1928 Edmonton municipal election

Municipal election in Alberta, Canada September 2023 The 1928 municipal election was held on December 10, 1928 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to join Edmonton City Council and three trustees to join the public school board during the year of 1929 and 1930. Three trustees were elected by acclamation to join the separate school board for 1929 and 1930. There were also six bylaws put to a citywide vote. 10 aldermen sat on city council at any one time. Four of the positions were already filled: Ralph Bellamy, A C Sloane, James East, and L S C Dineen were all elected to two-year terms in 1927 and were still in office. John C. Bowen had also been elected to a two-year term, but had resigned in order to run for mayor. Rice Sheppard (SS) was elected in the 1928 election to finish Bowen's term. Labour did well in this election, electing four new alderman (counting farmer activist Sheppard) to add to East and Dineen who continued to serve in 1929. These six out of 11 seats gave Labour a majority position in city hall in 1929. There were seven trustees on the public school board, but four of the positions were already filled: Frank Crang (SS), Arthur Cushing, Albert Ottewell (SS), and Elmer Roper had all been elected to two-year terms in 1927 and were still in office. The same was true on the separate board, where Robert Crossland (SS), Charles Gariepy, Thomas Magee, and B J Tansey (SS) were continuing. This election marked Edmonton's return to the at-large Plurality block voting for election of city councilors and school board trustees and first past the post for the mayoral election, under which each voter had as many votes as there were seats to fill. In the previous five elections, single transferable vote/PR had been used for aldermanic elections and Instant-runoff voting for mayoral contests. As had been the case since Edmonton was declared a town in 1892 and a city in 1904, no wards divided the city voters. Due to the plurality block voting system used to elect the aldermen, 78,000 votes were cast in the aldermanic contest by the approximately 15,000 voters who voted. This was very many more than had been counted in the previous election when STV had been used for the same purpose. Voter turnout 14,971 voters cast ballots, out of 37,915 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 39.4%. (The vote count is much more than the number of ballots cast due to the block-voting system in use for election of councillors and school trustees.) Results bold or indicates elected italics indicate incumbent "SS", where data is available, indicates representative for Edmonton's South Side, with a minimum South Side representation instituted after the city of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River, amalgamated into Edmonton on February 1, 1912. Mayor Party Candidate Votes % EDM Independent Ambrose Bury 8,970 59.92% EDM Independent John C. Bowen 6,001 40.08% Aldermen Party Candidate Votes Elected EDM Labour Charles Gibbs 7,841 yes EDM Civic Government Association Frederick Keillor 6,881 SS yes EDM Labour Alfred Farmilo 6,294 yes EDM Labour James Findlay 6,273 yes EDM Independent Rice Sheppard 6,262 SS yes EDM Civic Government Association James Collisson 6,255 yes EDM Civic Government Association George Hazlett 6,107 EDM Civic Government Association Herbert Baker 5,978 EDM Civic Government Association George Wilkinson 4,908 EDM Labour James Herlihy 4,561 EDM Independent G. V. Pelton 4,417 EDM Labour J. A. Thompson 4,623 EDM Independent Joseph Clarke 4,130 EDM Independent Charles Robson 4,026 Public school trustees Party Candidate Votes Elected EDM Labour Samuel Barnes 7,022 yes EDM Civic Government Association Thyrza Bishop 6,300 yes EDM Civic Government Association Frederick Casselman 5,641 yes EDM Civic Government Association R. Colwill 5,340 EDM Labour E. E. Owen 5,300 EDM Labour Mrs. D. T. Bell 5,267 EDM Independent S. T. Lawrie 2,469 Separate (Catholic) school trustees A J Crowe (SS), J O Pilon, and W D Trainor were acclaimed. Money Bylaws Money items required a minimum two-thirds "Yes" majority to approve the expenditure $86,525 for paving Yes - 4,305 No - 824 $50,000 for gravelling Yes - 4,288 No - 802 $23,860 for airport improvements Yes - 3,065 No - 1,692 $292,688 for a hospital Yes - 4,362 No - 998 $50,000 for a firehall Yes - 3,735 No - 1,169 $100,000 for fire equipment Yes - 4,044 No - 935 References Election History, City of Edmonton: Elections and Census Office 1928 Category:1928 elections in Canada Category:1928 in Alberta Category:1920s in Edmonton