Richard Secord (Alberta politician)

Infobox Politician (general)
name= Richard Secord


imagesize=200
title= Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for Edmonton
term_start=May 21, 1902
term_end=September 1, 1905
predecessor=Matthew McCauley
successor=District abolished
title2= Alderman on the Edmonton Town Council
term_start2= December 12, 1898
term_end2= December 11, 1899
birth_date= July 19, 1860
birth_place= Brant, Ontario, Ontario
death_date= January 12, 1935 (aged 74)
party= Northwest Territories Liberal-Conservative Party
other_parties= Conservative Party of Canada
residence=
spouse= Anna Ada York (4 children)
profession= Businessman, teacher
religion=
footnotes=

Richard Secord (July 19, 1860 – January 12, 1935) was a politician in western Canada, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, a municipal councillor in Edmonton, and a candidate for the Canadian House of Commons.

Early life

Richard Secord was born in Brant, Ontario on July 19, 1860. He was a great grandnephew of War of 1812 heroine Laura Secord. He was educated in Brant, and graduated with honours from Brantford Collegiate Institute. He came to Edmonton by way of Chicago and Winnipeg, arriving September 1, 1881.

Upon arriving, he helped build the first public school in Edmonton, and then moved to Pakan, Alberta to teach native children for a year. He returned to Edmonton in 1883 and taught for four years, and then entered the employ of John Alexander McDougall as a clerk. He started his own fur-trading business in 1888, and sold it to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1890. Thereafter, he partnered with McDougall.

In 1897, the pair founded McDougall & Secord, which advertised itself as "general merchants, wholesale and retail; buyers and exporters of raw furs; dealers in land scrip and north west lands; outfitters for survey parties, traders, trappers, miners and others for the north, and suppliers for country stores." The two ran the company until 1907, when they sold it and went into business as a financial house and mortgage corporation called McDougall & Secord, Limited, which still exists today.

He married schoolteacher Anna Ada York in 1891; the pair would have four children.

Political career

Richard Secord first sought political office during the 1898 municipal election, running for alderman on Edmonton Town Council. He was elected to a one year term, and did not seek re-election at its conclusion.

He next ran for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in the 1902 territorial election as a Conservative in the riding of Edmonton. He was elected, and served until 1905, when Alberta was created and Edmonton therefore ceased to be part of the Northwest Territories. While in the legislature, he introduced the bill that incorporated Edmonton as a city.

Secord ran in the 1904 federal election as a Conservative candidate in Edmonton, but was handily defeated by Liberal Frank Oliver.

Investments and philanthropy

Secord had a significant impact on Edmonton through his expenditures of money. He arranged financing (with McDougall and others) for the construction of the city's Low Level Bridge. He also provided financial support to the Thistle Rink and the Misericordia Hospital, and financially backed the Edmonton Journal (which was intended as a Conservative alternative to Oliver's Liberal Edmonton Bulletin).

Death and legacy

Richard Secord died January 12, 1935. Edmonton's Secord neighbourhood and Ecole Richard Secord School are named in his honour.

References

* [http://www.epl.ca/Elections/results/EPLBiographiesLetter.cfm?id=S Edmonton Public Library biography of Richard Secord]
* [http://www.edmonton.ca/CityGov/ElectionHistory/Members%20of%20Council%20Biographies.doc City of Edmonton biography of Richard Secord]