The Women of Calgary City Council: Edith Patterson

September 22, 2021 Heritage Calgary

The Women of Calgary City Council

"Edith Patterson, Calgary, Alberta.", (CU1211061) by . Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary

Early Years

Edith Patterson was born on March 07, 1876 in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. Political service ran in her blood from day one – she was one of seven siblings, the second eldest daughter of W.A. Patterson, a farmer by trade who served in provincial and federal governments for more than forty years.

The family moved west in 1912 and Patterson attended normal school (an education-specific program, what we might recognize today as teachers’ college) in Calgary. She taught at several schools in the city that remain standing today, including Riverside, Sunalta, and Stanley Jones schools.

Nomination & First Campaign

Unlike her city council predecessor Annie Gale, Patterson had strong, public political affiliations. Two early and influential parties were the Dominion Labor Party, the provincial offshoot of the Canadian Labour Party, and the Civic Government Association (C.G.A.), which formed in response to the increasing number of Labor candidates taking seats on city council.

It had been nearly ten years since Annie Gale had been elected to city council, and no other woman had chosen to run or been endorsed as a candidate during that time. Gale had tried for six years to encourage women to follow her lead and run for council – in 1923 she stated:

“What I would like to see is two women on the city council and two women on the school board, but if the women do not support their own sex and take more interest in their affairs, I am afraid it will be very difficult to get women to stand for office, and the consequences of their apathy may be very serious in time to come.”

Patterson was nominated as a Labor candidate for council at a November 1926 meeting of the women’s section of the Dominion Labor Party. The Herald reported that Patterson had “not definitely consented to enter the field”.

An article a few days later stated:

“Although Miss E Patterson declined the nomination of the Dominion Labor Party as a candidate for the city council on Thursday evening, owing to the pressing overtures made to her during the weekend it was rumoured in Labor circles on Monday that there is a possibility she will reconsider her decision and that if she receives a nomination at the Canadian Labor Party’s convention on Wednesday next she will consent to run”.

Regardless, Patterson’s name was presented as part of a “probable slate” by the Dominion Labor Party (and supported by the Canadian Labour Party, an early, unsuccessful attempt at creating a national labour party in Canada). She was a favoured contender – the paper reported: “If Miss Patterson runs, it is stated to be a certainty that she will be strongly supported; as a matter of fact, it would not be a surprise if she headed the list of successful Labor candidates”.

The following day it had been confirmed – Patterson was to run for office. The November 1926 edition of the Calgary Herald identified Patterson as “a school teacher … she is exceedingly well known in the Labor movement in Calgary, in which she has taken a most keen interest for several years”.

Patterson’s nomination for Calgary City Council – Calgary Herald, 18 November 1926.

Similar to Annie Gale, by the next election Patterson’s reluctance had seemingly evaporated. Upon being re-elected in 1928, Patterson was quoted saying she was “very pleased that the woman alderman was re-elected … all problems in civic government are interesting to a woman, some problems, of course, more than others. All of them are in line with good housekeeping, and good ‘home-making’, for we should strive to make our city a pleasant and happy home for all its citizens – a city in which all can share its prosperity. Labour’s programme aims a that, and that is why I support it.”

Time on Council

“Miss Patterson Local Teacher” was one of two successful Labor candidates who were elected to Council (the other, Mr. JW Russell). Her allegiance to the Labor party was noted in newspaper Council reports, & Patterson remained strongly connected to the party while on Council.

The causes Patterson championed while on Council were diverse, but they could always be traced back to her ties to the Labor party. Patterson believed that garbage collection had taken “three backwards steps” when it was moved to collection on a contract basis, rather than as a matter of health service by the city. She disapproved of the leasing of the Calgary power plant to the Calgary Power Company, thereby “increasing control of that private company”. In 1928 the utilities tax increased 1% - Patterson said this “simply amounted to passing the hat among the homeowners, for the benefit of the big property owners”.

One specific woman-centric cause that Patterson championed was the amendment to a new rule imposed in 1929 that banned the use of baby carriages on Calgary’s robust system of public streetcars. The ban was enacted by Superintendent of Public Utilities R.A. Brown, who noted that the rule had been “on the books of the system since 1914”, but had not been enforced until now because “handling the large baby carriages during the rush hours was tying up the system and the practice had to be stopped if the thousands of persons using the street cars daily were to obtain the fast service they were demanding.”

The implication was that the streetcar system was there to serve the predominantly male workforce, and that mothers utilized them for frivolous and less important purposes. In fact, women – who often had no other form of transportation other than the streetcars – were certainly the most active users of the system, relying on the streetcar system to complete their daily housekeeping tasks and run household errands. For many women, the streetcars were required to do their jobs, and bringing their young children along with them was simply a necessity.

The backlash against the ban was vociferous. The Herald reported that “the protest of scores of Calgary mothers against the new regulation was added to by that of Dr Duncan Gow, city medical health officer who informed commissioners that attendance at the city’s baby clinic had decreased considerably since the new rule went into effect”. This “storm of protest” was taken up by Patterson, who “led the onslaught on the city’s ban on large baby carriages”. She “inquired with quiet sarcasm if the city officials were attempting to live up to Calgary’s reputation as a cow town” (note – this quote has been truncated due to a racial discriminatory reference).

Thanks in part to Patterson’s pressure at Council, the new regulations were altered – the baby carriages were permitted on streetcars, but would continue to be banned between 4:30 to 7 PM. Amusingly, the rules stated that baby carriages were not permitted on streetcars at anytime “unless they [were] occupied by a baby.”

Patterson was an ardent supporter of the unemployed. During her tenure on Council the City provided temporary employment for single unemployed men by way of relief work, and she fought to have their daily wages increased. At a January 1930 meeting of Council her efforts were rewarded, and the Council voted to increase the daily wage from $1.00 to $1.25. Beyond this, she pushed for more affordable housing, additional social supports, for the unemployed to be given work at major city events including the annual Calgary Stampede, and basic aid such as provision of winter clothing. Patterson and Pansy Pue – a C.G.A. supported alderman and the third woman elected to Calgary City Council – clashed at a 1930 meeting of Council: Patterson’s plea for more aid for the single unemployed went unsupported by Pue, who said that “too much attention was liable to make parasites out of the men”.

The 1932 Council was not wholly supportive of Patterson’s efforts and spent Council meetings in the spring of 1932 debating the termination of City-run relief programs. The City had threatened this course of action for some time and had generated some public backlash – a delegate from the Unemployed Married Men’s Association attended Council in April 1932 to protest the proposed cuts, going so far to request that Council resign based on their decision to reduce aid at a time of significant unemployment and hardship in the city. The City struck a relief committee to investigate and report back on the relief programs which Patterson was a part of. At a July 1932 meeting the unemployment committee debated cutting all able-bodied single men off relief. Many committee members believed work was readily available, and that men were choosing to collect relief wages rather than secure a job. Edmonton had taken a similar initiative the previous week, further supporting the motion.

A representative of the unemployed association argued that, while farm work was indeed available, the wages were not sufficient to cover the costs of living. He stated that “while there had been a lot of talk about farm work being available, the condition of the wheat market was such that the farmer … would only be able to afford to pay about $1.50 a day in wages”.

Alderman Riley noted to Council that he knew there were “scores of men … dropping off freight trains daily in this city and have succeeded in finding work in the country, while hundreds of men who have been cared for all winter, spring and summer, absolutely decline to look for work”.

Patterson clearly stated she “was quite in favour of men being cut off relief if they declined to work, but she did not believe that the men should be cut off unless there was work available” for them to do.

At the end of the meeting, the unemployment committee voted 6-2 to terminate relief for all able-bodied men on July 31, 1932, a decision that would affect 750 men. The move was supported by the C.G.A. aldermen and opposed by Labor, including Patterson.

During Patterson’s first term – for only the second time in Calgary – a woman was appointed as acting mayor of the city. Patterson received the privilege between Oct-Dec 1928: “The council turned around and honored Miss Edith Patterson, the lady member of the council, by appointing her acting mayor for October, November and December and everybody cheered”.

The Lost Affordable Housing Scheme

In 1929 Patterson was appointed to a special housing probe committee which was formed at the request of City Council in Spring 1929. The population of the city was increasing, with “hundreds of new citizens flocking into Calgary every week” and welfare workers were finding that there were not enough houses in the city to accommodate the present and future population. It had been suggested that an early City-run affordable housing “scheme” be created, whereby the City would build “four or five-room cottages on city owned land and rent them out at a rental which would be considered fair and just”; however, the mayor quickly pointed out that “civic funds cannot be invested in any municipal housing scheme”.

Expert advice was also solicited from A.G. Dalzell, president of the Town Planning Institute of Canada and well-known Canadian town planner who had been associated with the federal government’s housing scheme directly after the war.

Dalzell’s advice was if a housing scheme were to be adopted by Calgary that it be closely tied with town-planning, as had been done in Great Britain with a recent construction of one million homes. Dalzell believed that the trouble with Calgary and other western cities … as far as town planning was concerned, was that they had been designed not for use but for land sales and no provision was made for parks, playgrounds, school sites, etc. Dalzell said.

Eventually the City did consider a plan to build and sell homes on an instalment plan, but it hinged on the interest and demand of Calgarians. The plan proposed $300 down by individuals and then $35/month mortgage payments. By mid-August only one applicant had submitted an application – a second interested party declined after learning the house to be constructed would not have a full basement, which his wife had deemed necessary to make such an investment.

By the time the scheme made its way to Council in November 1929 64 persons had applied for the right to purchase houses constructed by the City. The Mayor F.E. Osborne was vocally opposed to the scheme – he contended that any person who had $500 to put down on a house needed no help from the city or anyone else. Despite the mayor’s vehement opposition – to the point where he challenged the right of the advisory members of the committee to vote – the committee voted to recommend to council that power be sought from the provincial legislature to amend the city charter so that the City could proceed to enter into a housing scheme.

The new Council of 1930 wasted no time addressing the housing scheme – the motion to ask for a charter amendment to give the City of Calgary power to float the housing scheme was roundly defeated by a vote of eight to four. Partisan allegiances of aldermen was often evident in how councils voted, and this was no exception – all three Labour members of Council voted in favour for the housing scheme (as did the Independent member), whereas the remaining eight CGA aldermen “voted solidly against the motion”. No real progress towards affordable housing was made in Calgary until after World War II.

The Lost Election

In 1930, Patterson was once again nominated by the Labour Party (now known as the Canadian Labour Party). During the campaign period she outlined Labour’s stewardship while on Council, including the abolition of isolation hospital fees, and was keen to express that the apparent “acceptance of the unemployment problem” was intolerable. At a Calgary Business and Professional Women’s club meeting, Patterson “asked the women to take a larger interest in the affairs of the city and to accept their responsibilities in its welfare”. After two successful elections and four years on Council under her belt, Patterson may have considered her re-election a certain thing; however, the growing momentum of the C.G.A. candidates proved unstoppable. A full slate of C.G.A. candidates was elected in a record vote, and Patterson was eliminated during the vote count process.

On December 03 a luncheon was held to honour Patterson’s tireless and selfless efforts. It was presided over by none other than Nellie McClung, along with several other prominent women of Calgary. The women praised Patterson’s “faithful devotion to the needs of women and children”. Patterson was called a “great loss the city had suffered”. For her part, Patterson noted her “greatest regret” was the “disappointment [her defeat] had caused her friends”, but she recognized there were “many other ways of serving” and “other causes that needed assistance”. She pitched one final advancement she wished to see in City management – that is, the establishment of women police in the city. She believed much good could be accomplished by a few women – “if they were the right type, educated, refined and sympathetic, could be of great help in these days when there are so many women out of employment”.

However – Patterson decided she was not done with politics after all. In 1931 she was once again nominated by the Labour party for the position of alderman alongside CGA nominated Pansy Pue. Two other women were on the ballot in 1931 – Amelia Turner and “Mrs RH Berry” were also in the running to sit on the public school board. In this election, Patterson was the only Labour candidate returned to council. She was in the hospital as the results came in, “suffering from a badly cut wrist, which she sustained when one of the windowpanes in her house broke”. She was in the General Hospital once again “recovering from an operation for the removal of her tonsils” during the first organization meeting of the 1932 City Council.

In a surprising Herald column dated 02 November 1932, Patterson announced she had officially informed the city clerk that she intended to resign her council seat on account of ill health. She had been a patient in the General Hospital for nearly two months by that time, and due to her “weakened condition” she was advised to “drop all but her teaching duties” – the first reference that Patterson had kept up her teaching duties while also sitting and serving on Council.

The Later Years

Founding meeting of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) Party. Edith Patterson is not identified. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/CollectionSearch/Pages/record.aspx?app=FonAndCol&IdNumber=3193168

Patterson did not disappear after her resignation from Council. Her deep-seated political ideology led her back to politics as a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.), a democratic socialist political party founded in Calgary in 1932 by several socialist, agrarian, co-operative, and labour groups, and precursor to the New Democratic Party. She ran federally in the Calgary East riding in 1935 but lost to a Social Credit landslide.

Patterson’s studio portrait – Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) candidate.

Outside politics, Patterson was also elected first as Vice-President (1928) and then as President of the Alberta Educational Association (elected 1929 for 1930), and went on to be elected president of the Alberta Teachers’ Alliance (1934).

Patterson returned to Nova Scotia to retire and died on 1967 March 06, in a nursing home at Truro, Nova Scotia, the day before her 91st birthday.

A small reference to Patterson’s role as a founder of the CCF Party

Sources

https://www.ancestrylibrary.ca/imageviewer/collections/1274/images/30953_148112-00645?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=RnI95&_phstart=successSource&pId=1560495

https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221722/http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/caldermen.pdf

https://www.newspapers.com/image/481586770/

“Edith Patterson, Calgary, Alberta.", (CU1197003). Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary

https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221722/http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/caldermen.pdf

https://www.newspapers.com/image/508204035/