James East

Infobox Politician (general)
name= James East


imagesize=300
title= Alderman on the Edmonton City Council
term_start= February 16, 1912
term_end= October 27, 1914
term_start1= December 8, 1919
term_end1= December 9, 1929
term_start2= November 9, 1932
term_end2= November 12, 1936
birth_date= October 7, 1871
birth_place= Bolton, Ontario
death_date= June 23, 1940 (aged 68)
party= Labour
otherparty= United People's League, Labour-Farmer
profession= Prospector

James East (born October 7, 1871; died June 23, 1940) was a politician and labour activist in Alberta, Canada. He was for a time and the longest-serving alderman in Edmonton's history, and was a defeated candidate at the provincial and federal levels. He was also an ardent monetary reformer.

Early life

East was born in Bolton, Ontario on October 7, 1871. At the age of thirteen, he began to work in sawmills and farms. He took up prospecting and travelled the English-speaking world at it, going from South Dakota (in the Black Hills region) to New Mexico and Colorado, and then spending time in New Zealand and Australia. He returned to Canada in 1906, moving to Edmonton in 1907. He continued prospecting, moving to the Yukon for a time in 1911 before returning to Edmonton, more or less for good.

Municipal politics and expulsion from office

James East first sought political office in the February 1912 municipal election, when he ran for alderman on the Edmonton City Council, finishing fifth of eighteen candidates. Unlike most of Edmonton's elections at the time, in which half of the aldermen were elected to two year terms (with the other half being elected to two year terms in intervening years) the recent amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona meant that all ten aldermen would be elected, five each to terms of each of one and two years. As a finisher in the top five, East would normally have been entitled to a two year term; however the terms of the amalgamation specified that two of the aldermen elected to two year terms had to come from the south side of the North Saskatchewan River - where Strathcona was located - and there was only one such candidate (John Tipton) in the top five. Accordingly, Thomas J. Walsh - who finished eighth - was elected to a two year term, and East to only a one year term. He was easily re-elected to a two year term in the ensuing election.

However, he was convicted by Justice W. C. Ives of voting on a matter in which he had a pecuniary interest, and was expelled from office October 27, 1914 (mayor William McNamara was expelled at the same time and for the same reason). East attempted to return to office in the 1914 election, but fared no better than tenth out of fourteen candidates.

World War I, return to municipal office, and federal politics

In 1916, East enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, where he spent the rest of the First World War on the hospital ships Araguaya and Letitia before leaving the military in 1919.

Upon his return to civilian life, East returned immediately to politics, running in the 1919 municipal election. In the years intervening since his last election, party politics had arrived at the municipal level in Edmonton, and East aligned himself with the Labour slate. This was a good election for Labour; their mayoral candidate, Joseph Clarke, was re-elected, and they also took the top three spots in the aldermanic race; East finished second. The 1921 election was less kind to Labour, and East, finishing second, was the only one of their candidates elected to city council. He finished first in 1923, second in 1925, and third in 1927.

While serving as alderman, East contested the 1925 federal election as a Labour-Farmer candidate (aligned with J.S. Woodsworth) in Edmonton West, where he finished last of three candidates, behind Liberal Charles Stewart and Conservative James McCrie Douglas.

Out of office, resurgence, and final defeat

In the 1929 municipal election, rather than running for re-election as alderman, East challenged his federal rival Douglas for the mayoralty. He was defeated handily, finishing second in a four person race. He tried to return to aldermanic office in 1930, but finished sixth out of twelve candidates as Labour's rival Civic Government Association swept all seats but one. He sat out the 1931 election, but made a successful run for alderman in 1932, when he finished in fourth. In the 1934 election, there were six seats available due to Rice Sheppard's resignation to run for mayor half way through his term, and East finished in sixth to become Labour's only elected alderman that election. He received only three votes more than James Ponton, the CGA's sixth nominee.

In 1935, municipal politics in Edmonton began to re-align. Labour continued to run candidates, but for the first time they were joined by Social Credit candidates, many of whom had links to the political left hitherto occupied by Labour (among these Social Credit candidates was East's brother Elisha, who was elected in the 1935 election - making the pair the only brothers in Edmonton history to serve on City Council at the same time). After being shut out in 1935, Labour stopped running candidates. Rather than align himself with Social Credit in his 1936 re-election attempt, East joined the newly-formed United People's League. This proved a mistake; though he finished ahead of the other UPL candidates, East fell far short of re-election, finishing eleventh in an election swept by the CGA-successor Citizens' Committee.

James East would make no attempt to return to elected office.

Death

James East died June 23, 1940, at the age of 68. He was survived by his wife and one son.

References

* [http://www.epl.ca/Elections/results/EPLBiographiesLetter.cfm?id=E Edmonton Public Library biography of James East]
* [http://www.edmonton.ca/CityGov/ElectionHistory/Members%20of%20Council%20Biographies.doc City of Edmonton biography of James East]