Background
She was born in England. Her father, Richard Spear, was a copper miner.
She was born in England. Her father, Richard Spear, was a copper miner.
She became a school teacher before marrying Ralph Smith, a widower and coal miner. Ralph Smith became a moderate trade union leader, and was elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1898. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1900 federal election.
He returned to the British Columbia legislature, and became British Columbia"s Minister of Finance in 1916.
Mary Ellen Smith had helped her husband"s political career by campaigning for him and making speeches on his behalf when he was unavailable. She also raised money for war veterans, and helped establish factories to employ blind children.
She founded the "Laurier Liberal Club", and was an active Methodist. She was elected by a wide margin, and said in a speech to the legislature that "Not only did the women of my fair city stand behind medical . but the men were there, too."
She was re-elected as a Liberal candidate in the 1920 and 1924 general elections.
As a legislator, she introduced a law in 1918 establishing a minimum wage for women and girls, and helped enact laws establishing juvenile courts, allowing women to sit as judges, creating social welfare support for "deserted wives", passing laws protecting women in the workplace, and establishing a pension for mothers.
She joined the cabinet in of Premier John Oliver in 1921 as minister without portfolio, but resigned after eight months as she felt that the rules of cabinet solidarity restricted her independence. In February 1928, she served as Acting Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first woman to hold the position of Speaker in the British Empire. She was defeated in the 1928 election that brought down the Liberal government.
In 1929, she was appointed Canada"s delegate to the International Labour Organization conference in Geneva.
She served as president of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the early 1930s until her death due to a stroke in 1933.
She was the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly (Modern Language Association) in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and both the first female cabinet minister and the first female Speaker in the British Empire. She was also an activist in her own right as a member of the Suffrage League of Canada, president of the Women"s Canadian Club and of the Women"s Forum, regent of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, and an executive member of the Canadian Red Cross.