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Douglas Breton

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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

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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

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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

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

References

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  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.
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