Alfred Speakman (August 24, 1880 – November 4, 1943) 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.

Early life

Speakman was born August 24, 1880 in

Dundee, Scotland Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

to James Speakman and Mary Hannah Farrar, where he attended the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...

, before his family emigrated to Canada in 1891. Speakman married Elva Pearl Soley, with whom he had one daughter, Mary Elva.

Federal political career

Speakman was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1921 federal election in the district of

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 we ...

under the banner of the

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 ...

. He was re-elected in

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

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and

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

. In the 1935 federal election he ran as a member of the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe follo ...

and finished a distant third to

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 ...

candidate Eric Joseph Poole.

Provincial political career

Speakman was instrumental in the Unity Movement which united Alberta's opposition parties against the

government. On October 12, 1937 Speakman, as a long-serving Member of Parliament, brought delegates from the United Farmers, Conservatives, Liberals and some disillusioned Social Crediters to a conference in Red Deer that brought the Unity coalition together. Speakman ran as an independent in

in 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 ...

and was elected with a comfortable vote margin after ballot transfers. Speakman served as an independent in the Unity caucus until his death in 1943. Speakman served briefly as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta in 1942. Speakman died suddenly at his home in Edmonton after suffering from poor health on November 4, 1943.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Speakman, Alfred 1880 births 1943 deaths Politicians from Dundee People educated at the High School of Dundee Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta United Farmers of Alberta MPs Independent Alberta MLAs Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons British emigrants to Canada