Left-wing Politics
Smith's political views now turned to labour, and he spoke in support of Labour MP Arthur W. Puttee's re-election in the 1904 federal election.
Smith left Winnipeg in 1906, and moved to Portage la Prairie. In 1910, he accepted ministerial work in Nelson, British Columbia. He spoke at Socialist Party gatherings, and became acquainted with Jack Johnstone, later a leading figure in the Communist Party of the United States. Smith returned to Manitoba in 1913, to accept a position as minister of the First Methodist Church in Brandon.
Smith was an advocate of church union with the Presbyterians throughout the 1910s. In 1925, this union came about via the creation of the United Church of Canada.
Smith was asked to consider running in the 1917 federal election as a supporter of Robert Borden's Union government of pro-conscription Liberals and Conservatives. Although he rejected these requests, Smith's name was put forward for the Unionist nomination in Brandon. Borden's government was supported by both mainstream labour and the Methodist Church, and some local government supporters believed Smith's name would aid their cause. Asked to make a speech at the nomination meeting, he informed the delegates that he had no confidence in either of the older parties, and did not believe the Union arrangement would make any difference. To the surprise of none present, Smith did not receive the nomination.
Read more about this topic: Albert Edward Smith
Famous quotes containing the words left-wing and/or politics:
“So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.”
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