1907 Calgary municipal election

The 1907 Calgary municipal election was held on December 9, 1907 to elect a Mayor and twelve Aldermen to sit on the twenty-fourth Calgary City Council from January 2, 1908 to January 2, 1909.[1][2]

1907 Calgary municipal election
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December 9, 1907 (1907-12-09)
 
Candidate Arthur Leslie Cameron Simon John Clarke
Popular vote 1,120 755
Mayor before election

Arthur Leslie Cameron

 Elected Mayor

Arthur Leslie Cameron

Background

The election was held under multiple non-transferable vote where each elector was able to cast a ballot for the mayor and up to three ballots for separate councillors with a voter's designated ward.

The election became a bitter affair with the Calgary Herald supporting Mayor Cameron and the Morning Albertan supporting Alderman Simon John Clarke. The Morning Albertan called Clarke "a man who does things" and claimed the city's financial position would have been better under his stewardship, while criticizing Cameron for closed council meetings and "autocratic rule".[3]

The Morning Albertan charged Mayor Cameron with engineering the bylaw to form a commission in order to provide himself a well paying job.[4] The Morning Albertan claimed the commission bylaw was crafted in a in camera City Council meeting was held to form the commission with three members each paid $2,500: Mayor Cameron, Alderman Harry William White and Alderman Arthur Garnet Graves. The charge was contrasted with the City Council decision to lay off 250 public works employees.[5] Alderman White refuted the charges against Mayor Cameron in the Morning Albertan, going so far as to offer $1,000 if the writer (whom the Morning Albertan acknowledged as publisher William McCartney Davidson) could provide evidence for his claims.[6] Claims also surfaced in the Calgary Herald that as Alderman, Simon John Clarke paved numerous sidewalks throughout the city without authorization or report from City Council or the relevant committees.[4] The Calgary Herald claimed that Clarke and his agents paid for the article in the Morning Albertan, which the Morning Albertan refuted by publishing affidavits of Clarke and his agent J.Y. Byers the next day.[7]

Clarke campaigned on record as alderman including his role as chairman on the Public Works Committee, the election of a commission, municipal meetings open to the public, and financial restraint during difficult times,[8] while Cameron ran on his record extending the waterworks system, improvements to St. George's Island, and missing only one City Council meeting in the previous year.[9]

Results

Election results as reported by the Calgary Herald[2] and Morning Albertan.[10]

Mayor
Candidate Votes Percent
Arthur Leslie Cameron 1,220
Simon John Clarke 755

Ward 1
Candidate Votes Percent
Robert Suitor 480
Adoniram Judson Samis 407
Alfred Moodie 361
Thomas Alfred Presswood Frost 323
Isaac Gideon Ruttle 306
T.A. Wiggins 140
Thomas Hart 109

Ward 2
Candidate Votes Percent
Alfred Marmaduke Terrill 550
William Henry Manarey 441
George Thomas Callender Robinson 433
Arthur Bennett 229
J.R. Hunter 107

Ward 3
Candidate Votes Percent
John William Mitchell 348
James Abel Hornby 338
Arthur Garnet Graves 320
A.D. Fidler 208

Ward 4
Candidate Votes Percent
John Goodwin Watson 460
Robert James Stuart 363
William Mahon Parslow 309
Marwood 243
Clifford Bernard Reilly 227
W.H. Lee 223

See also

References
  1. "Cameron Again Our Mayor". Calgary Herald. No. 7026. December 10, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  2. "Cameron Again Our Mayor (Continued)". Calgary Herald. No. 7026. December 10, 1907. p. 2. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  3. "Election Campaign Notes". The Morning Albertan. December 5, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  4. "Irregularities of Public Works". Calgary Herald. No. 7023. December 6, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  5. "Election Campaign Notes". Morning Albertan. Calgary. December 6, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  6. White, W.H. (December 6, 1907). "Challenge to Writer". Calgary Herald. No. 7023. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  7. "A word of Explanation". Morning Albertan. Calgary. December 7, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  8. Clarke, Simon John (December 5, 1907). "To the Electors of Calgary". Morning Albertan. Calgary. p. 2. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  9. Cameron, Arthur Leslie (December 5, 1907). "Mayoralty, 1908 -- To the Electors of Calgary". Morning Albertan. Calgary. p. 4. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  10. "Mayor Cameron Gets A Large Majority". The Morning Albertan. Calgary. December 10, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
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