Leading up the 1921 Edmonton city election, the Edmonton Branch of Independent Labour Party called for PR. The election was not conducted using PR, and the ILP suffered a shutout due to that fact.
The undemocratic result helped drive Edmonton to electoral reform.
Declaration of Principles of Edmonton Branch of Independent Labour Party
...the Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Proportional Representation should be established so that the people retain the right to be the final court of appeal.
This short-lived organization ran candidates in 1921 Edmonton city election. While the Canadian Labour Party was officially affiliated to trade unions, the ILP was truly independent. One of its candidates - Mary Cantin - later ran as a communist candidate.
The ILP did not take any seats in 1921 although its most-popular candidate - George L. Ritchie - received a vote from 15 percent of the voters (which would have been enough to win a seat in Winnipeg's 10-seat district under that city's provincial STV system).
The Block voting system used in 1921 in Edmonton allowed the business slate to take all but one of the seats.
Apparently there was great dissatisfaction with the 1921 election result. As well, Edmonton voters could see Calgary's success with STV since 1917, and Winnipeg's success with it since 1920, and the successful use of STV in Vancouver and Victoria, Regina and Saskatoon in 1921 and 1922.
These factors and others caused a majority of Edmonton voters to vote for STV when it came up for referendum in Dec. 1922, leading to the city using it for city elections in 1923-1927.
(More on the 1921 ILP declaration of principles in upcoming blog)
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