Charles Duncan McPherson

Col. Charles Duncan McPherson (April 11, 1877 —1970) was a soldier, journalist and politician from Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1910–14, and again from 1915-22. He was a Liberal, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Tobias Norris.

McPherson was born in Forest, Ontario, the son of Dougald McPherson, and was educated in the neighbouring area. He began work as an apprentice with the Forest Free Press in 1893. He moved to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1896 and worked as a printer and later foreman there, in Neepawa and in Fort William, Ontario. From 1889 to 1901, he was manager and editor for the Weekly Manitoba Liberal in Portage la Prairie. In 1901, McPherson bought that paper and then, in 1903, the Daily Graphic, merging the two. In 1905, he established the Fort William Herald with R.G. McCuish. He became editor of the Winnipeg Western Editor in 1911. He served as president of the Western Canada Press Association in 1906-07, and was secretary of the Lakeside Liberal Association from 1902 to 1910. He also became secretary of the Portage St. Andrew Society in 1909.

He served as lieutenant and captain in the 12th Manitoba Dragoons from 1904 to 1908, and later as Major of the 18th Mounted Rifles from 1908 until 1913, when he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

McPherson was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1910 provincial election, defeating Conservative incumbent Edwin D. Lynch by 68 votes in the Lakeside constituency. Manitoba was governed by Rodmond Roblin's Conservative Party in this period, and McPherson served as an opposition member for the next four years. In the 1914 election, he lost to Conservative candidate John J. Garland by ten votes.

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