The 1918 municipal election was held December 9, 1918 to elect a mayor and six aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council, three trustees to sit on the public school board, and four trustees to sit on the separate school board.
City council held ten aldermen, but four of the positions were already filled: Matthew Esdale, James Kinney, Warren Prevey, and Orlando Bush had been elected to two-year terms in 1917 and were still in office for another year. Charles Wilson also had been elected to a two-year term in 1917, but had resigned to run for mayor. Accordingly, Charles Grant, the sixth most polar candidate in this election, was elected to finish the last year of Wilson's term.
In this election, the candidates on the labour ticket were Farmilo, Fielde, Findlay and White, with Scott running as a labour candidate for school board."Labour candidates", Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 9, 1918, p. 9 Other candidates also appealed for the labour vote in 1918 included Wilson (running for mayor), Clarke, Martin, Joseph Duggan, Scott, and Mackenzie."Alderman Wilson is heart and soul in sympathy with the labour cause", Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 9, 1918, p. 1"Why-why-why", Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 9, 1918, p. 9 Many labour voters supported alderman McCoppen, who in 1917 had been elected for one year with endorsement of the Labour Representation League and now was running for re-election.
The public school board held seven trustees, but four of the positions were already filled: Henry Douglas, J A McPherson, Arthur Cushing, and E T Bishop had been elected to two-year terms in 1917.
On the eight member separate board, four of the positions were filled: M Kelly, F A French, Joseph Henri Picard, and H J Roche had been elected to two-year terms in 1917. To keep the terms properly staggered with half (four) elected each year, Paul Jenvrin was elected to a one-year term.
Voter turnout
There were 9046 ballots cast out of 10825 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 83.5%.
Results
bold or indicates elected italics indicate incumbent "SS", where data is available, indicates representative for Edmonton's South Side, with a minimum South Side representation instituted after the city of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River, amalgamated into Edmonton on February 1, 1912.
Mayor
Party Candidate Votes %LabourJoseph Clarke4,76252.71%IndependentCharles Wilson4,27347.29%
Aldermen
Party Candidate VotesIndependentCharles Hepburn4,861IndependentSamuel McCoppen4,090IndependentHenri Martin4,029IndependentJohn McKenzie3,825IndependentAndrew McLennan3,599IndependentCharles Grant3,530IndependentAbraham Cristall3,324IndependentWilliam Martin3,277LabourAlfred Farmilo3,119LabourWilliam Spencer Fielde2,615LabourJames Findlay2,591LabourJ. E. White2,466
Public school trustees
Party Candidate VotesLabourJoseph Duggan5,153IndependentWilliam Rea4,588IndependentFrank Crang3,286LabourFrank Scott2,217IndependentC. Frost2,029
Separate (Catholic) school trustees
Party Candidate VotesElected
Under the minimum South Side representation rule, Murray was elected over Curtis.
References
City of Edmonton: Edmonton Elections