S. A. G. Barnes

Samuel Augustus Gordon (S. A. G. ) Barnes was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and a candidate for mayor of Edmonton.

Barnes was first elected to the public school board in Edmonton during the 1910 municipal election, in which he finished third of six candidates and was one of three candidates elected. He was re-elected in the 1912, 1913, and 1915 elections. At the conclusion of his fourth term, he ran for mayor in the 1917 election, in which he placed third in a five candidate field that was won by Harry Marshall Erskine Evans.

With the advent of partisan politics at the municipal level in Edmonton, Barnes associated himself with the Dominion Labour Party, under whose banner he sought to return to the school board during the 1919 election. He was elected by virtue of a second place finish out of eight candidates - part of a Labour sweep of all four seats up for election. He was re-elected in 1921 and 1923 - running both times as a Labour candidate - but did not seek re-election in the 1925 election. He returned to the board for a third time in the 1926 election, and was re-elected in 1928, 1930, 1932, and 1934, still as a Labour candidate.

In 1935, Barnes left municipal politics to seek election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a candidates for the Social Credit Party of Alberta in Edmonton during the 1935 provincial election. He finished second out of twenty-seven candidates, and was one of six candidates elected. In the 1940 election, he sought re-election as an Independent Progressive candidate after being expelled from the Social Credit Party for criticizing the policies of Premier William Aberhart, but finished eighteenth of nineteen candidates and was defeated.

In the 1939 municipal election, Barnes made a final bid for public office by running for mayor on the newly-formed Independent Progressive Association. He was defeated handily by incumbent John Wesley Fry of the Citizens' Committee in a two person race; Barnes captured only 19.12% of the vote.