Fred J. White

Frederic James White (October 27, 1886 – October 10, 1967) was a provincial level politician and labour activist in Canada. He was a Labour Party MLA (member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta) from 1921 to 1935 representing Calgary.

Early life Frederick James White was born in September 1886, at Port Credit, Ontario. He resided in Hamilton, Ontario until 1898. He moved to Guelph with his family and got his first job at the age of 15 working at the Guelph Mercury.

In 1905, he went to work for the Harley Watkins Printing Co. in Brantford as a printer. In 1907 he decided to travel, visiting Montreal and the United Kingdom. In 1910, White decided to travel to western Canada. He found work as a printer in Calgary.

Provincial political career White was elected to a Calgary seat in the Alberta Legislature in the 1921 Alberta general election. Calgary elected its MLAs in a single multi-member district through block voting in 1921. It elected five MLAs. Ross took a seat with the support of 6000 of the city's 17,000 voters that voted this time. He ran under the Dominion Labor Party banner in the election. White continued to hold his seat on Calgary city council.

White became leader of the Dominion Labor Party and led the group into the 1926 Alberta general election. This time Calgary elected its MLAs in a single multi-member district through Single transferable voting. Again it elected five MLAs. In the first count, White placed seventh out of 11 candidates, just after fellow Labour candidate Alexander Ross. White gradually accumulated more votes than Ross through vote transfers under STV rules as others were eliminated or elected. Ross was eliminated in the 8th Count, while White went on to be elected.

When one more candidate was eliminated as part of the STV process, White survived and then he was among the last three remaining unelected uneliminated candidates, with two open seats remaining. MLA Nellie McClung, being the least popular of the three, was eliminated, and White and Robert Parkyn took the two seats on the tenth vote count.

Overall in the province 5 out of 12 Labor candidates were elected to the legislature. (White was of the Dominion Labour Party while in Edmonton Lionel Gibbs was a Canadian Labour Party MLA.) White continued on as leader of the Labour group in the legislature.

White led the party into the 1930 Alberta general election. The Dominion Labor Party lost a seat but White was re-elected to his Calgary seat.

Again Calgary elected its MLAs in a single multi-member district through Single transferable vote. It elected six MLAs. White was in fourth place in the First Count and achieved the quota to take a seat on the 7th count. STV produces mixed representation in each STV district. Calgary in 1930 was no exception. Besides White (Labour), Calgary elected three Conservatives and two Liberal MLAs in 1930.

In 1932 White was a delegate to the founding meeting of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. He became a founding member of the party when its first convention was held in Regina in 1933.

Despite being part of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the Dominion Labor Party ran in the 1935 Alberta general election. White continued on as leader. He was defeated on the 12th count, finishing 11th place in the standings. Province-wide, Dominion Labor was wiped out, losing all seats as William Aberhart's Social Credit party made great advances.

White ran as a candidate for the CCF in the 1940 Alberta general election. He did not regain his seat, finishing 8th in the standings.

Later life White decided to move back to Guelph in 1942. He became Treasurer of the Guelph Labor Council upon his return. He lived the rest of his life in Guelph, dying on October 10, 1967.