskatchewan River in 1799. There he opened a dry goods store and became

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

and eventually the town's Reeve. In 1917 when Cameron Kirby was eight years old his mother died and he was sent by his father to live with relatives. Kirby graduated from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Hanna, Alberta Hanna is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada. History The town was first settled in 1912 and was incorporated in 1914. It was named after David Blyth Hanna, the third vice president of the Canadian Northern Railway. It was a division point ...

and then attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1930 before attending graduate school at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

.Hawthorn, Tom, "W.J.C. KIRBY: 1909-2003: Tory leader quit politics for bench; He failed to crack Socred grip on Alberta and instead became a fiery, no-nonsense judge," ''Globe and Mail'', August 21, 2003 He taught Latin, English and mathematics to the children of

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

ing families and became highschool principal at Okotoks, Alberta in 1935. After three years, he left to study law in Vancouver. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he received a King's commission with the

Royal Canadian Artillery , colors = The guns of the RCA themselves , colors_label = Colours , march = * Slow march: "Royal Artillery Slow March" * Quick march (dismounted parades): "British Grenadiers/The ...

and was an instructor at the Officers Training Centre in Victoria. In 1943 he fought as a troop commander with the 24th and 25th Field Regiments and was part of the force that stormed the island of Kiska in the

Aleutians The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...

in August, 1943, only to find that the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese had slipped away two weeks earlier. Having also been

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in uniform in 1943, he concluded his military service as a legal officer at Pacific Command Headquarters. Following the war he 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 ...

where he established a law partnership. In 1954,

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

David Ure David Ure (1749 – 28 March 1798), was a Scottish geologist. He has been called "the father of Scottish palaeontology"; his book ''The History of Rutherglen and East-Kilbride'' contains the first illustrations of fossils in Scotland. Life Ure wa ...

died. Ure had held the seat for

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

since the party swept to power in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

and was Minister of Agriculture. Kirby contested the seat for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and defeated Social Credit candidate

William Ure William Kenneth Ure (December 22, 1913 — February 4, 2001) was a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1959 to 1971 sitting with the governing Social Credit caucus. ...

, the deceased MLA's younger brother, by 234 votes in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. Kirby was returned to the

Alberta legislature The Legislature of Alberta is the unicameral legislature of the province of Alberta, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta,. and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The legislature has existed sinc ...

in the 1955 provincial election and became leader of the three man Conservative caucus in 1958 with hopes of mirroring the victory of

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

's federal Progressive Conservatives who had won a crushing victory in the 1958 federal election wiping out the federal Social Credit Party in the process. Despite having the backing of Diefenbaker and the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'', the 1959 provincial election proved to be a fiasco for the renamed Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. The Social Credit government of

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

was re-elected with an increased majority and, even though the size of the legislature had expanded, the Tories were reduced to a single seat despite more than doubling their share of the popular vote. Kirby lost his own

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

to William Ure by almost 3,000 votes. Kirby resigned as party leader in January 1960 and was appointed to the Supreme Court of Alberta (Trial Division), later the

Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior court of the Canadian province of Alberta. Until 2022, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. The Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary wa ...

. In 1967, Justice Kirby was named by Premier Manning to conduct a one-man inquiry into allegations of

influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...

by Social Credit cabinet minister

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 ...

and former treasurer

Edgar Hinman Edgar Wynder "Ted" Hinman (August 29, 1906 – May 12, 1994) was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1952 to 1967 and again from 1971 to 1975, sitting with the Social ...

. Kirby's report, following an eight-month investigation, cleared the two men of wrongdoing, but scolded them for an "imprudent" mixing of public affairs and private business. He retired from the bench on his 75th birthday in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Cam 1909 births 2003 deaths Canadian postmasters Canadian schoolteachers Judges in Alberta Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs University of Alberta alumni University of British Columbia alumni Canadian King's Counsel