John Poole (Canadian politician)

John Silas Poole (June 25, 1872 in Kemptville, Ontario – December 29, 1963) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1936 to 1949. Initially as a Conservative, he became a Progressive Conservative in 1943 when the party changed its name.^[1]

Biography[]

The son of William Poole and Isabella Cranstoun, Poole was educated at Kemptville and in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He worked as a physician, and was president of the Manitoba Medical Association and College of Physicians and Surgeons. Poole also served on the Dominion Medical Council. In 1905, he married Mary Elizabeth McFadden.^[2]

Poole first sought election to the Manitoba election in the 1932 provincial election, but lost to Progressive incumbent Adalbert Poole in the constituency of .^[2] He ran again in the 1936 election, and defeated Adalbert Poole^[1] by 183 votes.

In 1940, the Conservative Party of Manitoba joined with the Liberal-Progressives and smaller parties in a coalition government. Poole initially sat as a government backbencher, but left the coalition prior to the 1941 provincial election. Re-elected by acclamation as an anti-coalition Conservative,^[1] he returned to his party caucus after the election.

He again defeated Adalbert Poole, who was by this time a candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, in the 1945 provincial election.^[1] He served as a government backbencher supporting the coalition, and did not seek re-election in 1949.

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