Douglas Breton

Douglas Corney Breton
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office
28 June 1926 – 19 June 1930
Preceded byStanley Tobin
Succeeded byArthur Mitchell
ConstituencyLeduc
Personal details
Born25 November 1883
Simon's Town, Cape Colony
Died11 February 1953(1953-02-11) (aged 69)
Winchester, England
Political partyUnited Farmers
SpouseDorothy Blanche Frost
Occupationfarmer, merchant, soldier and politician
Military service
Branch/serviceBritish Expeditionary Force
Years of service1914-1919
Battles/warsWorld War I

Douglas Corney Breton (25 November 1883 – 11 February 1955) was a soldier and a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a United Farmers of Alberta member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1926 to 1930.

Early life

Douglas Corney Breton was born 25 November 1883 at Simon's Town, Cape Colony to William Edwards Breton (1852 – 1914) an Inspector General of the Royal British Navy,[1] and Alice Maud Breton (ńee Dudoit) the daughter of Jules Dudoit French Consul to the Hawaiian Islands.[2] Breton moved to Canada at the age of 20 in 1904.[3][2] On 24 January 1920, Breton married Dorothy Blanche Frost, the daughter of Mark Edwin Prescott Frost OBE ISO, together they had three children.[2]

He served in World War I as a member of the British Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan[4] and India.[5]

Political career

Breton ran for a seat in the 1926 Alberta general election as a United Farmers candidate in the electoral district of Leduc. In the three-way race, he and the Liberal candidate were close in votes, with the Conservative in distant third place. Under the rules of instant-runoff voting, the election method in use at the time, when it was found that no candidate had a majority in the first count, the Conservative candidate was eliminated and his votes transferred according to the back-up preference marked thereon if any. After the transfer, it was found that Breton had accumulated a majority of the votes so he picked up the seat for his party.[6][7]

A year after being elected to office the town of Keystone, Alberta was changed to Breton, Alberta in 1927 in his honor.[5]

Breton ran for a second term in office in the 1930 Alberta general election. He was defeated in a close two-way race, losing by just 60 votes to Liberal candidate Arthur Mitchell.[8]

Later life

Breton moved to England in 1934, and died in Winchester on 11 February 1953 at the age of 69.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Inspector-General William Edwards Breton, M.D". British Medical Journal. 1 (2791): 1435. 27 June 1914. PMC 2301522.
  2. ^ a b c Normandin, A. L., ed. (1930). "The Canadian Parliamentary Guide". The Canadian Parliamentary Guide = Guide Parlementaire Canadien. Ottawa: Mortimer Company Ltd.: 342. ISSN 0315-6168. OCLC 893686591. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Breton". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  4. ^ Kowalski, Ken (4 April 2007). "Introduction of Visitors" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. p. 397.
  5. ^ a b Kowalski, Ken (24 August 2006). "Vignettes from the Assembly's History" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. p. 1,690.
  6. ^ "Leduc Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  7. ^ Centennial Series, A Century of Democracy
  8. ^ "Leduc Official Results 1930 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  9. ^ "U.F.A. Member Dies in England". Calgary Herald. Edmonton. Canadian Press. 26 March 1953. p. 2.