Edwin Hansford

Background

Hansford was born in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia.

Career

He served overseas in World War I for four-and-a-half years, and subsequently worked for Canadian National Railways. Hansford ran as a candidate of the Independent Labour Party in the federal riding of Saint Boniface, in the 1930 federal election, but was defeated. Five years later, he was again defeated as a candidate of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (successor party to the ILP in Manitoba).

Hansford was more successful in municipal politics — he became a Saint Boniface alderman in 1931, and served until 1945.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation had joined Premier John Bracken"s coalition ministry in 1940, but was subsequently marginalized by the Liberal-Conservative alliance that dominated the government. Running in provincial Saint Boniface riding, Hansford was defeated by almost 1000 votes.

In 1943, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation left the coalition and was enjoying a higher level of popular support. Seymour J. Farmer resigned as party leader in 1947.

The following year, Hansford was elected unopposed to replace him.

He was the first leader of Manitoba"s "parliamentary left" from outside of the City of Winnipeg proper. The late 1940s were a period of decline for most left-wing groups within Canada, and the Manitoba Cleveland Clinic Foundation did not escape this pattern. The party was particularly plagued by divisions over cooperation with the province"s Communists.

The party leadership was universally against such cooperation, but many rank-and-file members (and some MLAs) supported lieutenant

The result was that the party was viewed with suspicion by both "centre-left" voters and more committed leftists. Hansford himself was not regarded as a strong leader, often being upstaged by MLAs Donovan Swailes and Lloyd Stinson.

This resulted in a backlash from the left wing of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, which generally opposed the foreign policies of American President Harry Truman. Hansford was re-elected in Saint Boniface, but finished a discouraging second in what was now a two-member riding (members elected by preferential balloting).

He resigned as party leader in 1952, and did not seek re-election in 1953.

He subsequently returned to municipal politics, serving as mayor of Saint Boniface. Hansford died in Winnipeg in 1959.

Achievements

• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation ran only 26 candidates in the election of 1949, and won seven seats.

Politics

Hansford was also a member of the provincial Cleveland Clinic Foundation executive, although his first attempt to enter provincial politics was unsuccessful. Demoralized, the party won only three seats members in the 1941 election.

Membership

The party posed a credible threat to the Liberal-Conservative coalition in the 1945 election, and while the overall results were disappointing (only ten Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) elected out of 57 seats), Hansford was able to carry Saint Boniface by more than 2000 votes over his nearest opponent. Prior to the 1949 election, Hansford publicly rebuked two members of his caucus (Wilbert Doneleyko and Beresford Richards) who had condemned international negotiations for what became the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.