James East - Out of Office, Resurgence, and Final Defeat

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.