15th Manitoba Legislature

The members of the 15th Manitoba Legislature were elected in the Manitoba general election held in August 1915. The legislature sat from January 6, 1916, to March 27, 1920.^[1]

The Liberal Party led by Tobias Norris formed the government.^[1]

Albert Prefontaine of the Conservatives was Leader of the Opposition.^[2]

On January 16, 1916, a bill was passed to amend the Manitoba Election Act to grant women the right to vote. Manitoba became the first Canadian province where women were allowed to vote and hold office.^[3]

In a referendum held on March 13, 1916, the province's voters supported prohibition. On June 1, the Manitoba Temperance Act came into effect, which banned the sale of liquor in the province, except by pharmacists for medical purposes. However, bringing alcohol into the province for personal use or for wholesale outside the province was still legal.^[4]

Also in 1916, the Workers Compensation Act was passed, which established the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba. The act established an employer-funded compensation system for work-related injuries or illness and, in exchange, employers were granted protection against lawsuits by workers for these occurrences.^[5]

In 1918, a Minimum Wage Act was passed. Manitoba and British Columbia were the first provinces in Canada to introduce minimum wage legislation.^[6] In 1921, the minimum hourly wage in Manitoba was $0.25. Up until 1931, the minimum wage only applied to female workers.^[7]

James Bryson Baird served as speaker for the assembly.^[1]

There were five sessions of the 15th Legislature:^[1]

Session	Start	End
1st	January 6, 1916	April 1, 1916
2nd	January 11, 1917	March 9, 1917
3rd	January 17, 1918	March 6, 1918
4th	January 21, 1919	March 14, 1919
5th	January 22, 1920	March 27, 1920

Douglas Colin Cameron was Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba until August 3, 1916, when James Albert Manning Aikins became lieutenant governor.^[8]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1915:^[1]

	Member	Electoral district	Party[9]	First elected / previously elected	No.# of term(s)
	John Williams	Arthur	Liberal	1907, 1914	3rd term*
	John W. Wilton	Assiniboia	Liberal	1915	1st term
	William Robertson Wood	Beautiful Plains	Liberal	1915	1st term
	George Malcolm	Birtle	Liberal	1909	4th term
	Stephen Emmett Clement	Brandon City	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Albert Prefontaine	Carillon	Conservative	1903, 1915	4th term*
	Andrew Watson Myles	Cypress	Liberal	1915	1st term
	William Harrington	Dauphin	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Robert Stirton Thornton	Deloraine	Liberal	1907, 1914	3rd term*
	Edward August	Dufferin	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Thomas Glendenning Hamilton	Elmwood	Liberal	1915	1st term
	John David Baskerville	Emerson	Liberal	1915	1st term
	William Findlater	Gilbert Plains	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Taras Ferley	Gimli	Liberal	1915	1st term
	James William Armstrong	Gladstone	Liberal	1907	4th term
	James Breakey	Glenwood	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	John Henry McConnell	Hamiota	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Aimé Bénard	Iberville	Conservative	1907	4th term
	Arthur Boivin (1917)		Conservative	1917	1st term
	George Prout	Kildonan and St. Andrews	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Samuel Hayden	Killarney	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Charles Duncan McPherson	Lakeside	Liberal	1910, 1915	2nd term*
	Tobias Norris	Lansdowne	Liberal	1896, 1907	6th term*
	Philippe Talbot	La Verendrye	Liberal	1915	1st term
	George Thomas Armstrong	Manitou	Liberal	1915	1st term
	George Grierson	Minnedosa	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Valentine Winkler	Morden and Rhineland	Liberal	1892	8th term
	Jacques Parent	Morris	Conservative	1914	2nd term
	James Bryson Baird	Mountain	Liberal	1907	4th term
	John Graham	Norfolk	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Ewan McPherson	Portage la Prairie	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Frederic Newton	Roblin	Conservative	1911	3rd term
	William James Westwood (1917)		Independent Liberal	1917	1st term
	Arthur Lobb	Rockwood	Liberal	1915	1st term
	John Morrison	Rupertsland	Liberal	1916	1st term
	William Wilber Wilfred Wilson	Russell	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Joseph Dumas	St. Boniface	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Donald A. Ross	St. Clements	Liberal	1907	4th term
	Skuli Sigfusson	St. George	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Joseph Hamelin	Ste. Rose	Conservative	1914	2nd term
	William Henry Sims	Swan River	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Edward Brown	The Pas[nb 1][10]	Liberal	1915	1st term
	George William McDonald	Turtle Mountain	Liberal	1915	1st term
	George Clingan	Virden	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	Thomas Herman Johnson	Winnipeg Centre A	Liberal	1907	4th term
	Fred Dixon	Winnipeg Centre B	Independent	1914	2nd term
	Robert Newton Lowery	Winnipeg North A	Liberal	1915	1st term
	Richard Rigg	Winnipeg North B	Social Democratic	1915	1st term
	Robert Jacob (1918)		Liberal	1918	1st term
	Albert Hudson	Winnipeg South A	Liberal	1914	2nd term
	William Parrish	Winnipeg South B	Liberal	1914	2nd term

Notes:

1. Election held August 25, 1915

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
Rupertsland	John Morrison	Independent-Liberal	September 16, 1916[10]	New riding created
Iberville	Arthur Boivin	Conservative	November 1, 1917	A Bénard named to Senate of Canada[10]
Roblin	William James Westwood	Independent-Liberal	November 19, 1917	F Newton resigned seat[10]
Killarney	George Grierson	Liberal	November 30, 1917	G Grierson appointed Minister of Public Works[10]
Winnipeg North B	Robert Jacob	Union	January 15, 1918	R Rigg ran for federal seat[10]

References

1. "Members of the Fifteenth Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1916–1920) (1914–1915)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
2. "Leaders of the Opposition - Manitoba". Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
3. "Women's Right to Vote in Canada". Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
4. Woolley, Jon (2003). "A century of integrity: Manitoba Justice, 1870–1970" (PDF). Government of Manitoba. pp. 31–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
5. "Overview". Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
6. "Minimum wage laws – the state of pay in Canada". CBC News. January 23, 2009.
7. "Historical Summary of Minimum Wage Rates in Manitoba". Government of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2015-08-28. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
8. "Past lieutenant governors". Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2014-01-05. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
9. "Historical Summaries" (PDF). Elections Manitoba. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
10. "MLA Biographies - Deceased". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30.