John Campbell Bowen

John Campbell Bowen (born October 3, 1872 in Metcalfe , Ontario , † January 2, 1957 in Edmonton , Alberta ) was a Canadian preacher and politician. From 1937 to 1950 he was Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Alberta.

biography

Bowen grew up in Ottawa . After finishing school he studied at Brandon College in Brandon and at McMaster University in Hamilton . In 1906 he married Edith Oliver, with whom he had two daughters. During his theological studies Bowen worked as a harvest hand, after graduating as a Baptist preacher in Winnipeg and Manitoba .

Due to illness, he had to resign from his position as school council secretary of the West Canadian Baptist Union after just one year in 1912. He then worked for a life insurance company in Edmonton . After the outbreak of the First World War he was a field preacher in Europe from 1915 to 1918 . Shortly before the end of the war, he returned to Edmonton. Due to his poor health due to military service, he turned back to the insurance industry.

In the 1920s, Bowen was also politically active. So he was chairman of the Edmonton Welfare Committee and in 1928 unsuccessful candidate for the office of mayor of the city. In 1921 he won a seat in Edmonton in the election for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta . In 1926 he was chairman of the Alberta Liberal Party and thus opposition leader. In the elections in the same year he lost his mandate, in 1931 he ran again without success. On the recommendation of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King , Bowen was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Alberta on March 23, 1937, the appointment was made by Governor General John Buchan .

Bowen created a constitutional crisis when he rejected three laws. Provincial Prime Minister William Aberhart's ruling Social Credit Party of Alberta wanted to bring provincial financial institutions under provincial control and force newspapers to publish government counter-statements. Both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Justice Committee of the UK's Privy Council (then the highest judicial body) later ruled the proposed laws unconstitutional. In 1938 Bowen even threatened to overthrow Aberhart's government. However, he refrained from doing so because the Social Credit Party was very popular among the population.

In 1939 the University of Alberta named Bowen an honorary doctorate in law. He was made an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Officer Training Corps and was inducted into the Order of Saint John . During World War II , he spent much of his time promoting war bonds , and as a result received several awards in the United States . He held the post of Vice Governor until February 1, 1950.

Bowen died in Edmonton on January 2, 1957 and was buried in Edmonton Cemetery . His tenure is the longest of any Alberta lieutenant governor.

Web links

• Biography on the Alberta Legislative Assembly website