Elmer Roper
Elmer Roper | |
|---|---|
Mayor of Edmonton | |
| In office October 14, 1959 – October 16, 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick John Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | William Hawrelak |
| Leader of the Alberta Co-operative Commonwealth Federation | |
| In office 1942–1955 | |
| Preceded by | Chester Ronning |
| Succeeded by | Floyd Albin Johnson |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton | |
| In office September 22, 1942 – June 29, 1955 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elmer Ernest Roper June 4, 1893 Ingonish, Nova Scotia |
| Died | November 12, 1994 (aged 101) Victoria, British Columbia |
| Political party | Alberta Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Labour, Citizens Committee, Civic Reform Association |
| Other political affiliations | Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
| Spouse | Goldie C. Bell |
| Children | Three daughters and one son (G. Lyall Roper) |
| Profession | Printer |
| Signature |  |
Elmer Ernest Roper (June 4, 1893 – November 12, 1994) was a Canadian businessman, trade unionist and politician. He was a Alberta Co-operative Commonwealth Federation member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1942-1955, and mayor of Edmonton 1959-1963.
Early life
Roper was born in
He became involved in the labour movement as a young man. He joined the Pressman's Union. He was president of the Calgary Trades & Labour Council by 1916. His tenure in this position was short-lived, as he moved to Edmonton the following year to become the head of the
In 1921 he left the Bulletin to found his own printing business, which he operated until his retirement. The same year, he made his first bid for elected office.
Early political career
In the
In 1922, Roper became secretary-treasurer of the
Roper ran for school trustee in Edmonton's 1924 municipal election. He finished fourth of seven candidates, in an election in which the top three candidates were elected. He tried again the next year's election, and again finished fourth of seven candidates; however, the board's staggered electoral system meant that, though only three of the board's seven trustees had been elected in 1924, four were up for election in 1924 and Roper was elected. He was re-elected in 1927 but did not seek re-election at the expiration of his second term.
He continued to seek office at other levels. In the
Roper's lone attempt at federal office took place in the 1935 election, when he ran for the newly formed Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in Edmonton East; he finished fourth of six candidates as William Samuel Hall took the riding for the Social Credit Party of Canada.
Roper had joined the CCF at the provincial level as well and ran under its banner in the 1940 election, finishing seventh of nineteen candidates on the first ballot and being defeated once again. No CCF members were elected during that election but that was about to change.
CCF leader and MLA
On May 4, 1942 Conservative leader
Roper was leader of the CCF for thirteen years, but he did not have to sit as its lone MLA that long: after the 1944 election, he was joined in the legislature by Aylmer Liesemer of Calgary. Two seats were as large a caucus as the CCF had during Roper's tenure as its leader.
Both Liesemer and Roper were re-elected in the 1948 election. The party's share of the vote fell from 25% to 19%, but it was still due more than 10 MLAs. Roper did not add any new MLAs to his tiny caucus as Social Credit's stranglehold over the province remained intact. The CCF did elect a new MLA in the 1952 election - Willingdon's Nick Dushenski - but this gain was cancelled by Liesemer's defeat in the same election. Worse, the CCF's vote fell further, to 14%, and the Alberta Liberal Party doubled its seat count to four, making it the Official Opposition and leaving the CCF as the third party.
Things then got worse for the CCF. In the
Following the election, Roper relinquished the CCF leadership. He never again sought provincial office. In part this was due to the Manning government switching to First Past the post from the combined STV/Alternative Voting system it had been using. Roper later said he thought that Manning had abolished the STV system in Edmonton to keep Roper from ever getting a seat again. Certainly it worked to the degree that no CCF or NDP again took an Edmonton seat until 1982 - and the change to First Past The Post was likely the main cause of that pattern.
Municipal politics
Roper served as mayor of Edmonton, 1959-1963.
In advance of the 1959 municipal election, the city's mayoralty was up for grabs. William Hawrelak had resigned in scandal, and the man that the Edmonton City Council had chosen to replace him, Frederick John Mitchell, had decided to return to his aldermanic post rather than contest the mayoral election. Roper chose to contest it, and defeated three candidates (most notably his former legislature colleague James Prowse).
He was re-elected in the 1961 election, handily defeating alderman Ed Leger. He did not seek re-election at the conclusion of his second term. At the age of seventy, he was finished with politics.
Later life, death, and legacy
Elmer Roper retired to Victoria, British Columbia in 1975, and died there November 12, 1994, aged 101. His wife had died in August, just after the couple's eightieth anniversary, and he was survived by two daughters and a son, former Edmonton alderman G Lyall Roper.
He had been made an honorary life member of the
References
- ^ Monto, Tom. Protest and Progress. Three Labour Radicals in Early Edmonton, Crang Publishing, Alhambra Books (Edmonton), p. 86
- ISBN 1-55028-353-7
External links
- Edmonton Public Library biography of Elmer Roper
- City of Edmonton biography of Elmer Roper
- History of labour's involvement in Edmonton politics from the Edmonton Bullet at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 2009)
- Edmonton District Labour Council's involvement in Edmonton electoral politics
- Agenda of the City of Edmonton's Naming Committee, May 17 2006