Alfred Speakman


Alfred Speakman was a politician from Alberta, Canada.

Federal political career

Speakman was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1921 federal election in the district of Red Deer under the banner of the United Farmers of Alberta. He was re-elected in 1925, 1926 and 1930.
In the 1935 federal election he ran as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and finished a distant third to Social Credit candidate Eric Joseph Poole.

Provincial political career

Speakman was instrumental in the Unity Movement which united Alberta's opposition parties against the Social Credit government. On October 12, 1937 Speakman, as a long-serving Member of Parliament, brought delegates from the United Farmers, Conservatives, Liberals and some disillusioned Social Crediters to a conference in Red Deer that brought the Unity coalition together.
Speakman ran as an independent in Red Deer in the 1940 Alberta general election and was elected with a comfortable vote margin after ballot transfers. Speakman served as an independent in the Unity caucus until his death in 1943.
Speakman served briefly as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta in 1942.