- Robert Cruise
"For the Marxist-Leninist candidate see
Robert Cruise (Ontario politician) "Robert Cruise (
December 11 ,1868 –June 19 ,1932 ) was a CanadianMember of Parliament for Dauphin,Manitoba .Born in the Lachute, Quebec, the son of Peter and Margaret (Mill) Cruise, he was a farmer in Quebec until 1893 when he moved to
Manitoba settling in Dauphin where he acquired a farm of convert|160|acre|km2. He later sold this land and purchased convert|1600|acre|km2 of land.Cruise was elected as a Liberal in the 1911 federal election, however, as a result of the
Conscription Crisis of 1917 he and many other English-Canadian Liberalscrossed the floor to support the Union government formed byRobert Borden in 1917. The Conscription question split the Liberal party with loyalists to party leader SirWilfrid Laurier styling themselvesLaurier Liberals and supporters of the Borden government calling themselves Liberal Unionists.Cruise stood for re-election in the 1917 election and was acclaimed as a Government supporter. He sat in parliament as a Unionist (Conservative and Liberal). He did not return to the Liberal Party following
World War I but ran for re-election in 1921 as a Conservative (technically, the Tories ran in this election as theNational Liberal and Conservative Party in an unsuccessful attempt to retain the support of Liberals who had defected from the party during the war.) Cruise was soundly defeated byWilliam John Ward , a candidate for the newProgressive Party of Canada .References
* [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=7c1a0382-2f6e-4c4d-acdd-b42097dfd66f&Language=E&MenuID=Lists.Members.aspx&MenuQuery=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.parl.gc.ca%2FParlinfo%2FLists%2FMembers.aspx%3FParliament%3D%26Riding%3D%26Name%3Dcruise%26Party%3D%26Province%3D%26Gender%3D%26New%3DFalse%26Current%3DFalse%26Picture%3DFalse Parliamentary biography]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/storyofmanitoba03schouoft The story of Manitoba (Volume 3)]s-ttl|title=
Member of Parliament for Dauphin
years=1911–1921
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