(13 Sept. 1884-28 Sept. 1977), political figure married to a Glengarrian. (George N. Johnston, George Johnston, commonly known to friends as “G.N.”) Born at Wingham, Ont. Parents: William M. Johnston and his wife Ellen Green, both from Ireland. He attended primary school at Wingham, high school at London, Ont., and Normal School at Regina, and was a teacher in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and a farmer in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He was married 20 June 1913 to Ada C. MacDougall, of Maxville (see entry for Ada C. Johnston). From 1921 to 1935 he was a member of the Alberta Legislature, representing the Coronation constituency, and winning during this time three elections. The party he belonged to was the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). From 1927 to 1935, he was speaker of the Alberta legislature. In 1934 to 1935, during the last of Johnston’s period as speaker, the premier of Alberta was Richard Gavin Reid, whose wife, Marian Stuart (see Marian Reid) was born in GC. As the 1935 provincial election approached, Johnston failed to win the UFA nomination for Coronation. With this, his political career was effectively over, though he contested, unsuccessfully, the new constituency of Acadia-Coronation in 1940. The 1935 election aforementioned was, incidentally, the one which saw the UFA swept out of office and replaced by the Social Credit government of William Aberhart. Johnston had been actively involved in the founding of the UFA. When UFA Premier Herbert Greenfield resigned in 1925, Johnston’s name was among those suggested to be his successor.

     After leaving politics, he continued to farm, then in 1955, some years after the death of his wife, he moved to the nearby town of Consort, Alta. During his 70s Johnston took yearly trips to Europe. When he was interviewed (Barr) in 1975 at the age of 90 in the Edmonton nursing home where he was then living, Johnston proved to be still an alert man of uncompromising opinions on national and Alberta politics.

Entries for Johnston in Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1923, 1927, 1935 * “The George Norman Johnstons,” pp. 293-294 from unidentified local history (biog. data, portrait Johnston & wife) * John Barr, “Ex-Speaker Thinks Socreds Finished,” Edmonton Journal, 25 March 1975 (long interview article) * sources as for his wife’s life * information kindly collected by my much valued friend, now deceased, Marie Carey, Islay, Alta.