Timeline of Canadian Electoral Reform Part 3 1917-1934 (PR, STV and more)

Part 3 of 5-part Montopedia series on history of Canadian electoral reform

Part 2: https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/timeline-of-canadian-electoral-reform-part-2-1900-1919-proportional-representation-stv-and-more

====

(1917 federal election - Borden's Union government was re-elected

but this was in part due to voter suppression, targeted enfranchisement and vote placement:

-disenfranchisement of some naturalized citizens who had come to Canada since 1902

-enfranchisement of female citizens who had relatives serving in the army

-the government being able to place the army vote where it was needed by the government candidates, in cases where the voter, say a U.S. citizen serving in the Canadian army, had never had a residence in Canada. (This was the charge made by William Wallace Burns McInnes when speaking in Calgary in December 1917. The former Vancouver judge (and former MLA and former MP), running as a Laurier candidate in Vancouver Centre, called on "every free Canadian citizen to rally to the forces of democracy and vote to save their Canada from the hands of the autocratic despoilers." (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 8, 1917).

Aside from election shenanigans, the Borden government made a campaign promise that it would not conscript men who were working in the hard-pressed agricultural sector. When the government broke this promise only months later, it helped to turn western Canadian voters away from both the old-line parties. (see old-time UofA thesis on Alberta Press and the 1917 election)

And in the next federal election neither party took any federal seats in Alberta.

As well, dissatisfaction with the Borden government and with the Alberta Liberal government (which had been in power more than a decade) gave rise to a strong organized Labour movement and organized Farmer movement. The IWW, the OBU, the DLP/CLP, the NPL and the UFA were main carriers of these beliefs.

Dissatisfaction with FPTP/Block Voting was not unknown in 1917.

John G. Turriff (MP for the riding of Assiniboia in southern Saskatchewan) spoke up in favour of electoral reform in the House of Commons in 1917.

see 1917 HofC debate on PR where MP Turriff actually set out clearly why FPTP and single-member districts are flawed (still true today).

Lipad - April 30, 1917 - Browse the Canadian House of Commons

By 1921 dissatisfaction with plurality election systems had grown to a point where a special committee of the House of Commons was established to look into such. (see 1921)

=====

FARMERS and LABOUR in favour of PR

1917    The farmers' platform: drafted by the Canadian Council of Agriculture and adopted by the United Farmers of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association, Manitoba Grain Growers' Association, and UFO.

(no mentions transferable votes or proportional representation but that is soon to change)

Hathi trust has it online but not search-able there

=====

1917-1919 Labour and others support PR

The formation of labour councils in Calgary and Edmonton helped cause need for multi-party politics and thus pro-rep at the city level.

The support of PR-friendly officials, such as Calgary city commissioners Yorath and Samis, Alberta Legislature clerk John D. Hunt and J.M. Miller (Edm. city clerk), was likely pivotal in STV's successful adoption and use.

Labour city councillors -- Fred White (Calgary),  James East (Edmonton) and others - were strong supporters of P.R.

Edmonton business-slate councillors Izena Ross and Bickerton Pratt also pulled for STV, or at least voted in favour of holding a referendum on the question. (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 17, 1922)

====

1917 Jan/Feb. Alberta Federation of Labour convention passed resolutions in favour of Factories Act, Workmens/Compensation Act and PR.

And in early Feb., representatives of the Alberta Fed. of Labour addressed the Legislature calling for PR and Workmen Compensation Act, adult suffrage in all municipalities and school districts, etc. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 16, Feb. 9, 1917)

Alex Ross was elected to be a Labour MLA in 1917 Alberta election. He said he was in favour of PR. (Edmonton Bulletin, June 16, 1917)

==

1917-1921 Alberta Conservatives force for PR

S.B. Hillocks, Calgary MLA (Conservative), said "politics of the day were imperfect in every party" and he favoured Proportional Representation as "only way to broaden politics of the day and remove the restrictions of petty party necessities". (Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 21, 1917)

see newspaper Hansard 1917:

https://librarysearch.assembly.ab.ca/client/en_CA/search/asset/141767/0

The Conservative party, long time suffering under-representation in Alberta elections, saw PR as a way to get its fair share of seats. The Edmonton Journal, a Conservative newspaper, was a strong proponent of PR in the late 1910s and early 1920s. It devoted a full page to STV publicity in its Feb. 14, 1920 issue.

Under FPTP, in 1917 Conservatives elected 19 MLAs when due 24.

It elected a full sweep of Edmonton's three seats and elected one MLA in Calgary, (and took 15 seats elsewhere.)

Under Block Voting in 1921, Conservatives elected no MLAs in Edmonton nor in Calgary.

Under STV in 1926, Conservatives took four seats in Edmonton and Calgary;

under STV in 1955, Conservatives took two seats in the two cities;

under FPTP in 1959 Conservatives took just one seat in the two cities.)

=========

1917 Calgary was first city in Canada to adopt STV

(This change was due in part to support for the change from City Commissioner A.J. Samis, supported by Labour alderman H.B. Adshead and farmer alderman W.P. Tregillus, who were elected starting in 1913. City Clerk J.M Miller was also in favour. (see Monto, When Canada had PR)

Calgary's STV:

1917 9 elected -- 6 were elected to two-year terms, three to one-year terms

Calgary had population of about 66,000 in 1917. (1917 Henderson's Directory, p. 39)

First woman city councillor elected - Annie Gale,

Labour elected two - Gale and Andrew Broatch; Business community elected two - Fred Marshall and Robert Marshall.

STV in use in every election until 1961, and in 1971.

Annual elections, so any casual vacancies filled in next election.

Two-year terms, staggered terms, half of councillors up for election each year (except 1961 and 1971 when all the seats filled).

Gregory Method (version unknown) was used for transfers of surplus votes.

at first elections were held at-large, city-wide

DM varied from five to nine, variance due to casual vacancies.

1917 9 elected -- 6 to 2-year terms, three to one-year terms

from 1918 to 1960, DM ranged from 6 to 8. (5 to 9?)

1961 adopted two-seat wards -

1961 both seats  in each ward filled by STV.

Through 1960s most seats elected singly in alternating years, through IRV.

three times in 1960s -- both seats in a ward were filled at the same time, due to casual vacancy (so STV was used.)

1971 both seats in each ward filled by STV.

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/1917-calgary-first-city-in-canada-to-adopt-stv-calgary-also-last-canadian-city-to-use-stv-in-1971

HISTORIC NOTE:

Calgary's adoption of STV in 1917 was copied by 18 other municipalities within the next 11 years. Lethbridge was last to adopt STV, in 1928.

All except Calgary, Winnipeg and some Winnipeg-area suburbs dropped STV by 1930. Saskatoon was only one (so far) to put STV into use again later.

(see 1920, 1923, Saskatoon 1939)

========

1917 BC passed law allowing STV in cities.   (see PR Review, July 1917. 199/240)

(about 1919/1920 it passed law allowing cities to drop STV)

1917 Vancouver plebiscite on municipal STV. Failed. Undermined by city council. (see Pilon (1996) [BC STV], p. 50-56)

1917/1918 Nelson and West Vancouver adopted STV in 1917.

In Nelson Dr. Newton Wolverton was active member of Vancouver PR Society and Liberal Party member. (Bowler and Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta..., p. 222)

West Vancouver dropped STV without fuss in 1930. (Nelson dropped STV in 1920 (or so).)

Several other BC cities - Port Coquitlam, Mission City, New Westminster - adopted STV in 1917/1918. (They dropped STV in 1921, 1921 and 1919 respectively)

Garfield King brought STV message to Port Coq and Mission;

Hugh Horman Lidster was president of the New Westminster PR Society. (Bowler and Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta..., p. 223)

(see Pilon Drive for P.R. in BC) (see 1920)

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/bc-stv-stv-was-used-in-several-bc-cities-1917-1923

===

1918 - Alberta Non-Partisan (likely William Irvine) wrote on two practical ways to get around the largest shortcoming of STV - the slowness in finishing the vote count.

1. If you want to know results by October 20 and it takes a full day to do the vote count, hold the election on October 19.

2. On election night, issue preliminary results, then a day or so later give the final results. Irvine said the preliminary result should be by FPTP but that is probably not practical if multi-member districts are used in the PR system. Anyways he likely just meant SNTV- STV results prior to vote transfers. The front runners (a la SNTV) could be announced on election night, with perhaps changes on who wins announced in the final results a day or so later.

   (It is not likely that Irvine had enough experience of STV to notice that the hypothetical results of SNTV and the later-arriving results of STV would only differ perhaps ten percent of the time anyway.] ("P.R. Difficulties Vanish," Alberta Non-Partisan, Feb. 8, 1918, p. 5)

   https://archive.org/details/ANP_1918020801/page/n4/mode/1up?q=clifford+sifton+proportional+representation&view=theater

 ==========================

1918 John D. Hunt, The Dawn of a New Patriotism (1918)

see https://archive.org/details/cihm_83522/page/n5/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater 

(CIHM 83522)

also author of Democracy in Canada, the last chapter of The Dawn of a New Patriotism... printed as separate monograph. (The Alberta Legislature Library has a copy)

John D. Hunt was clerk of the executive council of Alberta in the 1920s and was the force behind Alberta adopting partial STV-PR in 1924. (Of course the government in power at the time - the United Farmers of Alberta - played an important part as well.)

(Alberta adopted a hybrid STV/IRV system in 1924).

(see 1924)

Files at the PAA contain information concerning Hunt's work for the Legislative Assembly, some of which centred around the introduction of STV in Alberta provincial elections, including correspondence with John H. Humphreys (UK PR authority) and George H. Hallett (US PR authority).

PR1969.0289/194      1-600-31 1971.138 1970.158

Also Info file "Politics Election stats".

see Montopedia:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/pantheon-of-electoral-reformers-john-d-hunt-clerk-of-the-alberta-legislative-council-and-advocat

=========

Canadian coverage of the 1919 Sligo STV election

1919 - News of the Irish municipal elections, conducted using STV, was carried to Alberta. In Ireland, 126 separate boroughs and urban council areas used STV. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 19, 1919)

1919 [Proportional Representation Society of Canada] The first municipal P.R. elections in the United Kingdom: Sligo (Ireland) municipal elections, January, 1919: a practical demonstration of the working of the single transferable vote. [Ottawa: Proportional Representation Society of Canada (PRSC)], 1919.

(said to be PRSC P.R. pamphlet No. 8) (for info on the previous seven pamphlets, see Montopedia blog P.R. Review)

(CIHM 99422)

https://ia803207.us.archive.org/0/items/cihm_99422/cihm_99422.pdf 

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.99422/1 

(In the following year Irish municipalities were set to use STV, but no municipal elections were held until 1925 due to the Troubles [I think].)

1919 -- Grain Growers Guide - Charles A. Bowman's article "How Proportional Representation works - Selecting the successful candidate -- Using the Sligo election as an example" He was referring to the use of PR in Sligo (Ireland) city election in January 1919. He specifically looked at the contest in the West Ward, even explaining the math of Perry's surplus vote transfer ("exact" method used). (GGG, Dec. 10, 1919, p. 7, 10,11)

=======

1919 -- New Westminster council voted 3-2 to repeal STV. The New Westminster newspaper British Columbian noted the haste that the STV opponents were in to drop STV. But newspaperman Hugh Lidster noted that there was no public outcry against the system. (Bowler and Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta..., p. 223)

Poulin said the elimination of STV in western Canada towns in the post-war period was due in part to "an indiscriminate approach to modernizing elections in Western Canada during the post-war period. The administrative effort was just too much to bear in small towns" where it did not seem to make much difference. (Poulin, The Politics of Voting, p. 110)

1919 William Irvine's book, The Farmers in Politics, talks of PR. Irvine was writing in at least partial support of UFA leader Henry Wise Wood's theories of Group Government. (H.W.W. previously had been opposed to farmers participating in direct politics.)

The concept of Group Government - that each occupation group should have its due share of seats - is similar to the PR idea that each voting block should have its due share of seats. Irvine wrote that the party system and party government was obsolete, as evidenced by the "coming into parliament of representatives of industrial groups." Bankers, manufacturers, workers, farmers each would organize their own political groups. As no party will be able to capture a majority of seats when the votes are so fractured, reform will be afoot and "PR will tend to give these and other groups representation in accordance with their numerical strength." Irvine took it further saying that having a legislature that is elected by PR should lead to having a cabinet where each party is given its due share of cabinet posts, what he called "proportional responsibility in government." (The Farmers in Politics (available online at hathi trust), p. 237-8) (see 1929)

(In 1921, Joshua Fletcher, former UFA official, wrote that the Group Government theory smacked too much of party politics in letter to editor. ("Former president of UFA Exposes some of the dangers of Group government" Edmonton Bulletin, Nov. 22, 1921)

========

Jan 1919 - Grain Growers convention passed many resolutions in favour of reforms including PR. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 11, 1919)

===

1919 Canadian Council of Agriculture. A new national policy. (1919)

(CIHM 81359) (also CIHM 97623) image 9 discusses PR.

see Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 21, 1919)

(a Canadian Council of Agriculture staffperson also wrote a leaflet on PR (see 1920)

=====

1919 Jan. 23, 1919 -- UFA convention.

Delegate Johnson said if the UFA continues to support PR, then it should begin to apply it in the association business.

Delegate Dunham said PR is fine for election of MLAs and for minority representation, but forming the executive (the cabinet) should not include minority representation, because there "it is essential that the closest harmony prevail for the best transaction of important business."

it was decided to use multi-round voting method (perhaps Alternative Voting), where to win, a candidate must have majority support. [at least that is what it seems] (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 23, 1919)

=======

United Farmers of Alberta. How to organize and carry on a local of the United Farmers of Alberta. Calgary: Office of the Province Secretary, U.F.A, 1919?.

(CIHM 9-90016) (Peel 4540)

p. 37 recounts how in 1919 the farmers movement endorsed pro-rep and other reforms, and also voted to engage in independent politics.

Suggests this sentence as subject for debate as an alternative activity for local club members: "Resolved that Proportional Representation is preferable to single-member constituencies." [thus clearly seeing that proportionality cannot happen in single-member districts but only through multi-member districts or some pooling of the vote]

Said that material on Pro-rep was available from the Faculty of Extension, UofA.

(By 1920 STV was being used to elect the provincial executive of the UFA.)

====

1919 May -- the Non-Partisan League and the UFA formed a joint committee to pursue talks concerning joint political action.

The committee's joint statement included that "the chief aim of this movement shall be to change our form of government from the party system to a business administration, with members elected using PR and subject to direct legislation, such as recall, referendum and initiative." (Didsbury Pioneer, May 14, 1919, p. 3)

===

1919 United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) elected to a plurality of seats in the Provincial Parliament in part on promise to bring in PR.

United Farmers of Ontario pulled together a coalition of Labour and other MPPs to amass a majority of seats in the Legislature and struggled in power until 1923.

But the government made no move toward PR until just before next general election. (see 1923)

(see Montopedia blog:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/ontario-farmers-government-tried-for-pr-1919-1923)

=====

1919 July  Winnipeg General strike snuffed out by Canada Day raids on homes of strike leaders -- the Great War Veterans' Association announced its demands for reforms that it hoped would settle the general strike and resolve the problems that had led to it: minimum wage; insurance as regards unemployment, illness and old age; "PR - real democratic government by means of PR." (Red Deer News, July 2, 1919)

===

1919 -- editorial in the July 4, 1919 Winnipeg Free Press (perhaps written by Winnipeg newspaperman Ronald Hooper) claimed one large constituency should be adopted in each major Canadian city during federal elections, “returning three or more members. Voting should be by order of preference marked on one ballot comprising an alphabetical list of all candidates for this three or more vacancies. In the result, a laborite or other minority voting party voting solidly for its own candidates would obtain one, two or three members according to the strength in the electorate and the support it might obtain from the other elements.”

===

1919 - Manitoba executive council (provincial government) announced that it expects Winnipeg MLAs to be elected using PR in next election (1920). Winnipeg will increase its representation from 6 MLAs to 12 or 13. (Edmonton Bulletin,  July 9, 1919)

In actuality, Winnipeg was made into a ten-seat district.

=====

1919 September - General Currie (who commanded Canadian troops in WWI), speaking

at the Canadian Club, said the best prevention of radical beliefs among labour is to have labour properly represented. "Encourage labour representation. Let labour and management meet face to face in Parliament. Establish PR so that all kinds of opinion will be reflected in our legislatures." (Chinook Advance, September 11, 1919, p. 5)

===

1919 - Industrial Conference held at Ottawa.

E.S. Woodward gave a "practical illustration" of STV to the Conference -- nine candidates running, nine rooms for voters to gather themselves in. (The explanation was repeated in the pages of the Edmonton Bulletin, Nov. 1, 1919, p. 15)

(This demonstration of STV was perhaps described in the PRSC publication Illustrative PR election - the STV. 1st edn. 1919?; Revised edn. 1920 listed elsewhere.)

Sir John Willison, chair of the Committee running the Conference, released a report emanating from the Industrial Conference in favour of PR. Willison said defects in the electoral system is the cause of social unrest in Canada. All members of the Industrial Conference unanimously endorsed the principle of Proportional Representation. (Edmonton Bulletin, Sept. 20, 1919) (Monitor News, Oct. 3, 1919) (GGG, July 9, 1919, p. 6)

"Proportional Representation & National Confidence in Parliament"- submitted by the P.R. Society of Canada to the Royal Commission on Industrial Relations [estimated date - 1919?] [keywords: Mathers PRSC]

This brief was listed (without date) in a 1969 Province of Sask Departmental Memo, in PAS "Clippings - Franchise" folder.

===

1919 -- series of PR articles printed in many weeklies.

"Proportional Representation" No. 1-4 (a series of boiler-plate article newspaper copy printed in many weeklies)

No. 1. problems with FPTP;

No. 2. how STV works;

No. 3. where PR (STV) had been used successfully (British university seats and Sligo city election);

No. 4. counter-arguments to criticism of STV and PR, such as takes too long, too complicated for voters, breeds instability.

"People should study PR because it is practically a certainty that it will be adopted in Canada in the not distant future." (boiler-plate copy sent out to and printed in many weeklies, including (Lacombe) Western Globe, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 1919)

=======

1919 Proportional Representation: What It Is and How It Works. (Second Edition).

Published by the Proportional Representation Society of Canada (PRSC)

"P.R. leaflet no. 3"

(no first edition is identified unless title is incorrectly given)

(perhaps this is source of boiler plate copy listed above)

(a copy at Regina Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (reference code (S)G 289.4), as of October 2025)

a copy at Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll.  AC901 A7 1919 no. 0028

(a copy is available at PAA?)

(This pamphlet (or at least a publication of same title) was part of the Studies in Citizenship series prepared by John D. Hunt says The UFA, Feb. 15, 1923.)

1919 November - just as others are favouring PR, the City of Nelson (BC) voted to drop STV after three years. The referendum(?) meant the City would return to plurality election system, but at the time, it looked like the wards would not come back [so it was to be Block Voting]. (Edmonton Bulletin, Nov. 5, 1919)

Change away from PR was not allowed by the BC government.

The 1920 election saw a three-way race for mayor. Instant-Runoff Voting was used. Transfers caused a two-way tie.

Nelson dropped STV as soon as prov. legislation allowed it.

(Some other BC cities that had adopted STV in 1917/1918 dropped it as well around 1919.)

===========

1919 December - Saskatchewan provincial government in process of passing legislation allowing Saskatchewan cities to adopt PR (the so-called local option). One MLA, speaking in favour, said if Saskatchewan had had PR in the previous provincial election, 20 opposition MLAs would have been elected, instead of 6, and that would have made for stronger government. (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 10, 1919)

=====

1919 December -- Calgary city election. Calgary's third STV city election saw Broatch and Annie Gale re-elected, defeating two straight-labour candidates - Rae and Smitten. PR was thought responsible for the result, which showed up labour's split over the question of the One Big Union. (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 12, 1919)

The World (Vancouver) observed this election. first saying that PR would take the excitement out of elections, when that was refuted by Calgary experiencing its largest turnout ever, it blamed PR for Labour's defeat [although Labour did not suffer defeat in this election - labour elected Broatch and Gale!] (World, Dec. 8, 10 and 11, 1919 as per Pilon, The Drive to PR in BC, p. 104)

Garfield King refuted The World's anti-PR charges -- see World, Dec. 19, 1919)

[perhaps Pilon made mistake with dates and meant the 1918 election.]

=====

Dec. 1919 -- Labour took majority of seats on Edmonton city council. This might have spurred the Alberta government to commission a study into the applicability of PR to Edmonton city elections soon after. (World, Dec. 26, 1919 as per Pilon, The Drive to PR in BC, p. 104) (see John D. Hunt 1921)

====

1919 Dec. 15 -- Garfield King submitted a pro-PR petition to Vancouver city council. The Board of Trade sent in a letter endorsing the demand. (Pilon, The Drive to PR in BC, p. 105)

======

1919 -- Education, Social and Moral Reform, P.R. (Liberal Party of Ontario. 1919)

(CIHM 65659) (Hathi trust online)

=====

1919 Independent Labor Party of Toronto. Constitution of the Independent Labor Party of Toronto  [1919? ] online: CIHM 65675

affiliated to the ILP of Ontario and the Ontario section of the CLP

Party platform:

...

16. Direct legislation through the initiative, referendum and recall.

17. Proportional representation, with grouped constituencies. [STV in MMDs]

18. Abolition of all election deposits.

19. Abolition of the Canadian Senate.

20. No court to be legally competent to declare as unconstitutional any Act of Parliament of Canada.

21. Amending the British North America Act in order that the decisions of the highest court of appeal in Canada shall be final in all matters civil and political.

22. Freedom of speech ; freedom of the public press, and the right of lawful assembly.

=====

1920 HISTORIC NOTE:

As farmer, labour and public service organizations pushed for electoral reform, Mackenzie King's Liberal Party passed a resolution in favour of electoral reform in 1919.

King promised electoral reform as he fought the 1921 election. (see 1921)

=======

1920 Proportional Representation Society of Canada made submission to Mathers Commission.

submission published as booklet:

Proportional Representation Society of Canada.

Proportional Representation and National Confidence in Parliament.

Statement submitted by the PRSC to the Royal Commission on Industrial Relations,

with an Introductory Note Showing the Increasing Acceptance of P.R. in Canada. 

March, 1920. (P.R. Pamphlet No. 7) perhaps 12 pages in length

(Hathi trust but not available to Canadian readers or possibly not at all; perhaps House of Commons Library has a copy))

Perhaps PRSC had seven publications (or more) but only two even listed on in Hathi trust online; several listed in LAC catalogue.

(see 1919) (see Montopedia blog on PR Review)

(see Kealey, "1919 Canadian Labour Revolt", Labour/Le Travail, Spring 1984. https://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/2600/3003)

===========

1920 Red Willow [Alberta] mock parliament was to discuss PR. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 15, 1920, p. 15)

=====

1920 - Edmonton Bulletin carried information on the Irish municipal elections that used STV under headline "Great Deal of Excitement". pointed out that 153 candidates were running for 80 seats in Dublin [not mentioning that the city had ten wards, and DM ranged from 6 to 10]. (Edmonton Bulletin, January 15, 1920, p. 9. no further reports were found.)

====

Historic note: following the sensational and violent crushing of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and general labour feeling, the demand for proportional representation was strong in Manitoba. In 1920, PR was adopted both for Winnipeg city elections and to elect Winnipeg MLAs. (see below)

1920 - former Winnipeg General Strike leader and jailbird Fred Dixon, speaking in Edmonton, called for Proportional Representation. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 21, 1920, page 3).

(see Montopedia blog - https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/winnipeg-labour-man-called-for-active-citizenry-after-general-strike)

Historic note:

January 1920 Premier Norris of Manitoba and his attorney-general contacted Ronald Hooper, an authority on PR, living in Ontario at the time, about the possibility of using STV in Manitoba provincial elections. The government had already given Winnipeg ten seats, up from 4, and was concerned that Labour might take eight or nine, or none at all, any of which might happen under FPTP.

Hooper later recalled "The government of the day did not want to take all the seats and Mr. Johnson [the attorney-general) was statesmanlike enough to realize that it would be bad for the city of Winnipeg, and if labour got no representation, the matter would not end there." Hooper assured the government leaders that PR would merely give labour and non-labour "representation in the provincial legislature in proportion to the votes" however they were placed. (from Hooper's evidence to 1936 Special Committee (see 1936))

Based on that advice, the government decided to adopt STV for election of Winnipeg MLAs in a city-wide district. For this election Winnipeg would have ten MLAs. Out of fairness, Winnipeg was given four more seats than it had had previously.

(see Dennis Pilon and Harold Janson "Electoral Systems and Reform" https://revparl.ca/39/4/39n4e_16_roundtable.pdf)

This was one of the largest DMs used in an STV government election up to that time.

(the 1917 Calgary city election had elected nine quite successfully.

Johannesburg (South Africa) city election 1909 had elected ten. (Humphreys, P.R. (1911). Irish Senate set a new high mark only a few years later - it used STV to elect 19 in 1925.)

(Manitoba's and Alberta's 33-year use of STV together made up the deepest experience of STV at the legislative level in all of North America.)

In anticipation of the adoption of PR:

"The Winnipeg 'P.R.' constituency in the coming provincial elections - What is P.R.?" (June 1920)

(this pamphlet or article was listed in Province of Saskatchewan Department Memo, dated July 4, 1969 (Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, "Clippings - Franchise"))

(1920 June 29 -- Manitoba -- use of STV to elect Winnipeg MLAs.

This first STV election saw the first woman MLA elected in Manitoba - Edith Rogers

1920 election resulted in Liberal minority government, due to election of many farmer and labour MLAs, 12 and 11 respectively, and Conservative and Independent MLAs. Winnipeg's STV only partly responsible - it elected four Labour and no farmers. Mostly the minority government was due to changing times - Liberal party got almost exactly its due share of seats -- its drop in seats was due to dropping from having a slender majority of votes to having only about 35 percent of votes cast.

As well, some blame STV for Manitoba's splintered political scene with six parties electing members in 1920. But STV did not have that effect in Alberta in 1926 (four parties elected members in 1921, 1926 and 1930). It seems Winnipeg's general strike encouraged a variety of labour parties to run, and STV merely ensured that each got their due share of Winnipeg seats.

The general strike splintered the labour vote in Winnipeg, and that is where the splintering happened. Prior to 1919, MB had elected members of three parties (including one Labour party) plus Independents. Under STV three Labour parties took seats in Winnipeg. The new Farmer party ran outside Winnipeg and elected members. And thus the party count went up to six, plus Independents. (see Jansen, STV in AB and MB, p. 240)

The Liberal Government only lasted two years. Edmonton Bulletin blamed the short term on group government (PR), with headline "Manitoba has accorded first practical test of group government in Canada with fatal results" (Edmonton Bulletin, April 10, 1922, p. 11) (William Irvine and Henry Wise Wood had popularized the concept of group government in the late 1910s.) (see 1922)

PR worked against the Liberal party in both MB and AB, so Edmonton Bulletin opposed it. The Edmonton Journal favoured it for that same reason.

The Winnipeg Free Press claimed credit for the reform, saying it had been clamouring for STV for some time. (Jansen, STV in AB and MB, p. 37)

In Manitoba, STV used at provincial level to 1954.

Optional-preferential voting - some votes marked just one preference, it seems

Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfers of surplus votes (see footnote).

with two different districting schemes:

-- 1920 to 1949 -- DM-10 in Winnipeg city-wide district. (one of largest DM used to elect legislators using STV in the world at that time).

-- 1949, 1953 -- Winnipeg used three districts -- DM 4.

1954 end of provincial PR in Manitoba -- seats in Winnipeg area increased by four, new single-member districts and FPTP.

(single-winner Alternative Voting (AV) used in rural districts 1923-1954, replaced by FPP)

PR expert Ronald Hooper reviewed the use of STV in Winnipeg in the 1920 provincial election and gave it high marks.

see Montopedia blog:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/hooper-winnipeg-s-stv-survived-its-first-severe-test-1920

see Manitoba Historical Society Archives website: https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/events/proportionalvoting.shtml

======

1920 - Ronald Hooper. The present need for proportional representation.

"Reprinted from the Labour Day review. 1920."

(plus related titles: Proportional Representation Society of Canada. Pamphlets. )

Library of Parliament (Ottawa) Sacré-Coeur

Available , Standard shelving LP/BP ; JF1075 C2 P76

=====

1920 also saw Winnipeg adopt STV for city elections.

first STV election saw first woman councillor elected to Winnipeg city council - Jessie Kirk

(1920 Manitoba -- adoption of STV in Winnipeg city elections.

STV in use at city level until 1970. DM-3 -- 6 members in each district. half of members elected each election (staggered terms).

Casual vacancies filled by by-election (held at time of next election).

The whole-vote "exact method" used for transfer of surplus votes.

(Winnipeg had 179,000 residents at this point in time.)

3-5 Labour councillors were elected in the 1920 city election. (according to early returns reported in the Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 4, 1920, p. 1). Such was the consistent result for Labour over succeeding years, although in 1934 Labour support soared, and Labour councillors and Communist councillors plus a Labour mayor eked out a narrow majority in the city hall.

(complaint was made that 9000 votes were rejected in 1920 because the voter had marked an X instead of a number, as reported in Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 8, 1920, p. 5)

(Alberta in later years would be stricter than MB at how voters could mark valid ballots, causing higher incidence of spoiled votes in AB than was happening in MB. see Jansen, STV in AB and MB, p. 90, 228)

29,649 votes were cast in this election, of which 20,915 were valid, and of which approx. 16,000 were used to elect the councillors. This was about 54 percent of votes cast and 77 percent of valid votes, which is more than the amount that elects winners under FPTP.

(see 1924 PR Review on state of city-level PR in N. America)

see Montopedia blog https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/100th-anniversary-of-the-first-winnipeg-city-election-to-use-pr-stv

Proportional Representation Society of Canada. Representative opinions on the P.R. elections at Winnipeg : Manitoba provincial elections, June, 1920.

[Ottawa : Proportional Representation Society of Canada], 1920. ("October, 1920") 4 pgs.

"P.R. leaflet no. 12"

Available: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, IEC/CSF (HD-IEC) Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1920 no. 0020.

===

1920 -- UFA convention passed a resolution that in future STV would be used to elect executive. The UFA put STV into use in that same convention 1920.

1920 Edmonton Journal Feb. 14, 1920 devoted a full page to a discussion of PR.

The cause of the Journal's in-depth reportage of PR was the use of STV to elect the UFA executive in a provincial convention.

E.J. Fream submitted an article on the subject "The Hare System of the Single Transferable Vote illustrated in Alberta as used in the election of the UFA executive."

The use of STV at UFA conventions then and later helped prove STV's safety and usefulness to Alberta voters.

1920 March -- Alberta Legislature debated PR.

According to Edmonton Bulletin, generally not a friend of PR, two points came out:

-PR is conducive to development of "group politics". Some thought this would be good; some thought this would be bad.

-some (city) MLAs thought PR was best achieved by (or the term PR only means) ensuring that each district has same number of voters, by enlarging rural districts so they have same number of votes as city districts (that is assuming single-member districts), decreasing the number of rural members and increasing the number of urban members. (Edmonton Bulletin, March 15, 1920)

Early 1920s -- Alberta MLA Captain Robert Pearson called for proportional representation in legislative debates.

Pearson was re-elected in 1921 so sat as an MLA from 1917 to 1926.

1920 -- Alberta MP William Irvine in his 1920 book Farmers in Politics talked about the need for PR arising naturally from organized labor, organized farmers and other groups fighting for representation. but cautions against trying to work out exact scheme of group government.

Page 236: "the new form of government cannot be constructed beforehand by any individual.... it will be a natural outgrowth of group government." and also he noted how PR elections would lead to a proportional cabinet, where each party (each party with seats in the chamber anyway) would have its due share of cabinet posts. Page 238: "a group government as I conceive it implies that each group would be represented in the cabinet."

======================

1920 Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association (SGGA)

J.B. Musselman (SGGA secretary), New Provincial Political Platform.   

"This is not a party movement. either for or against the existing government. It is primarily an expression of political independence from the old party methods and a demand for truly democratic expression at the polls. Instead of electing supporters or opponents of a party leader who either is or hopes to become premier, the electors are demanding a means for intelligent expression of their own views at the polls and we believe that by the method proposed this can be accomplished." (from New Provincial Political Platform, CIHM 99025)

=====

1920  Your Committee have given special attention to P.R. as a method of voting (Social Service Council of Canada, Committee on Political Purity and the Franchise, 1920)

(Hathi trust online -- CIHM 80353)

(Library Archives of Canada -- Mic.F. CC-4 no. 80353; Preservation Coll. JF1071 P76 1920)

1920 Charles Mullen, Proportional Representation and Municipal Government (1920)

 [published in Montreal]

online: https://archive.org/details/cihm_84856

Library and Archives Canada -- Mic.F. CC-4 no. 84856; Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1920 no. 0013

refers to "Red terror" and "White terror" in Soviet Union at the time.

(also author of Paving and Roads book)

[anti-PR MP John Currie quoted from this booklet in his attacks on testimony of electoral reformer Ronald Hooper in 1921 - see 1921)

1920  J.A.S. (J.A. Stevenson)  Proportional representation. A truly democratic form of voting for government - just what it means and how it works. 

published in Winnipeg by the Canadian Council of Agriculture. Four-page pamphlet.

First paragraph mentions Thomas Hare and John Stuart Mill.

(A copy is at Regina Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan accession number 460 (S), as of October 2025. Another copy is in PAA info file "Political parties - Canadian Council of Agriculture - political pamphlets".)

Stevenson, a writer for the Canadian Council of Agriculture, was also author of Protection does not help new countries (1919), Profiteering (1920), and Where the Farmer touches city labor (1920). (These are listed in Weinrich, Social Protest).

[Writings such as these encouraged the UFA to promise to bring in PR if elected - and helped the UFA actually fulfill that promise.)

======

Illustrative P.R. election : the single transferable vote.

[Ottawa] : [Proportional Representation Society of Canada], 1920. 1920 Rev. ed.

"P.R. leaflet no. 4"

Available: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, IEC/CSF (HD-IEC) Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1920 no. 0021 fol

[not seen]

=====

1920 - British Representation League established in Toronto as a force against PR. its chairman, J.R. McNichol, described PR as a menace to the British constitution. (Bassano  Mail, Dec. 2, 1920, p. 3)

(He likely was John Ritchie MacNichol, who went on to be president of the federal Conservative party from 1925 to 1943. MacNichol addressed the House of Commons Special Committee on PR and STV in May 1921.) (see 1924)

1920 - Lethbridge voters vote in favour of switching to city manager plan, instead of previous three-person elective commission board. [the switch was made, and Lethbridge and St. James (MB) were the only two cities in Canada to use both the city manager plan and STV?] [IRV previous to 1928?]. (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 15, 1920) (Harris, Practical Workings ..., p. 366). (see 1930)

1920 Edmonton city charter amendment committee, with support of city council, asked prov. government to amend the city charter to include PR, Direct Legislation (recall, referendum and initiative), dropping the property qualification for mayor and aldermen, and the mayor to serve for two years. (Apparently most was not allowed, although PR did come, in 1923.) (Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 3, 1920, p. 3)

=====

1920 R.C. Owens ("Old Man Owens") in his radical booklet Daylight on the money and banking questions..." called for electoral reform:

That the legislative government shall consist of but one elected body, and the veto power be taken from the heads of all governments and assumed by the voters through the adoption of direct legislation, the initiative, referendum and recall, and the system of proportional representation. The same principles to be carried out in all industrial organizations. 

(online copy at Internet Archives)

======

1921 Montreal -- referendum on adoption of STV for city elections.

Majority were opposed. (Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems, p. 748)

referred to in Massicotte's chapter in Blais, To Keep or to Change FPTP (2008)

1921 December Edmonton city election used Block Voting to fill six seats.

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 under STV likely would have been enough to win a seat in a 6-seat contest.)

The Block voting system used in 1921 in Edmonton allowed the business slate to take all but one of the seats. (This laid base for 1922 referendum decision in favour of STV.)

=======

1921  Vancouver and Victoria adopted STV.

Vancouver used PR-STV in three elections -- in January 1921, January 1922 and December 1922, then returned to at-large Block Voting (the Block Voting system is still used today. In 2022 Vancouver election officials counted more than one million votes cast by just 200,000 voters.)

Victoria used it in one election in 1921. (Victoria today elects its eight city councillors and three Capital Regional District directors through Block Voting. In 2022, each voter could cast eight votes in its election of city councillors. 185,000 votes were cast although only 27,000 voters voted. And there were no guarantees that one voting block did not just take all the seats.)

1921 Port Coquitlam and Mission City dropped STV. (They had adopted it in 1917/1918.)

Poulin said the elimination of STV was in part due to "an indiscriminate approach to modernizing elections in Western Canada during the post-war period. The administrative effort was just too much to bear in small towns" where it did not seem to make much difference. (Poulin, The Politics of Voting, p. 110)

===

1921 Saskatoon, Regina, North Battleford and Moose Jaw adopted STV.

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/saskatooon-area-writer-called-for-support-for-pr-friendly-candidates

(see 1924 PR Review on state of city-level PR in N. America)

(Saskatoon use of STV:

Saskatoon had plebiscite on PR in 1920

used PR for city election 1921-1926

plebiscite on end of PR in 1924 -- unsuccessful

plebiscite on end of PR in 1926 -- successful

plebiscite on return to PR in 1930 and 1936 -- unsuccessful

1937 plebiscite in favour of return - successful

1938-1941 STV used.

1941 plebiscite majority voted to end PR)

===

1921 United Farmers of Alberta pushed for electoral reform. Three sitting MLAs called for the change - Non-Partisan League's Louise McKinney and James Weir, [at least I expect that to be the case] and an UFA MLA Moore. The Liberal government of Alberta formed a royal commission. Legislative Clerk of the Legislative Council, John D. Hunt, wrote a report on the use of Proportional Representation in other countries and the reasons to have it in Alberta. (The report was shelved and, it seems, all copies were destroyed.)

see Montopedia:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/1921-hunt-s-report-seen-as-attack-on-public-officials-when-he-targeted-the-electoral-system

An abridgement of his research was published by the UFA at the time of the 1921 provincial election:

Present Electoral system condemned - John D. Hunt, clerk of the Legislative Council, denounces system which allows manipulation by unscrupulous politicians. Proportional Representation only fair method -- Works well with occupational groups. Also attacks autocratic power of cabinet and caucus.

(Peel 9355)

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/1921-present-electoral-system-condemned-publication-made-case-for-stv-in-alberta

1921 - PR effort published a six-page essay Proportional Representation. unattributed but likely authored by John D. Hunt.

Begins "Shall our government be carried on by the whole number of electors equally represented or by the majority of the electors exclusively represented?..." (This is optimistic, as often under FPTP in many districts the majority are unrepresented, and only a minority of voters elect the member.) (PAA 71.138, Box 5, file 126)

First sentences: "Shall our Government be carried on by the whole number of the electors equally represented or by the majority of the electors exclusively represented? Shall all the substantial parties into which the people may be divided be represented in the Assembly in proportion to their numbers, or shall just the strongest party in fixed districts be represented regardless of whether it is a majority or a minority of the [district's votes]? Shall the strongest party be determined by the highest relative vote in local districts of various sizes, shapes, activities and population and subject before every election to redistribution and gerrymander by the party seeking return to power? Shall we have democratic representative government or not? This is the issue. ...

Let us consider what changes in system are necessary in order to give "the majority of the electors a majority of the representatives" and also to give "a minority of the electors a minority of the representatives"?

Large Areas with Several Members...

An Illustrated Election...

The Transferable Vote...

An Adequate Ballot - The idea is to have every ballot perform its part in affecting the final decision as to who should be the representative. ....)

(Proportional Representation [1921] (six-page leaflet). [John D. Hunt?] Copy found in "Hunt's correspondence" at PAA 1971.138 Box 5, file 126.) [photos in my collection]

1921 - Proportional representation: fourteen points against the single-member constituency. [Ottawa]: [Proportional Representation Society of Canada], 1921.  2nd ed.

Proportional Representation Society of Canada no. 9

Available: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, IEC/CSF (HD-IEC) Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1921 no. 0033

(from https://bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/search?queryString=su%3A%20Proportional%20representation&bookReviews=off&idDetect=false&clusterResults=false&groupVariantRecords=false)

(Professor William W. Ware listed 16 benefits of PR in 1872.)

HISTORIC NOTE:

1921 provincial election -- The United Farmers of Alberta, the largest farmer lobby group in the province, ran official party candidates and made promises to reform the election system. its campaign literature ("UFA Reconstructive Legislative Program") called for "Proportional Representation for all classes of the community according to their numerical strength." This was to be produced by "Proportional Representation [in the cities] and a preferential ballot [IRV] in the single-member constituencies." (Manitoba Free Press, July 25, 1921)

(see Dennis Pilon and Harold Janson, "Electoral system and Reform" https://revparl.ca/39/4/39n4e_16_roundtable.pdf)

After the UFA won support from a majority of voters (in the districts where it ran candidates) and a majority of seats in the Legislature, under guidance from John D. Hunt, it brought in partial PR in 1924.

already in the Dec . 21, 1921 issue of the Chauvin Chronicle, it was predicted the next provincial election would be held using PR. UFA Premier Greenfield said "every election that has been held recently merely adds to the force of the arguments advanced in favour of PR".

(https://archive.org/details/CVC_19211221/19211221/page/n5/mode/2up, p. 6)

=====

1921 - House of Commons

King's government formed an all-party "Committee appointed to consider the Subject of Proportional Representation and the single transferable or preferential vote."

Nothing came of it, before the 1921 election.

House of Commons Special Committee appointed to consider the Subject of Proportional Representation and the Subject of the Single Transferable or Preferential Vote, and desirability of the application of one or the other or both to elections to the House of Commons of Canada...

J.A. Sexsmith chaired the Special Committee; Howard Primrose Whidden and others served on the special committee.

April 14, 1921 Ronald Hooper addressed the Special Committee. Image 8 is where Hooper said Canada's aim was to "secure the highest type of Parliament where members represent the opinions of people not acres, mental rather than geographical constituencies, it will be necessary to make only two changes - larger electoral districts electing several members, and..." (he was interrupted). Then having explained that Block Voting allowed a majority group to take all the seats [he was optimistic], he said the second change needed was to adopt STV in the MMDs that should be created.

John Allister Currie (Simcoe North) berated Hooper, saying he was attacking "one of the fundamentals of our system of government". Currie said MMDs had not worked with Block Voting nor Limited Voting in Toronto as an MMD. [likely he was wrong]

Hooper countered Currie's counter-examples by saying MMDs without single voting and ranked votes were not useful [and of course, ranked voting without MMDs is not useful.]

He said MMDs do not lead to more-expensive campaigns -- whole slates share the expense. [perhaps a better point is you can appeal just to your potential supporters, not to a purported plurality of general populace in the single-member district, you don't need to cover the whole district or even attempt to cover the whole district.]

p. 33-34 committee members discussed IRV (phrased as "use of ranked votes in single-winner contests") and Germany's PR

p. 38-39 recounted the minimal training that was done to prepare for Winnipeg's 10-seat STV contest in 1920 [and still it went fine]

p. 42 France sought to follow Belgium's example and brought in PR but in unsatisfactory compromise and in 1920 strong effort made to bring in improved system

p. 44 already discussion of having IRV in rural districts. Queen opposed. (this was due, it was claimed, because labour did well with FPTP and with STV in Winnipeg.)

p. 46 UK HofC voted against PR for third time.

John Ritchie MacNichol, of the British Representation League, addressed the House of Commons Special Committee in May 1921. [he was opposed to PR] (page 54-)

[final recommendations of the special committee not noted in the report online.]

1921 report: https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_HOC_1305_3_1/1

online parliamentary Library

Special Committee appointed to consider the subject of proportional representation. House of Commons. Proceedings of the Special Committee appointed to consider the subject of proportional representation and the subject of the single transferable or preferential vote. [Ottawa]: [House of Commons], [1921].

Available: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, IEC/CSF (HD-IEC) Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. COP.CA.2.2005-815

committee called for a plebiscite to be taken before proceeding with PR., in order to "ascertain the desires of the electors in regards to the application of PR with grouped constituencies." (Quebec Chronicle, May 31, 1921, p. 7

https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3612653

https://diffusion2.banq.qc.ca/pdfjs-3.10.111-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/XDPvw8xuidDDdZWao0V8WQ.pdf#page=7

Another source says the committee recommended no change because the MPs on the committee said they had not seen evidence that proportional representation would be “conducive to good government.”

The motion [to reform election system?] was defeated, although Prime Minister MacKenzie King himself voted in favour.

Labour MP A.A. Heaps tried to get the committee members to fulfill their own party's promise but was ignored. (FVC website: "100 year of broken promises") (see https://www.fairvote.ca/100-years-of-broken-promises/)

(see Wiki: Elections in Canada)

====

1921 federal election -- King promised electoral reform as he fought the 1921 election.

federal election was held using mixture of FPTP and Block Voting.

After King won with a slight majority of the HofC seats in December 1921 (with only 41 percent of the votes), nothing immediately was done to reform our election system.

1921 federal election flawed, said Ronald Hooper

"Clearly we ought not to retain a system of election that so threatens the unity of Canada as to give whole cities and whole provinces over to one political creed," Hooper summed up.

Hooper's views were presented in the January 1922 Proportional Representation Review (available on-line)

Ronald Hooper later presented evidence on PR to an Ontario Legislative Assembly body and to the House of Commons Special Committee on electoral reform -- see 1923 and 1936)

1921 ONTARIO

Report of the Committee on Proportional Representation. 1921

Ontario. Legislative Assembly. Special Committee Appointed to Investigate Proportional Representation.; Hill, Hamnett P., chairman.

Available at Ontario Legislative Library Government Document (CA2 ON XD..41 1920 A1) and other locations. (cannot find any copies online)

(copy at Library and Archives Canada - Preservation Coll. COP.ON.5277)

1921 -- United Farmers of Ontario. Proportional representation.  4-page pamphlet.

Date not given but text refers to the West Peterborough by-election of February 1921, "where the farmers were hopelessly in the minority." Postulates that if East and West Peterborough and North Hastings were made into a three-seat district and PR used, "the farmers by voting together would be assured of at least one representative and the farmer minority in West Peterborough would not lose their votes."

Concluding statement: "The underlying principle of PR is that every individual voter will have a share in determining who the representative shall be and that no considerable portion of the electorate shall remain unrepresented. The application is not difficult in practice. It has worked admirably in Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, and Sweden for years. Wherever it has been given a fair trial, it has never been discarded. [thus implying that the BC cities that had already discarded STV had not given it a fair trial]

It was employed successfully in the Manitoba elections in 1920. It is being much talked of in Canada today, and a committee of investigation has been appointed both at Queen's Park [Ontario government] and at Ottawa to bring in a report. Every elector wishing further information on PR can obtain the same from the Head Office of The United Farmers of Ontario."

(copy at Regina Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (accession number 460 (S)) , reference code (S)G 292.4, as of October 2025)

======

1922 - Progressive Party MP William Good put forward a motion to the House of Commons advocating reforms in advance of the next election.

He introduced legislation in the House of Commons in June 1922 that would have seen Instant-Runoff Voting used in each riding where more than two candidates were competing, and he also called for demonstration multi-member districts to provide experience of proportional representation --

“one or more multi-member constituencies” would be created “for the purpose of demonstrating the working and effects of the system of true proportional representation.”

(Ronald Hooper wrote an article in the Canadian Law Review in 1923 on what Good's proposed IRV would mean for Canadian elections - "The 'Alternative Vote' method explained." Canadian Bar Review 232, 1923. CanLIIDocs 36, <https://canlii.ca/t/t621>

https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/1923CanLIIDocs36#!fragment/zoupio-_Tocpdf_bk_3/BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoAvbRABwEtsBaAfX2zhoBMAzZgI1TMAzAEoANMmylCEAIqJCuAJ7QA5KrERCYXAnmKV6zdt0gAynlIAhFQCUAogBl7ANQCCAOQDC9saTB80KTsIiJAA

see Montopedia blog:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/ronald-hooper-alternative-vote-method-explained-1923)

===============

1922 Sedgewick and Ribstone -- nomination of UFA candidates for upcoming by-elections. selection of candidates was done by Instant-Runoff Voting. The reportage of the events somewhat erroneously called the system "the use of the preferential system of balloting, with the single transferable vote."

In the Sedgewick nomination contest, 98 ballots were cast, with none spoiled, and only two delegates did not rank order all the seven candidates. A.G. Andrews, the successful nominee, went to on to be declared the MLA by acclamation.

Ribstone - Ten candidates were in running. 70 delegates, representing 23 locals, voted. Farquharson, the successful nominee, went on to be elected MLA in two-party fight against a Liberal. (The UFA, June 15, 1922, p. 10)

=======

Alberta Labour Annual 1922, published by the Alberta Labor News. includes an article by William Irvine on "economic group politics" (a form of PR). (The UFA, Aug. 2, 1922)

=============================

July 19, 1922 Manitoba provincial election -- second election where Winnipeg MLAs elected through STV. Winnipeg mayor speaks out in favour of PR in the pages of Winnipeg Tribune (page unknown), how Independent candidate Downes also benefited from transferable votes (p. 17), and much discussion of process and effect of STV)

(see Montopedia blog "1922 Manitoba election" for online data url)

1922 December Edmonton city election -- referendum held on adoption of PR (STV).

City council was said to have distributed 10,000 leaflets on PR in advance of the referendum. (perhaps mentioned in EJ, Sept. 22, 1922) [I don't know which leaflet this is]

Majority of voters voted to adopt STV for next election. Electing councillors in city-wide district was already a pattern as Block Voting in an at-large district was in use.

Apparently there was great dissatisfaction with the 1921 election result.

Labour councillors pulled for STV as did a couple business-slate councillors - Izena Ross and Bickerton Pratt. (Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 17, 1922)

As well, Edmonton voters could see Calgary's success with STV since 1917, 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 starting in 1923.

=====

1922/1923 John D. Hunt authored four-page leaflet Proportional Representation - what it is and how it works.

(LAC has multiple editions of this title.

2nd edition was published in 1919 -- Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1919 no. 0028,

3rd edition in 1920 -- Coll. de préservation / (HD-CSF) Preservation Coll. AC901 A7 1920 no. 0019 ("Proportional Representation Society of Canada no. 3")

[1935?] edition Coll. générale / (HD-395) General Coll. AC901 A7 1935 no. 0005) ("P.R. leaflet no. 5")

Feb. 19, 1923 -- MP W.C. Good of Brant, Ontario sponsored a bill to use PR experimentally in selected districts for the next federal election. Brought to a vote, it failed, 90 to 72.

1923 Edmonton adopted STV for city elections. STV in use until 1927.

City-wide district already being used under Block Voting so at-large districting continued. Annual elections, so any casual vacancies filled in next election.

Two-year terms, staggered terms, half of councillors up for election each year.

DM varied from five to seven.

Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfer of surplus votes.

"A Bylaw to Provide for the Adoption of a System of P.R. in Municipal Elections" (CEA) [my photo DSC01680]

1923-1927 Edmonton used STV to elect its city councillors and school board trustees.

Edmonton dropped STV after voters in 1927 voted in favour of switch back to Block Voting.

(Edmonton did not go to single-member winner-take-all FPTP ward elections until 2010.)

see Montopedia:

- https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/edmonton-s-stv-elections-1923-1927-southside-guarantee-and-staggered-terms-meant-high-threshold

-https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/1923-edmonton-s-first-stv-city-election

(see 1924 PR Review on state of city-level PR in N. America)

======

1922 -- (By the end of 1922, Vancouver, Nelson, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, Mission and Victoria had stopped using STV.

Poulin said the elimination of STV was in part due to "an indiscriminate approach to modernizing elections in Western Canada during the post-war period. The administrative effort was just too much to bear in small towns" where it did not seem to make much difference. (Poulin, The Politics of Voting, p. 110)

In BC, only South Vancouver and West Vancouver continued to use STV, until 1928 and 1930 respectively.

Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg kept it past 1926. Lethbridge adopted it in 1929.)

(see 1924 PR Review on state of city-level PR in N. America)

1923 February UFA convention -- H.E.H. Scholefield elected vice president by use of "single transferable votes" [actually IRV]. Seven were in running. (The UFA, Feb. 15, 1923, p. 5)

=======

1923 Alberta -- Instant-Runoff Voting used for cancel-prohibition referendum.

Plumbing was allowed. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 28, 1923, p.1)

Four choices.

Government sale of booze and private beer parlours got majority of votes in 1st Count.

In debate in the Legislature, Premier Greenfield said he supported using preferential voting in the referendum, as question was to be not just on beerhalls being closed [and cancellation of Prohibition] but voters would have choice about different alternatives, or to maintain Prohibition as is. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 18, 1923, p. 1)

The referendum used ranked voting, and only 4 percent of the ballots were spoiled. This low rate of rejected votes helped lay base for the adoption of IRV in every district outside Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat the following year, and of STV in those cities. (see 1924)

Still some uncertainty about trusting the system and some advised voters to plump. ("Plump for Prohibition is recommendation for Methodists of Alberta", Edmonton Bulletin, June 4, 1923, p. 1) (Plumping had no effect in the end - no vote transfers were conducted.)

=====

In 1923/1924, Manitoba, already using STV in Winnipeg, adopted Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) elsewhere in provincial elections. This mixed system was used in MB elections 1926-1953. (Also, IRV was used in Alberta outside the cities 1924-1956, and in all districts in BC in 1952 and 1953.)

======

Historical note:

1923 Ontario -- in waning months before holding a general election, the reigning United Farmers of Ontario finally started a move toward PR as promised in its 1919 campaign platform.

1923 United Farmers of Ontario. Proportional representation and the transferable vote in single member constituencies. Published in Toronto. [1920] (four pages)

(listed in Weinrich Social Protest)

(not in Hathi Trust online)

(copy (dated 192?) at Regina Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (accession number 460 (S)) , reference code (S)G 292.5, as per PAS info as of October 2025

1923 - the UFO government put forward legislation to re-distribute seats and adopt PR and STV. Proposal was to group Toronto districts in a city-wide multi-member district and have MPPs elected through STV. (Proportional Representation Review, April 1923)

evidence on PR presented to an Ontario Legislative Assembly body.

Special Committee to Examine Bills 68 and 69 (Proportional Representation)

(Ronald Hooper perhaps gave evidence. In 1923 Ronald Hooper moved to the Winnipeg area to be associate editor of the Winnipeg Tribune. That newspaper was a supporter of PR. see Hooper's entry in "Memorable Manitobans" online)

(At the time, Toronto had two single-member and four two-seat districts, electing using seat/post system. the previous election had been in 1919)

The Conservative leader objected, saying fair and equitable treatment could not be given the topic in the little time remaining before the election. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 13, 1923)

A week later Conservative MPPs filibustered to hold up debate. One MPP spoke for three hours reading quotes from British sources in opposition to PR.

Some government MPPs were quoted as saying they did not want the electoral reforms being considered. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 18, 1923)

Two days later Premier Drury admitted defeat.

He withdrew the proposed re-distribution/PR bill, blaming the Conservative opposition. He said the people would deliver their verdict on the case in the upcoming election. Mention of the voters deciding the issue was applauded in all sections of the chamber.

The Liberal leader dis-associated his party from the Conservative obstructionism, and said his party was ready to co-operate on the reform bill.

The Premier defended his government's attempt to effect reform in that direction, saying "PR is in the platforms of three of the parties in the Legislature, and 15 percent of its members were elected with it in their platforms. That means that we should at least make a trial of it. The Legislature itself has passed the principle of PR. Under the circumstances, no government would be doing its duty if it failed to bring it in as part of redistribution."

The Independent Labour Party, with 11 MPPs, was the third party that supported PR, as Drury mentioned.

The Liberal Party put adoption of PR in its election platform as the 1923 election loomed closer. In April 26 , the Liberal party said it would run candidates in every district, instead of leaving way open for easy re-election of UFO members.

And it presented its own proposals for electoral reform:

- the use of Alternative Voting in every district where more than two candidates are nominated. (Alternative Voting is better known under the name Instant-Runoff Voting.)

- representation by population should be observed with due regard for country [county?] boundaries.

- redistribution should not be introduced in the last years of a government but should be discussed in the first session following a census.

- that proportional representation should be the method of election and brought in by grouping certain districts. Proportional representation at that time meant Single Transferable Voting in multi-member districts.

He said he expected the Liberal party to take 50 seats in the upcoming election and if not hold power, to at least be of considerable influence in the Legislature. He said Ontario ought to have had redistribution and blamed the UFO government for not moving earlier on that issue. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 26, 1923)

In 1923 election, under FPTP, the UFO received about half the seats that were its proportional due. The UFO received about same proportion of the votes cast as it had in 1919, but its seat tally dropped by 40 percent.

(see https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/ontario-farmers-government-tried-for-pr-1919-1923

========================================

HISTORIC NOTE:

In 1924, Alberta provincial election system adopted STV in cities and Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) elsewhere. This mixed system was in use in Alberta elections 1924-1956.

"The main advantage [of the IRV system] is that it prevents representation on a minority basis as is possible where there are more than two parties [candidates]. Further, it gives to all voters a much freer and wider use of the ballot in making choice in representation." (Farm and Ranch Review, March 1, 1956, p. 48. That article did not try to explain the advantages of multi-winner PR.)

(1924 Alberta -- adoption of STV to elect provincial members in Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat. city-wide districts - Edmonton and Calgary each with 5 members, M.H. 2 members. (These MMDs were in existence prior to STV being adopted.)

As well IRV was prescribed for districts outside major cities.

As well, Instant-Runoff Voting was to be used outside the multi-member districts.

Legislation given royal assent April 12, 1924. [first general election using STV/IRV was in 1926]

STV -- Optional-preferential voting. Droop quota. Whole-vote "exact method" used for transfers of surplus votes (see footnote).

In 1924 Alberta was the first legislature in U.S./Canada to adopt an election system where all its members were elected using PR or majoritarian methods - the proportional STV or the majoritarian Instant-Runoff Voting system.

The use of transferable votes (both under STV and IRV) produced this benefit:

"it gives to all voters a much freer and wider use of the ballot in making choice in representation."  (Farm and Ranch Review, March 1, 1956, p. 58)

see

-https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/how-democratic-were-alberta-s-stv-elections-the-stats

-https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/what-were-the-effects-of-using-pr-stv-in-alberta-from-1926-to-1955

-https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/stv-alberta-s-past-and-future

On March 10, 1924, Labour MLA Alex Ross, a member of the UFA cabinet, moved second reading of the new Election Act that included STV. He pointed out that ranked votes were used in 1923 Prohibition referendum and only 4 percent of votes cast there were spoiled.

applauded John D. Hunt's careful work in formulating the new Election Act and comparing it to old act.

The new act was to do away with election deposits. (Perhaps that was amended out later, because candidate deposits were never abolished in Alberta.)

"Elections Act Alberta Model For All Time" (Edmonton Journal, March 11, 1924)

https://librarysearch.assembly.ab.ca/client/en_CA/search/asset/143204/0

see Harold Janson, "Electoral Systems and Reform"

https://revparl.ca/39/4/39n4e_16_roundtable.pdf

=====

1924 John D. Hunt  A Key to P.R.

explained the workings of STV, using the whole-vote "exact method" for transfer of surplus votes, and explains Instant-Runoff Voting as well.

Hunt's booklet A Key to P.R. (1924) is accessible in Peel's PP website.

It was also reproduced in these books: A Report on Alberta Elections, 1905-1982 and "100 years of Democracy" volume of the [2005] Centennial Series.

John D. Hunt's A Key to P.R. is available online in this semi-wrongly-identified entry:

A report on Alberta elections, 1905-1982 : John D. Hunt : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

(John D. Hunt see 1918)

1924 October 27 -- Edmonton provincial by-election -- four candidates completed for the one seat. - first use of ranked votes to elect an Alberta MLA.

The Edmonton Bulletin criticized the new electoral system, saying that the winner was not announced until four days after the election. It wondered whether it might take even longer when several members were being elected and where dozens of candidate were in the field. The writer admitted the "delay may not be materially important but it does lessen popular interest in the election." It saw inconsistency in that the second choices of Pelton's and Bartholomew's supporters were counted while those of Ewing's and Henry's supporters were not counted. It also bemoaned that 1359 voters had had their ballot declared spoiled, and pointed out the "delusion" that representation by someone who was not the voter's first choice was any kind of real representation. ("Confusion worse confounded", Edmonton Bulletin, November 3, 1924, p. 3)

Some of these views were refuted by a representative of the Proportional Representation League in the pages of the Edmonton Journal who clarified that counting Henry's or Ewing's supporters' secondary choices might have produced a result that was not intended by those voters themselves; that secondary preferences under Instant-Runoff Voting were used as backup contingency votes only, for a reason; that no one can get representation from someone who does not share their views but such is the myth all the time under first past the post. He predicted that in most future Edmonton elections, when STV would be used, several members would be elected and each would be able to truly represent only his or her own supporters with no pretense at representing all who live in the city. (J. Delancey Verplanck, "The transferable vote", Edmonton Journal, November 1924)

1924 -- Use of STV in Canadian city elections reviewed, in pages of PR Review

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/opinions-on-canadian-municipal-stv-1924.

At that point in time:

-Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and four Saskatchewan cities were using STV.

-Vancouver, Victoria and several other BC cities had used STV but had discarded it.

"The two reasons why the people rejected the novel method of electing city councils and school boards were :

( a ) that it took too long to determine who was elected, and

( b ) that the transferring of votes seemed a waste of time."

... (Glasham, P.R. in Canada (1951), p. 25-26) [But transfers are not all that STV is.]

As of 1924, Lethbridge had not yet made its move to STV.

As of 1924, outside of BC, no city that had adopted STV had abandoned it.

(Later all would, unfortunately.)

=====

1924 Canadian House of Commons discussed proportional representation.

14th Parliament, Third session. 14-15 George V 1924

Ronald Hooper gave evidence.

[I did see the transcript of the discussion online but can't find it now]

(for Hooper see 1920, 1921, 1923, 1926)

 =====

 John Ritchie MacNicol. An exposition of the imaginary claims and serious results of the proportional representation-transferable vote system and the alternative vote system.

Toronto: West Toronto Pr. House, 1924.

(Available Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Collection générale / General Collection JF1071 M3)

(J.R. MacNichol see 1920)

1924 Wynyard (Sask) provincial by-election. Dr. T.A. Patrick, former member of the NWT Assembly, campaigned for the Progressive Party, with a platform that included a "Saskatchewan first" position and the party having no formal tie to either major party. He also called for the use of Single Transferable Voting, Senate reform, and the completion of the Hudson Bay railway.

(Following the election of a minority Liberal government in 1925, Patrick issued an editorial in the Yorkton Enterprise, saying that the Progressive party should support the Liberal government but only if it brought in STV, accomplished the completion of the Hudson Bay railway, and replaced party leader King with Charles Dunning.

August 1926 Canadian Press article quoted Progressive MP Milton Campbell saying that he would not support King stepping down as it would give Patrick too much power. (Houston and Houston, Pioneer of Vision, The Reminiscences of T.A. Patrick, MD, p. 123-4)

Patrick was author of Our Senate Problem and its Solution [1924?].

(Weinrich 1076) (not in hathi trust; not in Internet archive. available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta (political info folders)

(see Wikipedia "Thomas Alfred Patrick")

1925 June - UFA MPs disappointed at lack of progress by King's Liberal government.

No action was being taken on "Home Bank legislation, STV, Soldiers' Land Revaluation, changes to the Bankrupty Act, freight rates, so one is justified in questioning the good faith of this administration." (The UFA, June 1, 1925, p. 6)

1925 September 29 - Medicine Hat provincial by-election conducted using IRV. This was the second by-election conducted since STV/IRV was adopted. Three candidates in the running. Pingle in the lead in the first count, but did not have a majority. 500 votes exhausted in the second round of counting. Pingle won with majority of votes still in play.

1925 -- The UFA MPs met with UFA MLAs.

The Calgary Albertan, reporting on the meeting, said the MPs reported that they could not work with the Conservatives but believed they could work with the King government on three issues with some hope of success:

-establishment of a system of rural credits (low-cost loans to farmers);

-establishment of STV,

-transference of control of natural resources to the provincial governments. Such would give Alberta the right to develop Spray Lakes power project under the control of the provincial government.

The UFA MPs were clear that they were a distinct parliamentary unit in the House of Commons and were prepared to co-operate with "Liberals, Conservatives, Progressives or any other party or group in the interests of good legislation." (The UFA, Dec. 1, 1925, p. 6)

However the King government never brought STV into use in federal elections. (see 1936)

======

1925 federal election -- Like many elections of that era, this election was beset by charges of - or possibly real instances of - corrupt and illegal practices by election officials and party functionaries.

see "Evidence and report in respect to... alleged corrupt or illegal practices ... in Athabaska... in 1925..." http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/5050.html

Both traditional parties engaged in rumour-mongering and had captive sympathetic newspaper editors.

Sometimes charges on each side of unsavoury electioneering were simply mutually cancelled in what was called the "saw-off" method, as was done in 1908 in Strathcona when the campaign teams of both Liberal candidate Wilbert McIntyre and a Conservative were accused of bribery and obtaining votes by threats -- the charges were simply mutually cancelled, with no thought of how voters felt or how it would affect the legitimacy of the election process. (see Monto, Old Strathcona Edmonton's Southside Roots, p. 75)

========

1926 Alberta election

the first provincial election in Canada (or in the U.S.) where all the elected members were elected by proportional or majoritarian systems (Illinois's use of Cumulative Voting to elect members of its state Assembly from 1870 to 1970 was neither proportional nor majoritarian.)

The UFA government claimed success in fulfilling its 1921 campaign promise: "Proportional Representation of all classes. Representation of all classes of the community in the Legislature according to their numerical strength. This to be brought about through Proportional Representation and the preferential ballot [IRV] in single-member constituencies.

Preferential ballot [in STV and IRV] has been introduced and will be in general use in the 1926 election." (The UFA, June 10, 1926, p. 8)

STV in Edmonton elected MLAs of four different parties, much more varied than the one-party sweep of 1921.

STV in Calgary elected varied MLAs - of 3 different parties and Independents.

(The IRV system, used outside Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat, only changed the winner in two districts compared to the result that would have happened under FPTP and had no organized proportionality.)

1926 Edmonton: four parties represented among the city's MLAs.

Winning candidates received 15,000 votes, 82 percent of the 18,000 valid votes.

Overall, 8501, 57 percent of the winning candidates' vote totals, were made up of first preferences.

Overall, at least 11,200, at least 75 percent of the winning candidates' vote totals, were made up of first and second preferences.

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/fair-from-the-start-first-election-of-edmonton-mlas-using-stv-1926

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/1926-stv-edmonton-provincial-election-reviewed-by-stv-authority-hallett

(before the next election in 1930, Medicine Hat was redrawn as a single-member district.)

Later Edmonton and Calgary DM increased to 6, back to 5, then Calgary up to 6 again, Edmonton up to 7.

(STV dropped in 1956, replaced by single-member districts and FPTP.)

In almost all the STV elections in Edmonton and Calgary, 3 or 4 parties were represented among each city's MLAs.

======

Impact of use of STV in Edmonton -- it was noticed at the time that the Conservative party would likely have taken all five Legislature seats if Block voting or FPTP had been used. This helped turn the Edmonton Journal, a Conservative mouthpiece at the time, against STV. The newspaper pushed for the cancellation of STV at the city level, which was achieved a couple years later.

1926 The Toronto districts were again dis-assembled, when Toronto was given 13 MPPs. Since 1914 the eight Toronto MPPs had been elected in two-seat districts, but the 13 were henceforth to be elected in single-member districts using FPTP.

(With Toronto's change to FPTP, Ontario would strictly use FPTP in single-member districts from then until the present.)

1926 PR Society of Canada was reorganized, and its operations were conducted out of the offices of the PR League, based in Philadelphia.

PRSC's slogan: "For Securing an Effective Ballot"

The president at the time was W.M. Southam (who called for an international electoral commission in 1943), Honorary President Earl Grey; vice-presidents William Lyon Mackenzie King, James W. Robertson, Tom Moore (pres., TLCC) and Sir John Willison (he had been chair of the 1919 Industrial Conference).

Regional secretaries were W.R. Trotter (BC) and John D. Hunt (Alberta).

Advisory Council included John Brownlee and W.M. Davidson (AB); Walter Hamilton (BC); Fred Dixon, John W. Dafoe and Ronald Hooper, all of MB; W.F. Kerr (Sask); Edgar N. Rhodes (NS); H.S. Southam ON [Harry Stevenson Southam, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen]; Sir Hormisdas Laporte (QU) [federal cabinet minster], Senator Raoul Dandurand and F.N. Southam (QU) [died March 14, 1946 at age of 76. When he died, he was chairman of the board of directors of Southam Company, which owned seven of the largest newspapers in Canada].

(from correspondence between John D. Hunt and George Hallett Jr. (PAA 1971.138, file 126)

(https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/images/hrcorpreports/pdfs/6/638177.pdf)

1926 R.C. Owens ("Old Man Owens") called for PR and industry-based syndicalism in his radical booklet The Bridge to Liberty A plan to evolve from the capitalist system to a co-operative system.

"...Then every person nominated for any legislative office should take the most solemn oath that if elected he will do all in his power to carry out the principles embodied in the platform. The so-called direct legislation, the initiative, referendum and recall should be enacted into law as soon as possible. Electoral divisions should be made to enable the people to carry out proportional representation so that all industries can have fair representation in all legislative bodies. The day and age of political parties to properly represent the people geographically is past, and they must be represented industrially. Consequently they must be organized industrially instead of in craft unions...."

======

1929  J.S. Woodsworth.  Labor's case in Parliament: A summary and compilation of the speeches of J.S. Woodsworth in the Canadian House of Commons 1921-1928. [Ottawa]: Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees, 1929.

Canada's pre-eminent lefty of his time, J.S. Woodsworth, called for "Proportional Representation with grouped constituencies" in a book of his speeches published in 1929.

"Proportional Representation with grouped constituencies" at the time meant STV - which is a combination of ranked votes, single voting and multi-member districts.

Pages 76 to 78 also concern that type of electoral reform.

(Peel 10437)

(see Montopedia blog for excerpts on this material.)

=====

1929 William Irvine published book entitled Co-operative Government. That term could also apply to any government that is friendly to PR as it would have respect for all.

In it Irvine discusses PR "the quota system" (p. 219-227). On page 225-6 he described working of a system where parties would be in co-operation, including sketch of how party divisions would be blurred. On page 228 he hypothesized that the co-operative system would "clear up the muddle" caused by the party system. (see 1920)

=======

1929 Roberge, Hector L. (compiler) Some views expressed on the political party system. North Battleford. 4 pages.

Comprises extracts from many speakers designed to demonstrate the failure of the party system.

(Weinrich, 1284) (not seen by myself) (not in internet Archives/Peel's PP)

(North Battleford had used STV-PR in its city elections from 1920 to 1924)

1929 Lethbridge adopted STV for city elections.

discarded it before next election.

======

1930 Joseph P. Harris

"The Practical Workings of Proportional Representation in the U.S. and Canada" (1930)

National Municipal Review, 19 (5) May 1930 (pages 337-383)

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030803426&view=1up&seq=7

A detailed examination of processes of STV and some variations.

Discusses "fixed quota" as a means of making it simpler to communicate and thus easier to sell (p. 3) [NYC STV elections 1937-1945 used fixed quota]

As well, contains a city-by-city chronology of the use of STV

including Calgary (p. 365) and Winnipeg (p. 366).

see Montopedia blog "Commonsense simplifications of STV urged in 1930 (Harris)"

By 1930 most cities had dropped STV.

Harris gave the reasons for the opposition to PR:

-its complexity,

-delay in the count,

-failure on the part of the citizens to understand the system,

-and perhaps most important of all, because it was felt that the system did not make any marked difference in the personnel of the council.

Conversely, in several cities minority groups secured representation in the council and that was undesirable by some. (p. 366)

p. 367 provides comprehensive chronicle of use of STV in Canadian cities.

======

State-side he gave these reasons why PR faced opposition in Cleveland:

1. it was seen as an import from Europe that would destroy the U.S.'s two-party system.

2. it was Socialistic

3. voters did not understand it and did not know where their vote would go.

4. 12 of the old wards did not elect a member under the new system. This was due to reduction in the size of city council, and not to do with STV.

   As well, the party machines of both big parties were against STV.

   But still majority of votes voted to retain STV in a referendum held in August 1925, Professor Hatton and the Charter Defense Committee prevailed -- even though the party machines had all the advantages. (page 345) [but eventually the anti-STV forces did prevail.]

====

1931 Reform of the electoral system was advocated by the Saskatchewan Liberal Party and included in its platform adopted at the Moose Jaw convention in 1931. (1938 Sask. Conservative campaign handbill, "Electoral Reform. An electoral absurdity - 1934 election." City of Saskatoon Archives, G.11 1938.7)

(see 1934, 1938)

1931 Alberta Legislature debated Conservative motion to institute redistricting and electoral reform, to extend PR to rural areas. Premier Brownlee said Conservative leader Duggan held that party should be supreme over need to representation of voters, while he himself believes that an election should be way for all schools of thought to find expression on the floor of the legislature. Conservative resolution voted down 50 to 6, with support of UFA. Labour and Liberal members. ("Electoral reform scheme defeated in Legislature", Edmonton Journal, March 19, 1931.

https://librarysearch.assembly.ab.ca/client/en_CA/search/asset/149336/0)

1932

1933

1934 Sask. election (June 19, 1934) -- Saskatchewan Liberal pledge

"The Liberal Party pledges itself to the adoption of the single transferable ballot in provincial elections".

After victory by the Sask. Liberal party, it reaffirmed its pledge to bring in electoral reform. "Reform of the electoral system was advocated by the Saskatchewan Liberal Party and included in its platform adopted at the Moose Jaw convention in 1931. The Liberal Party was the only party which advocated it." ("The Saskatchewan Liberal", July 5, 1934 as per 1938 Sask. Conservative campaign handbill, "Electoral Reform. An electoral absurdity - 1934 election." City of Saskatoon Archives, G.11 1938.7)

(1938 Sask. Liberal party broke its promise of electoral reform made in 1934.)

===========================

for Part 4 (1935-1971) of my blog series on the history of Canadian electoral reform,

see

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/timeline-of-canadian-electoral-reform-part-3-1935-to-1971-proportional-representation-stv-and-m

======

Thanks for reading.

Check out my blog "List of Montopedia blogs concerning electoral reform" and to find other blogs on this important subject.

As well, please consider purchasing my booklet When Canada Had Effective Voting and Proportional Representation STV in Western Canada 1917-1971. 68-page overview of Canada's PR experience in the last century - the fight for proportional representation, the adoption of STV by 20 cities and two provincial governments in the 1920s, and STV's final use in a government election, in the 1971 Calgary city election. Available at Alhambra Books (Edmonton), through AbeBooks.com or email me at montotom@yahoo.ca 

===============================================

(housekeeping:

https://montopedia.wixsite.com/montopedia/post/timeline-of-canadian-electoral-reform-part-3-1920-1934-pr-and-stv-and-more)