Charles Stuart (politician) - Political Career

Political Career

Stuart first sought political office when he ran in West Calgary, a district in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, in a by-election variously identified as taking place in March 1900 or on March 22, 1901. He was soundly defeated by future Prime Minister of Canada R. B. Bennett. Stuart was elected alderman on the Calgary city council in the December 1904 election, and served from January 2, 1905 until January 2, 1906.

During the lead-up to Alberta's 1905 creation as a province, Stuart was initially critical of the terms imposed by the Liberal federal government of Wilfrid Laurier; these terms kept control of natural resources, which was held by the provincial governments of the older provinces, under federal control. Stuart was a Liberal, however, and he eventually joined his party in defending these terms. He was less sanguine about Alberta's new electoral boundaries, which disproportionately favoured the province's north, and about the Liberals' policy of fixing Calgary's rival Edmonton as the interim provincial capital, with the first legislature to make the final decision—he felt that the issue should be put to a vote in the first provincial election. He lost both of these fights, and once again loyally adhered to his party's program.

When Alberta became a province, Stuart became secretary of the Alberta Liberal Association, and he played a significant role in the Liberal campaign in the 1905 provincial election. He ran as the Liberals' candidate in Gleichen that election, and defeated Conservative John W. Hayes 667 votes to 640. As MLA, Stuart advocated for Calgary's selection as permanent capital (among other arguments, he pointed out Calgary's proximity to the beautiful Rocky Mountains).

Stuart's time in the legislature came to a close after less than a year, when in October 1906 he resigned to take up a judgeship on the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories; when Alberta created its own court the following year, he became one of its first judges.