newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com
The winner is…
The News is reprinting coverage of local issues and events from over the years leading up to the commemoration of our 140th publishing year at the end of the month.
And there is no more focusing event for local issues than the races to sit on city council.
Medicine Hat voters paraded to the polls for annual civic elections until the 1930s, then biennially until 1974, and only became the current four-year length in the 2013.
For mayor, the second half of the 20th century, the Medicine Hat mayoral race was dominated by two men – the flamboyant showman and promoter Harry Veiner (20 years) and public service and public utility advocate Ted Grimm (24).
Two mayors, Veiner and Norm Boucher, would unsuccessfully run for federal office while in office.
Similarly, Nelson Spencer served as both mayor and MLA during his term in the 1910s (and serving overseas in the First World War), then ran but was badly defeated at the federal Conservative candidate in 1921.
One of the city’s first mayors, William Finlay served concurrently in Northwest Territories legislature, then would become Alberta’s first minister of agriculture in 1905 after leaving civic office.
Another mayor Hector Lang served two terms in the Alberta legislature before Hatters rejected him in favour of Social Credit sweep in 1935. On city ballots, however, Hatters endorsed him for mayor in four straight elections starting in 1939, then again for a single term in 1949.
The year 2025 is also likely to be talked about many years, if not decades to come, with 39 candidates for eight council chairs and six more for mayor.
