The Women of Calgary City Council

Early Years

Rose Elizabeth Wilkinson was born in 1885 in County Cavan, Ireland. She originally trained as a nurse and then studied children physiotherapy at London’s St George’s Hospital. While in London she met Frederick Turner Wilkinson, a Liverpudlian who would soon immigrate to Canada and homestead near Regina, SK. During a trip to America to visit her brother, Rose and Fred met again and were married in Wood, West Virginia, in 1913. They moved to Alberta in 1924 where the Wilkinsons farmed in the Oyen district and Rose organized and worked as a nurse at a local 10-bed hospital. In 1927 the Wilkinsons relocated to Calgary, residing at 317 19 Avenue SW (now the Taymar condo building in Mission). Fred got a job as a salesman at a Fuller Brush Company store and Rose opened a physiotherapy clinic and lectured at the Holy Cross Hospital School of Nursing.

First Campaign

Like the women who sat on council before her, Wilkinson was very active in Calgary’s social circles. She was a member of the Social Credit party and ran for council for the first time in 1935 as a Social Credit candidate. The Alberta Social Credit party was founded on a blend of social credit monetary policy developed by British engineer Clifford Hugh Douglas and conservative Christian social values. The provincial party was conceptualized and eventually led to power by Baptist lay-preacher and evangelist William Aberhart (today, it has evolved into and is known as Pro-Life Alberta Political Association. Like other provincial political parties, Alberta Social Credit ran slates of candidates for consideration at the municipal level in Calgary. The field was stacked as Wilkinson made her first bid for a seat on council – 35 candidates were competing for 15 civic posts, including 4 for mayor and 17 for council. Wilkinson was, once again, the only woman running for a council that had once again been devoid of women for two years, since Pansy Pue left council at the end of 1933.

During the campaign Wilkinson advocated for a “better health program” for the city, declaring “she had human interests at heart, and a woman was needed on the council”. She laid out her experience as a nurse as qualifications for this stance. In addition to being keen on public health, Wilkinson wanted to focus on “more humane methods of distributing relief, and an effort to bring womanly sympathy and understanding to the problems of women, children, and aged people”.

Wilkinson was elected to council on November 20, 1935, obtaining a total of 3975 votes, but not until the 11th ballot count under the proportional representation system that was in place for Calgary elections at the time. She was 50 – tied with Edith Patterson as the oldest woman to be elected to a council chair (Gale was 40 when she was first elected; Pue was 41), and one of three Social Credit aldermen elected to council, though dominance of C.G.A. representation continued with six of twelve councillors filling council seats.

Upon winning her seat, Wilkinson stated: “I believe that the home is the fundamental thing in our society … man is the bread-winner and woman is the helpmate, but there are many women whose families have grown up who have much valuable knowledge and ability they might contribute to the community. I believe that there should be a number of women on all public bodies, for only women understand thoroughly the problems of the women of the community.” She pledged to strive for “the betterment of humanity” during her council tenure.

Time on Council

This election was the instigating event of a 20-year career in civic politics during which Wilkinson was re-elected to city council nine consecutive times; however, an event soon after her election had Calgarians questioning whether she would be able to serve at all. Beginning soon after the election in December 1936 Wilkinson faced impending court action when Thomas Armstrong, a local taxpayer, asserted Wilkinson was not eligible to sit as an alderman. Armstrong based his claim on the charge that she was allegedly in arrears on two years’ business tax, in contravention of the provisions of the city charter which state that a person may not serve on the council who owes money to the city or to whom the city owes money. Wilkinson’s lawyer A. I. Schumiatcher accused Armstrong of not being a “bona-fide relator” and “a man of straw acting, in reality, for other interests”. Wilkinson had paid her arrears, which dated back to 1934, in January 1937 (a month after winning her seat on council), but Armstrong’s lawyer argued this was “immaterial … once she was disqualified, she was always disqualified, and she could do nothing about it”. However, it was determined that Wilkinson did not have an “unsettled account” which would, according to the city charter, disqualify her as a member of city council. Additionally, it was a requirement that Armstrong pay a $25 fee to advance the case against Wilkinson – it was revealed that Armstrong “knew that there was an amount of $20 or $25 payable but did not pay the money himself, nor did he have any idea of any one else who might pay it in his behalf”. This further damaged Armstrong’s accusation, advancing the suspicion that someone else might be behind the attempt to remove Wilkinson from her newly minted council position. Wilkinson was cleared of all charges, paving the way for a lengthy and successful career on council.

Wilkinson was not afraid to rock the boat during her council tenure. Like Annie Gale, she was vocal in her criticisms of her fellow councillors, and like Edith Patterson she staunchly championed and advanced Social Credit causes.

At a May 1937 council meeting Wilkinson argued for children to be able to visit Bowness Park at a reduced cost, successfully having the fees dropped from 23 cents to 13 cents. During a debate on the matter, the Herald reports that “ill-feeling … flared into a minor conflagration as Mrs. Wilkinson tangled with Aldermen Freeze, Cunnington, and MacMillan”. Labor Alderman Liesemer allegedly “jumped to his feet and declared that Mrs. Wilkinson was being ‘picked on’ because she was the only lady member”. Mayor Andrew Davison agreed, saying “some members of the council had been lacking orderly conduct” and calling the behaviour directed at Wilkinson “a disgrace”. Wilkinson, not one to be left out of the conversation, fired back at her detractors herself – “I’ve often despaired of this council … I’ve been picked on long enough and I’m not going to stand for it any more.”

At the last council meeting of 1937, Alderman Liesemer attempted to get council to reconsider the granting of a Christmas clothing allowance to relief recipients – an allowance which had apparently been scrapped at a previous meeting, and any further discussion of the matter was disallowed. Wilkinson supported the motion, proving she understood holistic consequences of cutting seemingly small pieces of relief funding, saying, “[Relief recipients] need the clothing. We hear ‘the taxpayers this’ and ‘the taxpayers that’. When the taxpayers get sick, they need an ambulance. The taxpayers will forfeit in the end. No matter how boring the subject is, we will have to meet it.” Mayor Davison responded by pointing out the Dominion government had reduced relief grants at both the municipal and provincial levels, asking Wilkinson rather pointedly: “Have you ever made representations to Mr. Aberhart [Social Credit premier] about that?”

The Herald went on:

“At this point Mrs. Wilkinson got to her feet and commenced to talk. Words flew back and forth around the council chamber, and the audience, apparently seized with the spirit of the thing, added to the uproar with applause and laughter. Mayor Davison grabbed his gavel, brought it down heavily on his desk again and again …

“Will you please sit down?” his Worship said [to Wilkinson], “I’ll give you the floor later.”

“I want to debate the question,” exclaimed Mrs. Wilkinson.

“That’s the trouble; you always do,” the mayor observed.

On another occasion Wilkinson provoked applause from a large audience in attendance at city council, which evoked a “stern warning” from the mayor. After a “scolding of city councillors on the subject of relief”, the audience applauded once again, and “…On the heels of the mayor’s reprimand she turned to the audience and cried, “That’s right, applaud more.”

In 1944 Wilkinson was tapped to run for an MLA position. She was still serving as alderman, but there were no rules in place at that time that disallowed a person to do both. Wilkinson’s campaign was soon kicked into full gear, which led to at least one noticeable absence at council meetings. A letter to the editor of the Herald in July 1944 criticized Wilkinson’s absence, stating: “we elected Alderman Mrs. Wilkinson last November to represent us, as she stated that she has always been interested in the social welfare of our citizens … Monday night at the Council meeting there were several very important matters which should have had the most careful consideration and thought before the vote was taken, but Mrs. Wilkinson was not there to speak or to register her vote. If Alderman Mrs. Wilkinson will betray us and neglect her civic duties, then we, as voter, should use our votes to see that she will not represent us in the Provincial House after this coming election.”

Discontent was not unanimous as Alderman Rose Wilkinson was elected as a Social Credit MLA under the party leadership of Ernest Manning, who was returned to government after a year in power, and who would continue to lead Alberta until 1968.

Later Years

Wilkinson would serve both as an Alderman until 1955 and an MLA until 1959, when she retired from public life at the age of 70. She announced her intention to step away from civic politics at the counting of ballots in the 1954 election, an election which was counter to the term cycle she was on (between 1923 and 1961 aldermen were elected to alternating two-year terms, which generated annual city council elections).

A profile of Wilkinson ran in the Herald in May 1954 as her tenure on council drew to a close, and Wilkinson wished “only that more women would join her in public life and assume the responsibilities that were handed them 30 years ago when they became eligible to vote.” When asked about advice for women thinking of taking a step into the arena of government, she offered this: “Be tactful, thoughtful and honest and, above all, never lose that priceless gift – humour.”

Sources

Castle Saunderson. https://www.connollycove.com/your-guide-around-the-lake-land-county-cavan/

Ancestry.com. West Virginia, U.S., Marriages Index, 1785-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Mardon, A. (2012). Alberta Catholic Politicians (null ed.). Golden Meteorite Press.

Henderson’s Directory – Calgary 1928. Wilkinson Fred T. http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/2961.23/706.html?qid=peelbib%7Cwilkinson%7C%28peelnum%3A002961.23%29%7Cscore

Calgary Herald, 21 September 1935, p. 14. https://www.newspapers.com/image/481359510

Alberta Social Credit Party. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Social_Credit_Party#Pro-Life_Alberta_Political_Association

The Parties: Prolife Alberta. https://studentvote.ca/ab2019/the-parties/pro-life-alberta-political-association/

Calgary Herald, 16 November 1935, p. 13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480208535

Calgary Herald, 19 November 1935, p. 10. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480208916

Calgary Herald, 21 November 1935, p. 16. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480209512

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Calgary Herald, 21 November 1935, p. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480209099

Calgary Herald, 21 November 1935, p. 16. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480209512

Calgary Herald, 18 December 1936, p. 17. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480954103

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Calgary Herald, 10 February 1937, p. 9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/481784944

Calgary Herald, 17 February 1937, p. 9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/481788787

Calgary Herald, 26 May 1937, p. 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/479905610

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List of Calgary municipal elections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Calgary_municipal_elections

Calgary Herald, 29 May 1954, p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/480868383