Charles Stewart | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Charles Stewart

Charles Stewart, farmer, politician, premier of Alberta 1917-21 (b at Strabane, Ont 26 Aug 1868; d at Ottawa 6 Dec 1946). Stewart brought his family to the Killam area of central Alberta in 1906.

Stewart, Charles

Charles Stewart, farmer, politician, premier of Alberta 1917-21 (b at Strabane, Ont 26 Aug 1868; d at Ottawa 6 Dec 1946). Stewart brought his family to the Killam area of central Alberta in 1906. He represented Sedgewick in the Legislative Assembly 1909-21 and entered the Executive Council in 1912, holding first the municipal affairs and later the public works portfolios. On the resignation of Premier A.L. SIFTON, Stewart was sworn in as premier and minister of railways and telephones on 13 Oct 1917, but his effectiveness as government leader at the head of a party divided by railway scandals and the federal CONSCRIPTION crisis was constantly in question. The entry of the UNITED FARMERS OF ALBERTA into politics in the 1921 election ended the Liberal administration. Stewart accepted PM KING's invitation to enter the federal Cabinet and served as minister of the interior, minister of mines and superintendent general of Indian affairs 1921-30, except for a brief interlude in 1926.