John Edward Brownlee

Hon. John Edward Brownlee

Photograph of Hon. John Edward Brownlee ca. 1930

5th Premier of AlbertaIn office
November 23, 1925 – July 10, 1934Preceded by Herbert GreenfieldSucceeded by Richard G. ReidBorn August 27, 1884
Port Ryerse, Lake Erie, Norfolk County, OntarioDied July 15, 1961(aged 76)
Calgary, AlbertaPolitical party United Farmers of AlbertaSpouse Marion Stuart

John Edward Brownlee (Port Ryerse, Lake Erie, Norfolk County, Ontario August 27, 1884 - July 15, 1961 Calgary) was a Canadian politician who was Premier of Alberta between 1925 and 1934.

Brownlee became the lawyer for the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) in the early part of the 20th century. When the UFA entered electoral politics and unexpectedly won the 1921 provincial election, he was recruited to serve in the new government as Attorney-General. In 1925, due to dissatisfaction with the leadership of Premier Herbert Greenfield, Brownlee was recruited to become the new Premier and UFA leader. Brownlee led the party to victory in the 1926 and 1930 provincial elections.

Brownlee's government was successful in negotiating a degree of control of Alberta's natural resources from the federal government, an achievement that became historically significant when oil was discovered at Leduc in 1947.

The Brownlee government faced its most serious challenge during the Great Depression when the dust bowl impoverished the province's largely agrarian population. The government's policies of continued fiscal restraint in the face of widespread demands for relief led to the UFA's increasing unpopularity. Albertans began to look to the radical solutions offered by Social Credit and the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

1 Sex scandal
2 Career after politics
3 References
4 External links

Sex scandal

Brownlee's personal reputation was destroyed by a sex scandal in which he was successfully sued for the ancient and rarely-litigated civil tort of seduction by a young woman in his employ.

In July 1933 Brownlee gave a car ride to Vivian MacMillan, then employed as a clerk in the office of the attorney general. MacMillan's fiancé filed a seduction suit against Brownlee, who denied all charges and launched a countersuit alleging that MacMillan, her father, and her fiancé had planned the entire affair for their own financial gain. [1]

The jury found Brownlee guilty of seduction, but the presiding judge overturned its verdict. Nevertheless the circumstances were damaging enough that Brownlee resigned from the provincial ministry in July 1934. [1] The UFA's economic policies as well as the scandalizing of Alberta's conservative population led to the party's downfall in the 1935 election when it failed to win one seat in the legislature. William Aberhart and his Social Credit Party swept the province.

In 1937, MacMillan and her family successfully appealed the previous decision and won $10,000 from Brownlee. [1]

Career after politics

Personally defeated in that electoral disaster, Brownlee returned to legal practice in Edmonton. The United Grain Growers Ltd., for which he had been chief counsel before his political career, rehired him in that capacity. In 1948 he became the firm's president and general manager, a position he held until 1961. The Brownlee Building in downtown Edmonton is named for him.