John Andrew Davidson
| John Andrew Davidson | |
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| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Dauphin | |
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In office 1881–1886 |
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| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Beautiful Plains | |
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In office 1892–1903 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 19, 1852 Thamesford, Upper Canada |
| Died | November 14, 1903 (aged 51) Neepawa, Manitoba |
John Andrew Davidson (August 19, 1852 – November 14, 1903) was a Manitoba politician. He was briefly the leader of Manitoba's Conservative parliamentary caucus in 1894, and later served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Hugh John Macdonald and Rodmond Roblin.
Davidson was born in Thamesford, Canada West (now Ontario). He moved to Manitoba in 1871, and became a mill owner and general merchant, also serving on the Protestant school board.
Manitoba's boundaries were expanded in 1881, and Davidson was elected to the provincial legislature in a by-election as the first member for Dauphin. A Liberal, he defeated his sole opponent, P.S. St. Clair McGregor, 148 votes to 17.
Party affiliations were fluid in Manitoba in this period, and by the general election of 1883 Davidson was identifying himself as a Liberal-Conservative, and a supporter of Premier John Norquay. He was re-elected in Dauphin without opposition.
Following redistribution, Davidson campaigned in the Beautiful Plains constituency for the provincial election of 1886. The Liberals saw their support rise in this campaign, and Davidson (now a Conservative) lost to Liberal John Crawford by thirty votes. Crawford again defeated Davidson in the 1888 election, this time by twenty-four votes.
Provincial support for the Conservatives recovered slightly in the 1892 election, and Davidson defeated Crawford by sixteen votes in their third encounter. The opposition caucus to which he belonged initially chose William Alexander Macdonald as its leader. When Macdonald's constituency election was overturned in 1893, Davidson was chosen in his place. He made his first speech as leader of the opposition in January 1894. Davidson was a moderate figure, whose interventions were respected by the province's Liberal leadership.
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