William Hayhurst

Background

He was born in Lyvennet Mill, Morland, England.

Career

Married Edna Mattern. Father of William LeRoy Hayhurst (born May 25, 1925. Died February 27, 2011), Dea Crompton and Grace Lanctot (died August 13, 1998).

Hayhurst first ran a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1930 Canadian federal election as a Liberal candidate in the Wetaskiwin district.

He was defeated by Incumbent William Irvine, finishing last in a field of three candidates. Hayhurst ran again in the 1935 Canadian federal election, this time under the Social Cr banner in the Vegreville district.

Hayhurst"s nomination as the Social Cr candidate was controversial. At the time, the Vegreville Social Cr organization had a two-stage nomination process: delegates elected three candidates at a nomination meeting, one of whom was later chosen by an advisory board.

He narrowly defeated Company-operative Commonwealth Federation incumbent Michael Luchkovich in a hotly contested five-way race.

Social Cr had little presence outside Alberta in this period, and Hayhurst sat as an opposition Member of Parliament. Anthony Hlynka, Hayhurst"s successor as Member of Parliament for Vegreville, described him as a "polite, intelligent and well-read" man who "carried out his duties as an Member of Parliament quite well, but had a difficult time representing a riding in which eighty per cent of the population was of other than British origin". He occasionally made parliamentary statements in support of Ukrainian national aspirations, but had difficulty communicating with his constituents. He ignored this advice, and let his name stand at the Vegreville Social Cr nomination meeting in September 1939.

The result was an unexpected embarrassment: he finished last in a field of five candidates on the first ballot, and was automatically eliminated.

After his nomination defeat, Hayhurst belatedly decided to seek the Social Cr nomination in Athabaska. He died in Edmonton in 1975.

Achievements

• He won the nomination, but lost to Liberal Joseph Miville Dechene in the general election.

Politics

Hayhurst officially appeared on the ballot as the candidate of the New Democracy party, an affiliate of Social Crown

Membership

Many Ukrainian members of Social Cr opposed this decision, and refused to support Hayhurst in the general election. Many Ukrainian members of the Social Cr party asked him to seek re-election in Athabaska rather than run again in Vegreville in the 1940 federal election.

Connections

teacher:

Paul Lesiuk