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]
	John Williams	Arthur	Liberal
	John W. Wilton	Assiniboia	Liberal
	William Robertson Wood	Beautiful Plains	Liberal
	George Malcolm	Birtle	Liberal
	Stephen Emmett Clement	Brandon City	Liberal
	Albert Prefontaine	Carillon	Conservative
	Andrew Watson Myles	Cypress	Liberal
	William Harrington	Dauphin	Liberal
	Robert Stirton Thornton	Deloraine	Liberal
	Edward August	Dufferin	Liberal
	Thomas Glendenning Hamilton	Elmwood	Liberal
	John David Baskerville	Emerson	Liberal
	William Findlater	Gilbert Plains	Liberal
	Taras Ferley	Gimli	Liberal
	James William Armstrong	Gladstone	Liberal
	James Breakey	Glenwood	Liberal
	John Henry McConnell	Hamiota	Liberal
	Aimé Bénard	Iberville	Conservative
	George Prout	Kildonan and St. Andrews	Liberal
	Samuel Hayden	Killarney	Liberal
	Charles Duncan McPherson	Lakeside	Liberal
	Tobias Norris	Lansdowne	Liberal
	Philippe Talbot	La Verendrye	Liberal
	George Thomas Armstrong	Manitou	Liberal
	George Grierson	Minnedosa	Liberal
	Valentine Winkler	Morden and Rhineland	Liberal
	Jacques Parent	Morris	Conservative
	James Bryson Baird	Mountain	Liberal
	John Graham	Norfolk	Liberal
	Ewan McPherson	Portage la Prairie	Liberal
	Frederic Newton	Roblin	Conservative
	Arthur Lobb	Rockwood	Liberal
	William Wilber Wilfred Wilson	Russell	Liberal
	Joseph Dumas	St. Boniface	Liberal
	Donald A. Ross	St. Clements	Liberal
	Skuli Sigfusson	St. George	Liberal
	Joseph Hamelin	Ste. Rose	Conservative
	William Henry Sims	Swan River	Liberal
	Edward Brown	The Pas[nb 1][10]	Liberal
	George William McDonald	Turtle Mountain	Liberal
	George Clingan	Virden	Liberal
	Thomas Herman Johnson	Winnipeg Centre A	Liberal
	F. J. Dixon	Winnipeg Centre B	Independent
	Robert Newton Lowery	Winnipeg North A	Liberal
	Richard Rigg	Winnipeg North B	Social Democratic
	Albert Hudson	Winnipeg South A	Liberal
	William Parrish	Winnipeg South B	Liberal

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]

Notes:

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. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
3. "Women's Right to Vote in Canada". Library of Parliament. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
4. Woolley, Jon (2003). "A century of integrity: Manitoba Justice, 1870-1970" (PDF). Government of Manitoba. pp. 31–2. 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.
8. "Past lieutenant governors". Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
9. "Historical Summaries" (PDF). Elections Manitoba. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
10. "MLA Biographies - Deceased". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.